That Popstars reboot? It's a 'maybe' from me
Popstars returns with plenty of potential but no reason for being...
Last night, a local television show did something inexplicable as Popstars replaced the 44-year-old institution Fair Go to debut in a prime time slot across both TVNZ 1 & 2. If you’re taking over from Pippa Wetzell and Haydn Jones you’d better be good. So how was this first look at Popstars 2.0? Let’s take a look…
Alex Phillips, an Auckland performer whose biggest fans are his parents, climbs apprehensively onto the Popstars’ stage.
He's sweating through his shirt, giggling anxiously, with a wayward smile plastered on his face.
This is a familiar set-up for talent TV show auditions. Like a lamb to the slaughter, Phillips seems set up to fail.
But this time, it's different. The 19-year-old greets the show's panelists, introduces his self-penned song Overdose, then belts out lyrics so intensely personal and compelling he reduces one of them to tears.
“Oh man - you got me bro,” declares Nathan King, the scarily youthful Zed frontman who places his hand on his heart and wipes his eyes. “What you're doing is just so great.”
Fellow panelists Kimbra and Vince Harder agree, sending Phillips and his “beautiful” song about succumbing to bullying through to the reality show's next round.
Guitarist and singer-songwriter Christabel Williams, 20, did something similar after confidently crooning her way through a bruising breakup anthem about an ex. Her song, called Freedom, also got the judges’ approval.
“It was very hypnotic,” remarked King. “I felt it. For me, that was a definite yes.” She was also sent through to the second round with Phillips.
At this point, half-way through the first episode of a new season of Popstars, it's easy to point out what's missing from this reboot of the 22-year-old reality show.
Where are the flubs? What’s happened to the fails? How come we haven’t seen a lengthy compilation of out-and-out audition shockers?
It's easy to forget that, in 1999 with an all-female group called TrueBliss, Popstars unleashed a monster tidal wave of talent-based TV shows on the world, one that never really stopped.
Many of those, from American Idol to The X Factor, set out to find superstars. Along the way, they became something else: pure car crash entertainment, a chance for the world to laugh at fame-hungry contestants lacking in one major thing - the skills to back up their dreams.
That meant the audition process became the most popular parts of those shows, with producers stretching them out for more than half the season.
Fail compilations - you can search for them all on YouTube - became the main drawcard for many.
Yes, those shows sometimes found talent. Without them, there'd be no Kelly Clarkson, Little Mix or One Direction.
But there'd also be no Simon Cowell, the acerbic judge infamous for his brutal, near-bullying dismissals of pop star wannabes.
Some, including me, might say that's a good thing.
Wisely, this Popstars reboot doesn't do any of that. Despite anxious contestants sitting nervously while waiting for their turn at the first day of Auckland auditions, not a single meltdown moment made it to screen.
It shows this season of Popstars is attempting something different, putting its focus on finding real talent rather than flash in the pans like NZ Idol winner Michael Murphy or The X Factor NZ champion Jackie Thomas.
Throughout this first episode, cynical put-downs and jaded retorts were swapped for genuinely helpful panellists' notes.
The best of those came from Kimbra, who has gone inside the pop-making machine and emerged warm and wise, albeit with a mangled Kiwi-American accent from her time spent living in the US.
It helps that they're dealing with genuine talent, because clearly our country's bedrooms are breeding plenty of it.
Like Julienne Poster, an 18-year-old who performs under the name Lei and writes and produces her own intimate R&B jams.
Or Te Ara Pounamu Pukeroa, who wears a bucket hat to cover his shyness but performs an acoustic original that, with the right studio production, wouldn't sound out of place next to Six60 or L.A.B. on pop radio.
I'm hopeful that my favourite performer, charismatic South Auckland teen Katie-Lee Webster and her delightful song full of gardening metaphors, gets through the next few rounds intact.
Despite its good intentions, Popstars' Monday night debut left one big question unanswered.
All of the show's young artists already have instant access to global audiences via TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
In a world where record labels and talent quest reality shows have diminishing powers, how can the latest iteration of Popstars help these young performers grow their careers - besides offering them a tantalising $100,000 pay day?
Maybe that explanation will come in future episodes. Until then, to steal an over-used line from Kimbra: “It's a maybe from me.”
Popstars airs on TVNZ 2 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. This story first appeared on Stuff.co.nz.