This wasn't the blog I was meant to write tonight. It is the second blog I've written about an artist in the past few days and I am more than pleased with the response it has gotten. I'm supposed to be writing my overall review of last night's episode but given the sidetracked nature of my evening, I decided to put that on hold until Friday and just concentrate on a very interesting evening with the ladies of Lakoda Rayne online.
In what seems like is becoming second nature for me, I just spent a late night online with a live internet broadcast with singers from a reality television singing competition. What started off as a very contrived and forced experiment, one in which Paige Elizabeth Ogle didn't even initially think was a good idea, has turned into a genuine collaboration of sisters determined to prove that second chances matter and that all it takes to survive a singing show is hard work and momentum on top of natural talent and dedication.
Only Dani Knights was not seen at all at any given point. Hayley Orrantia, who pleasantly surprised me when given more screen time in tonight's broadcasted episode of The X Factor, adorably had her parents in other rooms or at least off camera online as part of the late night chat session. At one point Hayley had to tell her father that he was on twice.
Paige and Cari Fletcher were broadcasting in a green painted bathroom at the Fletcher residence somewhere in Wall Township, New Jersey and it was these two I was most thoroughly amused by. Despite knowing each other for mere months at this point, they clearly act like lifelong friends and you would never suspect that they are anything but two teenage girls that fully enjoy playing off of each other, especially for the camera.
Having just interacted with Lily Elise of The Voice just the other night on her live Stickam broadcast, I was wondering what the level of discipline would be for the young ladies of Lakoda Rayne. Lily surprised me the other night. She was able to keep it mostly on subject, although she was also promoting a new single that was just hours away from hitting iTunes, so that definitely helped. Despite all the expected adolescent frivolities, the girls wisely kept the topic of discussion on target while also soliciting additional questions when there seemed to be a lack of interrogative viewers.
The viewing totals were admittedly rather low. There were probably a few factors to explain that away. First off, they were on a smaller broadcast site. In fact, the word tiny is even in it. Secondly, they were experiencing great technical difficulties and it ultimately proved to be too much for Hayley as she called it a night just shortly before Dani Knights' typed messages stopped appearing.
Despite this, Paige and Cari didn't miss a beat. The show thankfully went on because it was definitely worth soldiering through endless technical difficulties. These broadcasts are not without limitations but they are also not without advantages. It humanizes contestants. It shows us their more natural personalities and you get to see them, completely unedited, in real time. There are no misleading cutting jobs that you cynically assign manipulative intentions to as the most melodramatic events unfold before your eyes on national television. And it's more than possible that if the girls advance that they will start to show us more and more of that personality.
The technical difficulties prevented me from hearing my own questions being answered sometimes. The site broke off when I was hearing them tell me what instrument Hayley plays but Cari plays guitar and piano, and I believe it was Paige that they said also plays the piano - or possibly guitar. Or perhaps it was Dani. At any rate, I'll straighten it out soon enough. I had felt once the judges assembled this group that they might be in the same mold of The Dixie Chicks should they survive. I eagerly await seeing how on point my assessment is about these young country ladies and how they fare on that front.
The girls are young. They are all very lovely and quite attractive and they all have very strong commercial potential should they make it to the live rounds. There seemed to be a Freudian slip on Cari's part when she said that it was their goal moving forward was to win it all and the way she said it seemed to indicate that they are on their way to being voted on by the public but this is all still speculation on my own part. They were having a hard enough time figuring out how to say Himay Co. (pronounced HIGH-may) but I was not one to take offense. I was enjoying the broadcast too much to even give a damn about my own selfish pride.
As with the other manufactured group InTENsity, it will be very curious to see how far Lakoda Rayne advances. While the former will possess all kinds of both advantages and disadvantages of being a ten person ensemble, I also strongly believe that despite the girls themselves feeling that their Top 32 performance felt somewhat incomplete, that if given the chance to move on that the possibilities of tighter chemistry are boundless. I had begun to worry after just the first two episodes that the show might not live up to the hype but I uncharacteristically foolishly underestimated the genius of Simon Cowell and company. They saw something that separately might not have survived in individualistic capacities but as a foursome could become an incredibly viable entity both on the show and beyond.
Don't be surprised if the two fostered groups end up becoming two of the biggest success stories of the season. I still believe that Emily Michalak is still too strong to not be a solo artist and hence confined to a ten person group, and the numbers just seem to be too silly to truly succeed once the competition ends for InTENsity to pan out in the real world, but one thing for sure with these groups is that the four seasoned pros have found the shrewdest and equally importantly economic avenue for maximizing strong young talent. Fletcher confirmed when I asked them about their post-show future that they plan on taking Lakoda Rayne past the expiration of their time on The X Factor and it would still be very interesting to see in a Season 2 if they don't make the cut this time, to see them all return as Lakoda Rayne and all.
Still, I believe they made the cut. Based on Cari's quasi-slip, Paula's understanding of their thrown to the wolves like situation, and just the overall potential viability as a widely popular all-female group, all things seem to point towards an advancement of Lakoda Rayne into the Top 16 and at least well earned speculation of a possible return effort in Season 2 even if they don't. I certainly hope so. While Cari Fletcher might not know much baseball, and while Paige might love teasing her about it as she declares her love for Ray Lewis and the boys in her native Baltimore, Maryland, there is no doubt that they could sneak up on some people enough to the point that they are hidden in broad daylight.
We will find out Sunday Night, barring more baseball oriented diversions, if they do indeed move on. They really have bonded for real. That's not just some on camera gimmickry they are deploying in the search for public support. They are both fun and funny, too young to be too scared of the stage and all of its possible success, but not too old to be above making booger references and if you don't get that then you weren't there and just don't know what you were missing. If they continue to build upon their personal chemistry, then that might just be changing soon enough.
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(Jamie Cole is a Lawrenceville, NJ based freelance social media and marketing consultant, writer, blogger, artist/musician, and recovering high school athlete. Follow him on Twitter.)
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