“Zero to Hero” – The American Idol Phenomenon and Anoop Desai

I must begin this blog by declaring that I in fact, work in the Entertainment industry and was an American Idol virgin before this season. Now, just like over 20 million other Americans out there, I am addicted to the show. I began watching the show hoping to get a quick glimpse of my friend’s cousin, Anoop Desai, a name I had no idea would be so widely popular and known around America in just a few short weeks.

Back in August my friend sent me videos of her “talented” cousin Anoop, from his performances in the a capella group Clef Hangers from UNC, Chapel Hill. I thought the videos were good, but what quickly caught my eye were the 98,701 views that the “clefhangerfan” channel had received, with their most popular video “The Only One for Me” garnering 210,604 views in less than a year.

From the beginning, Anoop was a memorable contestant or as judge Simon Cowell would say, he was “likeable.” Once Anoop moved effortlessly through auditions, Hollywood Week, and earned a spot in the Top 36, he had become a household name. He performed in the first round of 12 (out of 36) and left the audience cheering for more, but didn’t advance to the top 12 by popular vote. Instead he was saved by the judges in the ever so dramatic “Wild Card” night, and earned the title of the first ever 13th contestant in the show’s history.

After the "Wild Card" show, People.com featured a user generated poll where readers voted on their favorite contestant out of the newly created Top 13.  Prior to his next performance, Anoop was leading in the poll housing 34% of the overall votes.  He was proving to be a fan favorite and I couldn’t wait to watch his performance on the Michael Jackson tribute night.  He chose to sing “Beat It” and totally bombed on stage, leaving Cowell to utter the harshest comment of the evening, stating, “Looking back, I do believe I made a bad decision making the Top 12 a Top13.” Ouch!

By the good graces of the 31 million voters of American Idol, Anoop luckily didn’t get voted off the show.  Anoop’s unpredictable performances are part of his appeal and have earned him some impressive stats. As a 22 year-old contestant, he immediately had a younger fan base from the get go. Barely three weeks into the competition, Anoop already has over 18,533 fans on his official Facebook fan page, 62 other Facebook fan groups, an official website, Noop-dogg.com, with a message board dedicated to the young contestant and over 550 YouTube videos tagged with Anoop Desai. Online buzz and social media has undeniably impacted his fan support each week, and the numbers are growing.

When Anoop came back for Top 10 “Grand Ole Opry” night, he sang the Willie Nelson classic “Always on My Mind” and I can say he surely earned a spot in America’s mind that night.  Following the show, there were over 100 “Anoop is always on my mind” tweets and over 50 YouTube videos uploaded from that single performance; but what American Idol fans will remember most is Simon Cowell’s opinion about the performance. Not only did Cowell retract his statement from the prior week about Anoop belonging in the Top 13, but with a huge, uncharacteristic smile, he said “You’ve just managed to go from zero to hero in one week” and that is exactly what Anoop did. Who knows Anoop’s future on American Idol, but he has already proved to be a favorite on the interwebs. His wide fan base clearly shows America’s support for Anoop and maybe after tonight’s show I might just have to update my Facebook status and show Anoop some online love too!