The gig might come with a huge paycheck, but there are some costs of judging on “American Idol.”
Namely, when you deliver a vocal performance that is not up to the technical bar expected of contestants on the show, you are going to be obliterated by social media users.
Steven Tyler, who opened Sunday’s AFC Championship game with a rendition of the National Anthem, is experiencing that heat.
While he did give fans an irrefutable reason for condemnation–he messed up the lyric “the bombs bursting in air”– most of the criticism is simply due to complaints about the quality of his vocals.
And that is where the elevated standard comes into play. Tyler seemed shaky, uncomfortable and undoubtedly less-than-stellar from a technical standpoint, but this was not too far below the caliber of performance that would historically be expected of Tyler; the live audience, in fact, popped huge for his signature screech at the very end.
Had Tyler not been tasked with determining the fate of aspiring singers, this performance likely would have had an easier time flying under the radar.