造星工廠《美國偶像》迎來最後一季
Dim the lights, cue the house band: It’s finally time for “American Idol” to sing itself off. That once-monumental music competition show begins its 15th and farewell season on Wednesday with a premiere full of callbacks. Like so many of its ejectees, it’s leaving the stage with one last swan song before the credits, at once lauded and bum-rushed.
把燈光調暗，讓音樂響起：《美國偶像》(American Idol)終於要曲終人散了。週三（1月6日），這個豐碑式的音樂比賽節目將開始它的第15季，也是最後一季。最後一季的第一集將召回以前的很多獲勝者。和很多黯然離開這個舞臺的選手一樣，在得到譭譽參半的評價之前，它也將獻上最後一曲。
The end of “Idol” marks the folding-up of TV’s last cultural big tent. The populace still reunites for the Oscars and the Super Bowl; there are still (relatively) big hits like “The Walking Dead” and “Empire.” But none of them are what “Idol” was at its peak: a weekly destination for all ages and many tastes.
《美國偶像》的終結標誌着電視上的最後一個文化大帳篷也收了起來。觀衆仍會一起觀看奧斯卡和超級碗(Super Bowl)；仍將會出現一些（相對）熱門的劇目，比如《行屍走肉》(The Walking Dead)和《嘻哈帝國》(Empire)。但誰也無法與巔峯時期的《美國偶像》相提並論：它是各個年齡層和各種品味的人每週一次的期待。
The series became an island of mainstream in a sea of niche by embodying contradictions. It grabbed a broad audience by bringing together singers from different pop subcultures — country versus bubble gum, R&B versus rock — and pitting them against one another in a battle of national preferences. It was simultaneously vicious and sentimental, a uniter and a divider. It changed the rules for making pop stardom. Then social media changed those rules again, giving musicians an even more direct conduit to audiences than reality TV did and contributing to the show’s eventual downfall.
如今有太多針對細分觀衆羣的節目，而《美國偶像》就像汪洋中一座獨特的小島，吸引了非常廣泛的觀衆羣。它召集了各種流行亞文化歌手——鄉村音樂和泡泡糖歌曲；節奏布魯斯和搖滾——讓它們在全美國都參與投票的賽場上較量。它既刻薄，又柔情；既把大家集合起來，又讓大家分裂開來。它改變了製造流行音樂明星的規則。後來，它的規則又被社交媒體改變。社交媒體比電視真人秀更能讓音樂人直接接觸觀衆，該節目的最終衰敗與此有關。
“American Idol” arrived on American shores, having originated as “Pop Idol” in Britain, in the summer of 2002. This was the brash, early-aughts heyday of reality TV. The show’s initial hook was judge/producer/creator Simon Cowell, who styled himself as Satan in a black fitted T-shirt.
《美國偶像》以英國的《流行偶像》(Pop Idol)爲原型，2002年夏天登陸美國。那時候，電視真人秀方興未艾，發展迅猛。這個節目最初的吸引力在於評委、製作人兼創作者西蒙·考埃爾(Simon Cowell)，他身穿黑色緊身T恤，把自己塑造成魔鬼形象。
Mr. Cowell, flanked by the co-hosts Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul, made the show a musical critique of Americans’ belief in their personal exceptionalism. His lacerating put-downs were a slap against the culture of self-esteem, the can-do spirit, to quote a favorite of “Idol” singers, of “I Believe I Can Fly.”
考埃爾與蘭迪·傑克遜(Randy Jackson)和葆拉·阿卜杜勒(Paula Abdul)聯合擔任評委。他從音樂角度強烈打擊美國人認爲自己很獨特的信仰。他傷人的羞辱是對自尊自信精神（用《美國偶像》的歌手們最喜歡的那首歌講，就是“我覺得我會飛”的精神）的摧殘。
Believing, in Mr. Cowell’s view, was not enough. A mediocre performance was “cabaret,” or “something you’d hear on a cruise ship.” He was frank about the cynical needs of the pop industry and the cruel distinction between being good and being great — the difference between a singer and a star.
在考埃爾看來，光有自信還不夠。在他看來，平庸的表演就像“卡巴萊歌舞表演”或者“你在遊輪上看到的那種表演”。他毫不諱言流行音樂產業的刻薄要求以及良好和優秀之間的殘酷區別——也就是歌手和明星之間的區別。
But the flip side, what may have helped give “Idol” broad appeal and longevity, was that it was also a shamelessly gushy celebration of talent. It built emotional narratives around its contestants and their struggles, and the weekly performances provided the soundtrack.
但是另一方面，《美國偶像》具有廣泛吸引力和持久生命力的一個原因可能是它也赤裸裸地煽情地頌揚才華。它講述選手們感人的奮鬥故事，每週的表演都有配樂。
Reality TV thrives on the lure of authenticity, and “Idol” married that to the populist cult of the fan. It promised to take the keys of the star-maker machinery and hand them to you. Yet it was also openly an arm of that machine. It offered contestants a contract with 19 Entertainment, founded by the “Idol” creator Simon Fuller, and it emphasized the importance of branding and packaging as much as the need for vocal chops.
電視真人秀的興旺靠的是真實性的吸引力，《美國偶像》把真實性與粉絲們對平民主義的狂熱結合起來。它承諾把明星製造機器的鑰匙交到觀衆手中。不過，它當然也是那臺機器的一個手臂。它爲選手們提供與19 Entertainment娛樂公司的合同，那個公司是《美國偶像》的創始人西蒙·福勒(Simon Fuller)創立的，該公司認爲品牌包裝和唱功一樣重要。
The show made stars of winners (the belter Kelly Clarkson, the country titan Carrie Underwood), losers (the eventual Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, the glam-rocker Adam Lambert) and cast (Ryan Seacrest, who was Dick Clark with a software upgrade). It generated tours and albums and enormous ratings, network cross-promotions and product placements. It was a multiplatform bison, no part of which went to waste.
這個節目讓獲勝者（比如聲音洪亮的凱莉·克拉克森[Kelly Clarkson]和鄉村歌曲高手凱莉·安德伍德[Carrie Underwood]）、失敗者（比如最終獲得奧斯卡獎的詹妮弗·哈得孫[Jennifer Hudson]和華麗搖滾歌手亞當·蘭伯特[Adam Lambert]）和星探（瑞安·西克雷斯特[Ryan Seacrest]，他是升級版的迪克·克拉克[Dick Clark]）都成了明星。它創造了無數巡演、專輯和極高的收視率，以及網絡交叉營銷和廣告植入。它是個多平臺巨獸，哪一部分都不浪費。
“Idol” pulled in north of 30 million viewers at its peak, and Fox milked it, expanding the excruciating audition rounds and padding the episodes. Celebrity guests flocked to pitch their wares. It was the biggest thing on TV; at times, it practically seemed like the only thing on TV. Network competitors called the show “the Death Star.”
《美國偶像》在巔峯時期吸引了3000多萬觀衆，福克斯公司充分利用它，擴大折磨人的試唱環節，填充節目內容。名人嘉賓紛紛加入進來。它曾是電視大事件；有時似乎是唯一的電視大事件。網絡競爭者稱這個節目爲“死亡之星”。
But even Death Stars have their vulnerable exhaust ports. Familiarity was one. Mr. Cowell retired his baddie act in 2010, and the judges’ panel went through an identity crisis.
但是就連死亡之星也有自己的弱點。熟悉感就是其中一個弱點。2010年，考埃爾退出，不再擔當反派角色，評委小組經歷了一次身份危機。
Ellen DeGeneres joined for Mr. Cowell’s final year but was too nice to be comfortable with judging. The show fished for star power and cred with Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. In the 2013 season, the open tension between Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj was America’s best telenovela but a distraction from the contestants.
在考埃爾任評委的最後一年，艾倫·德傑納里斯(Ellen DeGeneres)加入進來，但是她太和善，對評判別人感到不適。節目組繼續尋找大腕，請來了詹妮弗·洛佩茲(Jennifer Lopez)和史蒂文·泰勒(Steven Tyler)。在2013年那一季中，瑪利亞·凱莉(Mariah Carey)和妮基·米納傑(Nicki Minaj)之間明顯的不和成爲美國最好的電視肥皂劇，不過轉移了觀衆對選手的注意力。
The ratings declined, gently at first, and the “Idol” pop-star spigot began trickling dust. The show stopped producing big new stars around the time that YouTube emerged as a musical force, and that’s probably no coincidence.
後來，收視率開始略微下降，《美國偶像》製造流行音樂明星的龍頭開始生鏽。在YouTube成爲一股音樂勢力之後，《美國偶像》造不出新的大明星了——這很可能不是巧合。
The problem for “Idol” was not so much that reality TV went away — it’s still all over cable and the networks — but that “reality,” the cultural force of authenticity and disintermediation, had dispersed into social media.
《美國偶像》的問題不是電視真人秀過氣了——有線電視臺和公共電視臺還有很多真人秀節目——而是“真人”（真實性和非中介性的文化勢力）消散到社交媒體中了。
“Idol,” both as TV show and talent platform, depended on your investment in the contestants as you watched them grow. (“The Voice” was in many ways a better music show, more current and less corny, but the competition among its judges overshadows that among the singers, which may be why it’s never created an “Idol”-scale star.)
作爲一個電視節目和才藝展示平臺，《美國偶像》靠的是你對選手的情感投入，靠的是你看着他們成長（從很多方面講，《美國之聲》[The Voice]是一個更好的音樂節目，更追隨潮流，不那麼煽情，但是評委之間的競爭蓋過了歌手之間的競爭，這也許是它從未創造出一個“偶像”級明星的原因）。
Now social media creates that investment. It helps new artists break out (see the Vine star Shawn Mendes) and lets established ones like Taylor Swift and Kanye West make their Instagram and Twitter feeds into a kind of do-it-yourself(ie) reality show. Some of the biggest latter-era reality hits, like “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” are those that best integrate TV and social-media fame.
現在，社交媒體創造出了那種情感投入。它幫助新藝術家們取得突破（比如手機應用程序Vine上的明星肖恩·門德斯[Shawn Mendes]），讓泰勒·斯威夫特(Taylor Swift)和坎耶·韋斯特(Kanye West)等明星把自己的Instagram和Twitter發文變成一種自助（包括自拍）真人秀。近期最熱門的一些真人秀是把電視與社交媒體的名聲結合得最好的節目，比如《與卡戴珊姐妹同行》(Keeping Up With the Kardashians)。
“Idol” tried to harness this power, implementing Twitter voting and hashtagging itself to distraction. It only seemed sadder for it. “Idol” had become what it was born to be the antithesis of: the old music business.
《美國偶像》努力利用社交媒體的影響力，採取Twitter投票的方式，瘋狂地給自己加標籤。不過這只是讓它顯得更悲哀。《美國偶像》已經成了它誕生時所對抗的東西：舊的音樂商業模式。
Curiously, “Idol” became a pretty good TV show again these last couple of seasons. It’s moved beyond the Cowell-era idea that its singers are mere clay for judges to mold, casting more independent-minded performers. The current panel of Ms. Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban is more craft-focused, offering musically detailed and specific critiques. It became a kind of classy, almost niche, music-nerd show (with diminished ratings to match).
奇怪的是，《美國偶像》的最近幾季再次變得非常精彩。它已經超越了考埃爾時代的觀念——歌手只是粘土，要靠評委塑造——而是挑選了更多具有獨立思想的表演者。目前由洛佩茲、小哈里·康尼克(Harry Connick Jr.)和基思·厄本(Keith Urban)組成的評委小組更注重技藝，提供從音樂角度講詳細而具體的批評意見。它變成一種經典的——幾乎是小衆的——專注音樂的節目（收視率也隨之降低）。
But by that point, it had grown too huge (and, like most aging hits, too expensive) to shrink and survive. “American Idol” defined itself by the standard of megastardom, which holds that once you make it big, the only answer is to swell bigger and bigger, like a balloon. Until, finally, you go pop.
但是，它現在已經變得非常龐大（和大部分播了很久的熱門節目一樣，也變得非常昂貴），很難縮小規模並存活下去。《美國偶像》按照巨星的標準定義自己，那就意味着，它一旦變大，只會膨脹得越來越大，就像氣球一樣——直到最後破裂。
