Britney: Entertaining, If Unqualified

After much speculation, Britney Spears has been confirmed as the next recruit to judge a hyper-sensationalized televised singing competition (the ‘X Factor’) for a record $15 million a year.

Britney is a commercially successful celebrity, and she will undoubtedly add a lot of energy to the show. With all due respect to Ms. Spears, her contributions will be entertaining but likely not substantive: I don’t believe anyone expects her to provide a great deal of technical expertise in the art of singing. To be fair, very few people are qualified to do so, but it doesn’t lessen the problem that this presents.

The real problem—independent of Ms. Spears’ inclusion as a judge—is that these shows delude us from an artistic standpoint. On the one hand, they inflate our egos and desire for fame, and on the other, they degrade the importance of a strong work ethic and flatten the musical intelligence of the audience. Reality competition-style singing shows, in particular, have to come to terms with their responsibilities. They should not only strive to entertain the audience, but also to educate, enlighten, and help us achieve higher levels of awareness of the art form.

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