Everyone is looking for talent these days. First, American Idol, now it’s America’s Got Talent, even Oprah has had a singing contest on her show. Well warm up your vocal chords and get your pens ready. Avon has decided to throw it’s hat into the talent search ring. Avon has decided to throw its hat into the talent seeking contest. Yes, we’re talking about the cosmetics company. Avon is holding a global online talent search for a female singer.
Why would they do such a thing? They want to empower and inspire women to share their voice, their song, their story. Truly a unique campaign for a cosmetics company. I couldn’t help but wonder if former Avon fragrance spokeswoman, Jennifer Hudson inspired the Avon team to come up with this one. After all she was a contestant on American Idol and launched the Imari fragrance with them a few years ago, before being replaced with Keri Hilson. To enter you have to upload a video of you singing one of the preselected tunes found on their website. The contest begins December 1.
So who’s going to makeup the panelist of judges? So far, we know of six-time Grammy award winner, Fergie of Black Eyed Peas fame and songwriter extraordinaire, Diane Warren. Why a songwriter? Well, Avon isn’t just looking for a singer. This is also a songwriting competition. They’ll be looking for songwriters to pen verses with themes of empowerment. The songwriting competition is open to both women and men.
Speaking of singing contest, The Steve Harvey Morning Show has a weekly singing competition called Radio Star. Talk about hilarious. Well whenever Steve and the crew come across someone who can really “sang”, Steve asks them their height and weight. Some may be taken aback by this, but I understand it. On occasion, he’s tried to hook people up with work and we all know that the music business cares more about how you look than how you sound-auto tune balances out the difference.
Well, last week Steve came across a real “sanger”. Her version of God Bless The Child, made you think, Fantasia who? Things were going well, and I was considering buying her first album until Steve asked about her weight. She had already stated she was 4’11”, nothing wrong with being petite. So when she said she weighed 190 or so pounds. There was a moment of silence. Then Steve described her as a floor model, a deep freezer, little refrigerator and so on.
I felt bad for her. Some may be taken aback by this, but I understand it. Remember, he is a comedian. On occasion, he’s tried to hook talented singers up with work and we all know that the music business cares more about how you look than how you sound-auto tune balances out the difference. Now I will say this, that as he went in on the contestant he asked his crew to name successful singers that are not as svelte.
It took a minute but I could only come up with Angie Stone. Love Angie, but she doesn’t fit the prototype and still cranks out the hits. And Angie’s not shy about telling you that it’s not easy. While Jennifer Hudson would have fallen into this category just last year, she’s now the spokeswoman for Weight Watchers. Then there’s Janet Jackson, who admits she loves food but will drop 20, 40 or 60 pounds in a heartbeat before she drops a CD. With so many entertainers opting for surgeries and “tweakings”, I’m sure that what Steve said about looks and weight is pretty mild to what they hear from their record labels.
I’m just hoping that the caller, “Stacey”, is singing the scales as she works out and not finding comfort with a bag of Oreos. Meanwhile, there’s always Avon. We’re rooting for you!
