By Danny Deza
What do you get when you combine bisexual, snotty girls from Hollywood and a blonde pop star who lives a double life? Ratings and music careers. For the past few years, TV stars have been crossing into the music scene, infiltrating the Billboard charts and affecting what we watch and hear. And unfortunately, many fans are there to support them.
With stars rising from shows like “American Idol” and “Hannah Montana,” one cannot ignore a new trend of TV stars winning over music fans. I’m guilty of enjoying “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila.” Yes, I know, a bit embarrassing, but the point remains the same: Behind the scenes, Tila was trying to build a music career off her Playboy, MySpace and newfound reality TV fame.
Sitcom stars have snuck into the picture, too, conquering Billboard charts and, in some cases, creating pure pandemonium among fans seeking concert tickets.
The trend of both sitcom stars and reality TV stars trying to make it big in the music industry, to be honest, scares me. I’ve read about dozens of small girls and crazy mothers going to extremes to get Hannah Montana concert tickets, like those mothers who have shaved their heads or gotten into fist fights at Ticketmaster box offices. Television has become a vital tool for many TV stars who have hopes of making it big as music icons. But when is enough enough?
Miley Cyrus, better known as the fictional TV show character Hannah Montana, has dominated concert box offices this year. She immediately sold out her concert tour, forcing 6-year-old girls to participate in elaborate contests in the hopes of getting their small hands on this year’s hottest tickets.
In Tampa, Jody Powel clung to a 12-foot statue for six days as part of a contest to win a pair of Hannah Montana tickets. The contest was called “Last Man Standing” where 20 contestants had to place one hand on a 400-pound statue of Hannah Montana. Each contestant was only allowed a 12-minute break every three hours. Powel, who was declared the winner, received the tickets and a $5,000 cash prize.
Think that’s crazy? It gets worse.
In December 2007, a 6-year-old girl in Dallas wrote a heartbreaking essay to win the prize of her dreams: Hannah Montana tickets. The piece sent contest sponsor Club Libby Lu, a Chicago-based clothing store, to the feet of this little girl, hoping to make her happy by giving her the prize. But why? The essay started with this powerful line:
“My daddy died this year in Iraq.”
Gripping, but false. The story was merely a fabricated lie, written by a mother who wanted to get ahead of the other contestants. In an interview with KDFW-TV of Dallas, mother Priscilla Ceballos said, “We did the essay and that’s what we did to win. We did whatever we could do to win.” The contest’s sponsor withdrew the prize the next day and awarded it to another contestant.
Actors in scripted sitcoms are not the only ones jumping on the bandwagon. After all, you can’t turn on the TV without seeing what the crazy kids from the “Real World” are up to, or who will become the next supermodel. And similar to their sitcom counterparts, it is becoming expected for reality stars to make the next step as musicians, whether they have the talent or not. Perhaps it is their last attempt to extend their 15 minutes of fame.
I think when Heidi Montag, MTV’s beloved villain from “The Hills,” received a record deal, she appeared merely the latest in a line of starlets hopping on the TV-to-radio bandwagon in recent years. The idea of a becoming a musical “artist” has become a checkpoint in the career of many TV stars. It is only a tool for money and glamour, not substance.
Whether young girls go crazy about their favorite sitcom pop stars, or the guilty pleasures of reality television that not only consume our social lives but also our playlists, TV stars’ successes are masking the meaning of a true musical artist.
It’s time we get a reality check.
– Danny Deza can be reached at [email protected].
