CARISSA MARSH
A&E Editor
Hello. My name is Carissa and I am a Diddy-aholic. Let me rephrase that: I am a Making the Band 3-aholic. No I don’t tune into American Idol every week, I don’t care if you can dance and I am no longer so certain that America has true talent. But when it comes to MTV’s Making the Band 3, I am obsessed.
For those not so familiar with the show, here’s a brief recap.
After two long seasons of searching and a lot of singing, dancing and drama, Diddy finally made a band: Aubrey, Aundrea, Dawn, Shannon and Wanita or “D. Woods.”
Season three, by far my favorite season, followed the girls through the ups and downs of recording their first CD and getting ready to go on tour. And in the end they finally had a name — Danity Kane — taken from Dawn’s anime superhero drawing.
On those oh-so unfortunate Thursday nights that I was actually out of my house this summer, I would lament to my friends that I was missing my beloved 9 p.m. show, recalling the episode where the girls swoon over the exterminator guy they called to take care of the mice problem in their luxury Soho apartment, or the passion in choreographer Laurie Ann’s voice as she yelled her notorious “boom-kat” chant.
But I can’t help but remember my mother’s utter confusion when she sat down to watch Danity’s Kane’s “Making the Video” for their first single, “Show Stopper.” Half-way through the song she turned to me perplexed and asked, “What is this about?”
As I tried to explain the joys of “show stopping at the latest spot” and “the ride shinin’ with the open top” I came to the sudden realization that perhaps the music is not that good. Have I been blinded by the power of reality TV? Has rooting for the girls for the past three seasons and seemingly getting to know them warped my sense of true musical talent?
And did I only buy the album, which came out Aug. 22, because I watched the show? Whatever the case, it made me think.
And while I hate to say it, I do wonder how long Danity Kane will last. The track record for performance-based reality show stars is mixed and the overall prognosis is not good. Just think of O-Town, “Popstars” group Eden’s Crush (of which Pussy Cat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger is a former member), Fox’s “Idol” winners Fantasia and Reuben Studdard, and the hip-hop group Da Band, also known as Diddy’s first attempt at making a band.
Even more conventionally conceived pop groups have not survived the test of time or the pull of solo stardom. Look at NSync, Backstreet Boys, and more recently, Destiny’s Child. Another music entertainment shocker: Scherzinger is working on a solo album. I am not sure I can deal if the Pussy Cat Dolls go kaput.
Still, Danity Kane’s album was number one on iTunes Tuesday and the group’s MySpace page has almost 6 million profile views — and we all know that MySpace is the number one telltale sign of success. With nearly 200,000 friends, they’re only going up.
So for now I will hold on to DK as they soar into pop superstardom. I might be obsessed, but at least I am not in denial.
08-28-2006
