Ontario rocker wins ‘Canadian Idol’
Hats off to Brian Melo. The raspy Hamilton rocker with a thing for headwear can add the Canadian Idol crown to his wardrobe.
Melo, 25, got the better of five million votes to beat out twangy teen Jaydee Bixby and become the fifth Idol last night. In other words, his life is now complete.
“This is incredible. I didn’t think a year ago I’d be standing here,” said the construction worker who undoubtedly won’t be reporting back to the job site this week.
A glowing Melo embraced family and friends after singing the CTV karaoke competition’s victory song, All I Ever Wanted. The track will instantly become his first single this morning, when it hits airwaves across the country. After last night’s show, Melo signed a contract with Sony BMG, and will soon be off to the recording studio to work on his album, due out in fall. Not a second to waste here, folks.
Despite having been done wrong on national TV, there were no tears in Drumheller, Alta. native Bixby’s beer for a couple of reasons: 1) He’s only 17 and can’t legally drink; and, 2) He’ll have a music career regardless — or at least a regular casino stint impersonating his beloved Elvis.
“No matter what, Jaydee wins because he’s just created such a buzz about himself,” judge Zack Werner said before the final results came in.
A consistently strong Melo clearly had this one in the bag — especially after Bixby “completely bombed” (the singer’s own words) a cover of Bon Jovi’s Who Says You Can’t Go Home and the aforementioned winners single on Monday’s performance show. Hamilton’s Melo continued to pick the right tunes for his hoarse rocker voice — notably Radiohead’s Karma Police — and Canada totally dug it.
But of course, his moments of glory were a measly six minutes at the tail end of a two-hour-long show. If it wasn’t a commercial break, it was a bad cover song. Or worse: a castoff singing a bad cover song. First case in point is the loooong opening Bon Jovi medley, which called on Martha Joy, Dwight d’Eon, Greg Neufeld, and the rest of this year’s Top 10 to give love a bad name, live on a prayer, be there for us, etc. The castoffs returned just 40 minutes later — and 20 minutes after that – to reprise our, uh, favourite performances from the past 10 weeks. Good times.
On the celebrity side of things, Avril Lavigne was first up to perform singles Hot and When You’re Gone off her latest disc, The Best Damn Thing, before making herself scarce. After showing Bixby and Melo a thing or two on Monday’s episode, Bon Jovi returned to tout new album Lost Highway with a performance of the title track. They also revisited the past — not just with their hairdos — but with 1999 single It’s My Life.
And in true Idol tradition, last year’s winner Eva Avila returned to prove she’s still got it. She sang her latest single Fallin’ For You and gave a word of warning to the two possible winners: “You don’t know what you’re into.” Compared to some reality competition finales we’ve seen (cough cough, So You Think You Can Dance), Canuck Idol’s wrap held back on totally pointless filler. Instead of running an hour of clips, producers closed off the season with live hits from Bixby and Melo’s hometowns, a glimpse at this year’s Media Idol competition, a recap of the celeb appearances (yes, more Umbrella-ella-ella) and pre-recorded interviews from the Top 10.
And, just when you thought it was over, CTV yesterday announced a 15-city concert tour starring Melo, Bixby and fellow finalist Carly Rae Jepsen. It kicks off Nov. 18 in Charlottetown and wraps Dec. 12 in Edmonton. Tickets are on sale now. Hurry! If you’re lucky, the trio will make it to your city before they reach their Best Before dates. But not likely. Congrats Brian.
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