So, did you see the World Idol final? Now, of course, I think these things (Idol, Fame Academy, Popstars etc.) are a great laugh, though it’s mostly quite hard to take the music very seriously (on the other hand, it’s mostly quite hard to take the current chart-toppers in general seriously, too), but it’s hard not to be swept along on the tide of enthusiasm when Kurt Nilsen from Norway shatters the competition – which included the American Kelly Clarkson and the British Will Young, both of whom have sold tons of records “at home”. Mind you, lots of fuss has been made over Kelly Clarkson’s sales of 2.5 million records. Well, in comparison Kurt has sold 75000, which doesn’t sound like much. However, while the population of the USA is 295,682,570 and Kelly has been launched in several additional countries, Kurt’s audience so far has been Norway’s approximately 4.5 million. So, if you take Kurt’s sales of 0.016 records per inhabitant and multiply by the US population, you’ll see he’s sold the equivalent of 4.9 million.
Anyway, it’s reassuring to see that even the world audience (well, except the arabic countries, who voted contrarily to everyone else) appreciates a great voice and stage presence over picture perfect good looks. It’s going a bit far to call Kurt ugly, I think (though Simon Callow does not seem to have thought so), but he’s hardly poster pretty. For starters he’s got a gap between his front teeth the size of… Well, lets just say its big. He’s also been called “a hobbit”, which I suspect is not meant as a compliment, but surely the hobbits are kinda cute? Charm he has in bucketfuls, though. Mind you, the attention given to his looks – or lack thereof – might even have worked in his favour, creating sympathy and shifting the focus to the fact that, as the judges said, if it had been a contest on radio he’d have walked it. Voicewise he was just miles ahead of the competition, and yes, that includes Kelly Clarkson.
Congratulations, Kurt. I still don’t think I’m actually going to buy your records, but I’m rooting for you in the world market. It’s time we had someone to rival A-ha on an “international fame” basis. I’ve been sick of Harket’s smarmy smugness for 15 years at least.
Voice in my head: Kurt Nilsen singing Beautiful Day, naturally
Kurt Nilsen is the BEST i tell you. He is from Norway like me. Hehe… He lives in Bergen and I in Austevoll. Austevoll is not far from Bergen. He is the best ever. He was much better than Kelly Clarkson and Will Young I tell you.
Perhaps not The Best… Not even by a long stretch. And, you know, I’m from Norway too…