We Decide Lee And Crystal’s Post-‘Idol’ Career Moves

Becky Bain | May 26, 2010 10:53 am

Either Crystal Bowersox or Lee DeWyze will be crowned the winner of American Idol Season 9 tonight—but which of them will have the real career? Last night’s show seemed to tip in the dred-headed lady’s favor, but even if she does take the title, we know that winning Idol seems less and less a predicator of success. After thinking long and hard about it, we’ve figured out all the post-Idol moves Mama Sox and Mr. DeWyze need to make to ensure they have careers now that they’re both headed to the big leagues.

Lee DeWyze should definitely get himself a band à la Daughtry—we see Lee more as a frontman than a solo guy like John Mayer. He should hook up with producer Rob Cavallo (who also produced David Cook’s debut album) and work on a 70s-inspired rock album, since he nailed it with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” and we think Lee would flourish with that kind of sound. (We love you, Lee, but stay away from Bono.) Once the album is out, we see Lee doing a tour of college campuses to start things off instead of a bigger tour. (Hey, it makes sense, since he does resemble every guy you dated in college.)

What Lee should not do is try to cram his voice into songs that are too big for him. If “Kiss From a Rose” and last night’s “Beautiful Day” is any indication, Lee isn’t great at going into his falsetto. Basically, he has to truly know how limited his vocal range is and stay in his comfort zone, since he really excels at songs that favor gut emotion rather than wowing with any sort of vocal acrobatics.

Crystal Bowersox should hook up with Glen Ballard and co-write an emotional, soulful album—think Alanis Morissette’s acoustic re-release of Jagged Little Pill to imagine the vibe we’re after. If not Ballard, we’d love Jewel or Patty Griffin (who penned the gorgeous number “Up To The Mountain” Bowersox delivered last night) to co-write a song or two with the likeminded singer. (Sorry, Kara, we don’t want Crystal going anywhere near you, as you seem to write great songs for everybody except Idols.) She could climb on board the next incarnation of Lilith Fair, or even tour with Lee DeWyze, which would be a pretty perfect double bill. Then they could reprise their lovely duet “Falling Slowly” until they totally get sick of the song!

What Crystal should not do is defy the Idol gods—not yet, anyway. She seems quite comfortable in her humble musical niche, and we definitely want to hear the gal who thrilled us all season long on her debut album. But we’d hate to see her struggle and ultimately fall by the wayside because of fighting for creative control from Sony folks. What she needs to do is score a big radio hit, then she can bitch about where she wants to perform or what kind of direction she wants to go in for album number two.

As far as the rest of our favorites from Season 9?

Siobhan Magnus should go back to her musical theater roots and head to Broadway. (Is there an opening in the Rock of Ages cast alongside Season 5 Idol Constantine Maroulis?) Either that, or front a punk-rock band of all girls, like a modern day Runaways. We would totally pay money to go see Siobhan wail and stage dive.

Michael Lynche should write some earnest love songs (and a few sexy ones, too) and do something unexpected to stand out in the crowd of R&B singers. We’d hate to the see Big Mike fall to the same fate as Ruben Studdard, who released mostly generic ballads that barely generated any buzz. He should take a cue from Maxwell’s BLACKsummers’night concept albums to kick him off in the right direction.

Casey James should definitely go the southern-country route like Bo Bice, and stick to simple acoustic songs instead of anything overproduced, and we think he could flourish either as a solo artist or with a backing band.

Katie Stevens and Aaron Kelly should finish high school and take some singing lessons. Don’t take that as a major diss—they’re young and have potential, and they could get much, much better in the next few years.

And as for smiley guy Tim Urban, he better get himself an agent and pursue TV projects, because singing just ain’t his thing, dawg. We better see Tim on the inevitable remake of Models Inc. or whatever other Aaron Spelling show has yet to have a 2010 retread.