So, did anyone watch Idol Gives Back last night? Did you happen to notice that they chose to close out the show with a (modified) version of “Shout to the Lord” by Darlene Zschech?
Were you as confused as we were? Weird.
Filed under: Entertainment, Faith | Tagged: American Idol, Darlene Zschech, Idol Gives Back, Shout to the Lord
I’m not sure that’s actually the video of the performance. YouTube is blocked here at work, so I just grabbed the url from a Google search.
Can someone let me know?
It is the video. And you know I thought it was weird.
weird? that’s the word you choose for this situation?
how about censored?
or sanitized?
or worthless?
or mockery?
or why bother at all?
how about stiller walking out three seconds later and dropping some f-bombs.
The Stiller bit at the very end was in poor taste. Even apart from it happening on the heels of “Shout to the Lord.” It soiled the whole vibe of the evening for me.
I don’t think I was as personally offended by their use of the “Shout to the Lord” as you were.
I can get with the “why bother” point however. I mean, if you’re going to yank Jesus’ name from the tune, it certainly isn’t going to resonate as well with those most familiar with the song.
And what the heck does that song even mean to someone who isn’t prone to “worshiping” the savior, shepherd, king, Lord?
I was more confused by their choice of song than anything else.
There is a definite “Jesus vibe” to this season however. Several performers have sung songs which mention, or communicate with, Jesus – and by name. Dolly Parton turned her performance into a revival meeting. Mariah Carey dropped the J-bomb during her performance as well. It even goes all the way back to when they used the Robbie Seay Band’s song for the early promos.
I suspect they see a way to gain inroads to an untapped market.
I said to someone last night that they are clearly setting up someone to win who will move to the CCM market – Jason is my guess. He is a worship leader, exposure to the church scene already, etc.
The idea popped in my head when I heard about them using the Robbie Seay song but then with all of the other things which you’ve mentioned it’s become pretty obvious.
Think about it – Kelly is the mainstream pop chick Ruben is the manly R&B guy, (I know he didn’t wint but Clay is the soccer mom “nice boy”), Fantasia is the female R&B chick, Carrie goes country, Taylor was the indie/folk guy but that bombed, Jordin is another mainstream pop/R&B girl. They’re clearly arranging things to spread the winning talent across several genres in the industry to be able to tap a new market every year. This year it’s CCM’s turn.
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Ooh… conspiracy theory!
I didn’t know that about Jason Castro. So I did a quick check and dug up this video of him performing at a church. (After pastor gives the greetings you can see him singing background vocals to another worship song.)
I’ve noticed a few things with David Archuletta too. Covering a Rebecca St. James cover and another song recently.
And I’m convinced that Brooke is a celestial being. So….
Interesting choice.
However American Idol is already marketing to the Christian market.Some who have been released to the Christian market: Rueben Studdard, Clay Aiken, RJ Helton and Mandisa. Mandisa is very popular and hard to keep in stores however if you know anyone who wants 1, 5 or a bunch of RJ send them our way.
I think Mandisa might be hard to keep in stock because you’re the only store in the country carrying it.
Seriously. Who?
I just want I all white suite.
classy.
nope.
Yeah, we were definitely caught off guard by “Shout to the Lord” and found it interesting they said “shepherd” instead of “Jesus”. And we did notice Mariah Carey’s choice in song and Joe thought maybe her choice in a somewhat modest outfit was b/c of her song; funny, though, that Joe realized the outfit she was wearing was close to the same outfit she wore in one of her early music videos (I can’t remember what video now, I was just so blown away that he remembers an outfit she wore years ago and he probably can’t even remember what I wore yesterday!!)
Shane,
Who would buy Mandisa? We would get lots of requests.
Who would buy RJ Helton? Apparently no one. He is always in the Gospel Pre-Pack sales. That is why we have 19 copies of that and only 3 copies of Marvin Sapp’s Thristy. I only have those because I got them shelved less than an hour before we closed last night. Sapp will be gone by the weekend.
Let’s see… an early Mariah Carey video would put Joe somewhere around age, what.. 12, 13? That might explain alot.
Oh don’t worry, that thought crossed my mind many times when he told me that!!
we’re watching the kick off show now, and they are singing it with JESUS loud and clear opening up! crazy?
You beat me to the punch. I was dumbfounded. Why do it two nights in a row? Why do it the “right” way the second time?
you have to assume someone made a stink about them changing the words?
I suppose. It’s still just weird that they opened with it after closing with it last night.
From what I’ve heard, the iTunes version that was available for download contained the “Jesus” lyric.
yeah, weird
I figure that no matter what, lyric change, heart motives right or wrong, God will use it anyway in some way.
By the way (if any are curious), AI didn’t ask permission from Darlene Zschech or Hillsong to change the lyric: http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/356024.aspx