Anyone who watched (or know someone who has) American Idol on Wednesday night has probably heard about an audition of a 62 year old man that is known as "The General" who can regularly be seen downtown. Generally, Idol doesn't allow anyone older than 28 in to audition, but they let this guy come in and showcased his audition at the end of Wednesday's show.
He performed his original rap, and Simon's words were "I have a horrible feeling that song's going to be a hit."
He's right... I'm not certain about the "horrible feeling" or that it's going to be a hit, but the latter is true. The original video has gotten over 33,000 views on YouTube yesterday and a total of 19 "Pants on the ground" videos have been posted. In addition, "Pants on the Ground" was a consistent trending topic on Twitter, which highlights the buzz around this episode and how the word has gotten out virally.
American Idol appears to have gotten the buzz it needed after the drama surrounding Paula at the end of last season. They knew that providing a twist; a surprise; the unexpected would grab viewers' attention, which is one reason I feel that The General, while not "contestant status," was invited to audition.
The water cooler talk at the office is that (and I think this may happen) an Atlanta rapper may pick it up and cover it. Needless to say, viewers have a new reason to tune into Idol.
What's interesting to me is that while The General's audition was very unconventional, it was consistent with the Idol brand (namely the practice of putting up "losing" auditions during the first episodes) and at the same time added to it. I'm sure that some marketing genius at American Idol was thinking that... after all look at the amount of editing they gave to "The General's" clips.
