Fox Television and American Idol selected a handful of Entertainment Journalist to interview Scott Borchetta who is Taylor Swift’s Manager and American Idol Mentor.
The question I have is actually when somebody does win, what do you feel is going to be the most important element? Obviously the singing, Is it going to be their social media, writing songs with someone, touring—where do you see the real power to make a super star after they’ve come off of American Idol.
Scott If we get it right, it’s everything. You’ve got to have the total package. You’ve got to have your artistic image and impact completely specific, clear, everybody knows what this is, and then it is a continued everyday grind of all of the things that we have to do, because we’ve got to have great music.
If I don’t come out with great music, you’re going to go, “Oh, okay great, we had this great season, the ratings were good, the show got picked up, everything’s rocking, and oh wow, the record sucks.” So, we’ve got to make sure the music is right, and I think the other elements will reveal themselves by the time that we get to May 13th. So probably mission critical for me when we get that far is to make sure that we have great music to back all of this up.
Okay. Any advice you’d give somebody who wants to try to get on Idol next year?
Scott Yes, pay attention, because we’re going to show you more than ever before on how to get a leg up and come into the auditions for next year. I hope to better prepare anybody, any young artist, wannabe, etc., better than ever, and any time before, to have a better understanding of what is most important coming into this. And also for the parents, as well. We’re going to give you more information this year than ever before about how to do this.
How did American Idol producers convince you to do this?
Scott You know, it was really interesting, because we’ve been talking about it for a little while, and I think the way that the psychology has changed in the 14 years, now that the show is in its 14th season, in so many conversations over the last 3 or 4 years when I’m talking to new artists who are looking to get a record deal, to figure out how to have a career, American Idol started showing up as one of the consistent talking points of, like, “I can bang it out in the clubs, I can do online, I can go do this, I can try for out American Idol, I can do—” I’m like, whoa, whoa, whoa, back up to that. And I think, because you have a generation now that has grown up with American Idol, I had to look at it as what I believe it to be, which is a great A&R and artist development opportunity. And with Idol giving me the opportunity to work behind the scenes with a contestants and develop them one-on-one, we’re going to have a huge audience every week to do that in real time. It was a challenge that we wanted to take on.
What do you hope to accomplish as a mentor? What kind of work do you think you’ll be able to do in this environment?
Scott Well, I look at this, again, just the same way that we sign any artist. It’s all about development. So my goal is, when that winner is announced on May 13th, that on May 14th we are bringing a significant new recording artist into the market. And all of the TV shows—when the show’s over, the show’s over. Well, the career isn’t over, and so Big Machine is going to continue to work diligently in the continued development of whoever wins.
Can I get a quick take from you on a couple of contestants Quentin and Joey. They both seem to be stylistic outliers a little bit; they’re doing their own thing. How are they fitting into this and what have you suggested to them about following through and winning?
Scott Well, I love that you brought up those two, because one of the missions for me, as well, in the show is for all of the kids out there that are watching and might not have been interested in the past because maybe they were thinking they were too left of center to do well on a show like this. I think this season, you know, you throw in Jax and a couple of others who are really bringing a lot of artistic vision to the show to begin with and it’s been great for me because I’m always looking for what are those extraordinary and different qualities that I can work with to help bring to the forefront, because the reality is, the next superstar is on the edge of the mainstream.
If you look at the most successful artists, you don’t want more of what you already have. You want to add a color. You want to hear something different on the radio. You want to be able to have a platform like this, be able to break the next Lady Gaga, to be able to break the next Eric Church, to be able to break an edgier artist that’s on the edge of the mainstream, and that’s what I love about Quentin and Joey and Jax and some of the others. They are individuals and I’m very excited about them.
I was wondering one other thing, speaking of just how hard it is to launch new singers these days. I know there’s been some talk in the country music world, and someone made the statement, “If you’re not on country radio, you don’t exist.” I’m just wondering what you think about that statement; if you think that has any truth to it.
Scott It depends which lane you want to be in, because that is a very broad statement and you could shoot holes in it all day long. You can look at an artist like Sturgill, who has a fantastic career that he has built from the ground up. You can look at several different artists that are just a little bit to the left of center that have built great careers. Now, if you want to play in the mainstream country game, you’re not going to win it if you’re not winning it at mainstream country. But I look at that as a very specific thing. It’s like, “This is what I want to do.” Well this is a big part of it.
So our question for you is, obviously, Taylor Swift is such a great singer/songwriter, songwriting-turned-niche, and there are lots of contestants that have very interesting styles this year that you’ve already mentioned, so what is the industry missing that one of this year’s American Idol contestants has to offer, that maybe has never been out there before?
Scott That’s a great question, because I’m always looking for some of the things I feel are missing. And right now, if you look at pop radio, it’s really been dominated by female artists. I think there’s a huge opportunity for a couple of male pop artists. So, that’s something that I’m looking out for. There are a couple of other things that I’m not going to mention because they haven’t been done yet, and I don’t want to give away any secrets. But we’re always looking for that lane that is open and how to fill those spots. But it gets back to really being unique and having an artistic vision and having something to say. I think we have contestants on the show this year that can do that.
Alright. And this year more than ever, we’re noticing so much movement on stage, even from the most inexperienced artists or the youngest ones. Has that been something that you’ve really focused in with the contestants on is their stage presence and really making a mark early on?
Scott Yes, definitely been involved in that conversation. It’s not just me, but I think with my own background and working with artists, literally from zero to hero, understanding how to use the stage and where to be and what do to with the camera, and we’ve really been super focused on making sure that every time you get on stage, it is a performance. It doesn’t have to be overdone, but understand that the 90 seconds you get, the 2 minutes you get, you can move the needle, and understand that every note counts.
So, I’m curious. So far, being a mentor this year, what has surprised you the most that you didn’t expect?
Scott You know, a lot of the things that I really came into this with my eyes open and my mouth shut, just to learn the program, understand how the entire production works together. I’ve been so impressed how this team takes care of each other. From the judges, all the way down to every piece of this production, it’s really incredible and it’s really blown me away about how much everybody cares about the show.
Watching the judges interact, especially during Hollywood Week and the Green Mile, and seeing how much Jennifer and Keith and Harry take so much time and care in trying to make sure they do the best job possible. You never know that coming from the outside. It’s like you see an hour or two of television every week and you don’t know everything that goes into it. There’s so much love and care that goes into the show, it’s blown me away.
We’re used to having two shows a week and I think previously that’s really helped us to get to know the contestants, because you’re seeing them twice a week. How do you think going to one night is going to impact that part of the show, because it has been an important factor previously?
Scott Yes, you know, I think we’ve got to do a great job on sending everybody to AmericanIdol.com, because we have so much content, so much more than we could ever put on television there, and you can really learn a lot more about them by just a couple of clicks. So I think that’s really the message for our Idol fans and watchers, is to make sure you’re going to AmericanIdol.com. There is so much cool stuff online, and that’s just the way of the world now.
American Idol is shown around the world. How important is it for you for the winner to reach outside of America?
Scott It’s very important and one of the things I’ve talked to some of the team about in the past—you know, if you look at some of the bigger artists that have broken here—I think Kelly Clarkson has done a great job of really doing the work, putting the time in to become a global artist. And you look at some of the others that didn’t take advantage of that. Something that we did with Taylor very early on, as soon as we saw that we were going to have a good foothold here, we got her off the continent to make sure that we could grow her fan base globally in real time.
You never want to leave any territory out because you never want any fan, anywhere in the world to feel, “Oh, well, they don’t care about me.” Well, we care about every fan, so it’s going to be a very important piece of this. Anywhere we see interest, we’re going to try to address it.
You know, often people talk about that intangible quality in a future star. How do you instinctively know who has that quality, and is it an instant reaction for you, or is it a feeling that sort of develops over time?
Scott More often than not, the artist that we have at the Big Machine Label Group, it was within the first five minutes. It’s like, “Oh my God, I love this person. Lock the doors. Don’t let them leave.” And I don’t know what it is. I can’t tell you exactly what it is. I can’t put my finger on it. I just feel that myself and my A&R team know it when we see it, and it is that intangible, and there is a charisma about it. It’s like those handful of people just have more juice than the rest of us. And so, I wish I could give you a checklist and go, “Okay, if you have these ten things, it’s all going to work.” It’s never like that. And it’s never the same way twice.
And just as a follow-up to that, I know you can’t say who, but have you had that moment with any of the Top 12?
Scott Yes.
