Question & Answer Session

About two weeks ago, I gave you guys the opportunity to ask me questions that I would answer on this blog. I will do this every so often, like every month or two or so. For this session, I got in four questions that I will answer to the best of my ability. These are opinionated questions and so I will express my opinion, hence the nature of Caponomics.

So what is your opinion on Auto-tune?


I don't like it. Simply put, I am not a fan of the use of auto-tune. It is overused and it seems as if they feel that it puts more pizazz to the music and singing that we listen to. It doesn't. Stars such as Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Jamie Foxx, and several more stars have overdone auto-tune so much, that it begins to make it sound as if the music industry has become "Transformers: The Rise Of The Auto-Tune." I prefer a natural, good voice that doesn't need backing up by machines of any kind. That's what the music industry is and should be all about. If a voice isn't good enough, you have instruments to go along with the voice. It's the oldest trick in the book.

There is always exceptions to the rule, and I feel that auto-tune was used well in Adam Lambert's "If I Had You." It was only used a few times and the majority of the song featured Adam Lambert actually singing the lyrics on his own. Plus he is a very talented artist. Aside from that, I could think of very few exceptions in which a machine that multiples your voice in order to create magic (the kind of magic I have no idea) is a good one at that.

What are your thoughts on Donald Trump?

My thoughts are very mixed. I have watched a few seasons of "The Apprentice," and thought they were pretty interesting to watch. However, it's not a reality show that I have to tune into every week. What we all know about Donald Trump is that he has a lot of money, he's a successful businessman, and he's got an ego. With that being said, he's the right person to run "The Apprentice," and he has a wide range of knowledge when it comes to business. As for "The Celebrity Apprentice," I thought the first season was a pretty interesting watch with a good group of contestants. After that, it became more about a group of celebrities and their dysfunctional chemistry and about how their personalities exploded and either made for heated boardrooms or heated confrontations in the hotel rooms. That's network TV though, drama of any kind makes for a good program.

Donald Trump also considered running for president, but has since decided against it. He has run before as a Reform candidate in 2000, since his views were not strictly Republican (or conservative). For 2012, while I wouldn't see him as the worst candidate, I can see many better candidates. Trump knows a lot about the fiscal conservatism and is supportive of it, so that would have been a plus on his side. However, while I'm not the biggest Obama supporter, asking him to show his birth certificate and making that his main issue seemed to be a little too much. My biggest concern has to do with the economy, jobs, money, and finances, not whether or not our president has a legit birth certificate. That happened to cause a lot of waves and when Obama showed his actual birth certificate, that just hurt Trump's agenda. We have many others candidates that may have a tough road ahead of them, but at least know what our priorities are in order to get the nation back into shape.

How does "The Voice" compare to "American Idol"?


The two are both singing competitions that bring in a ton of contestants eager to win the whole thing and impress the judges. However, after looking at what is featured in the competition, "The Voice" looks like it's similar to "The X-Factor," which is coming to America this fall. This is in the way that the judges as individuals play a crucial role in the competition.

As we know about American Idol, the judges decide who they want to send through, and narrow down the field until it becomes live and it's up to the American people to vote. On "The Voice," the audition is a "blind audition" in which the judges are facing away from the singers and if they're impressed by their voice, they press a button that turns their chair around. If one judge does this, they serve as the contestants mentor. If more than one does this, the contestant chooses who they want as a mentor. The judges then narrow down to who will make up the top group.

"The Voice" is something different as to what we have seen before. It strays away from most concepts and brings a feel like that of "The X-Factor." The panel of judges includes current stars such as Cee-Lo Green (originally of Gnarls Barkley), Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine (from Maroon 5), and Blake Shelton. This is a interesting panel that strays away from panels that have so often been overdone. Though American Idol has also done the same thing.

Which Idol from "American Idol 10" do you think will be the most successful?


I'm going to stick to who I picked as my top two, James Durbin and Scotty McCreery. Both are so unique in their genre (James with heavy metal and Scotty with country) that they can go really far and make names for themselves. James will be someone who can throw excellent concerts and create music that will worth blasting over and over again. Scotty will have his performances on country stations across America, attending several country specials, and maybe find a place in the Grand Ole Opry. This has been a strong cast of contestants, but these are the two I feel have the best chance at being the most successful. The others have a good chance at simply fading and becoming typical Idol alumni, like so many contestants have ended up doing.

I hope I was able to thoroughly answer your questions in the best way possible, and you can feel free to submit more questions if you have them. I'll be doing question and answer sessions every month or so.