Sunday, May 20, 2012

IDOL: AVOIDING SONGS 1990s AND BEYOND LIKE THE PLAGUE



EDITOR'S NOTE: NEWEST ARTICLE FOR TODAY. COMPARING IDOL'S SONGS IN 11 SEASONS WITH THE SONGS DONE ON THE SING OFF, THE VOICE, AND THE X FACTOR US. I'M LOOKING FOR HOW MANY SONGS '90s AND BEYOND THAT THESE SHOWS HAVE DONE, COMPARED TO IDOL.

I'll also keep this for posterity, because it's an interesting topic: Songs done on The Voice in two seasons that never been done on Idol for 11 seasons. And there's a ton of them--I think one of those random websites said that the Voice has a pretty high current song rating, and we know how Idol's fossils goes. And given that both are in the US, one would think if it's done on the Voice, it should be on Idol, because there aren't any real clearance issues, right? I'm also going to include the audition songs, and put an asterisk on the ones that weren't done on the finals, but were done elsewhere.



*Also, for kicks, and just to illustrate Idol's growing fossil-ness, I'm going to bold in red anything that's done in the '90s and beyond.

1) Good Girls Go Bad (Cobra Starship)
2) Come As You Are (Nirvana)
3) Paparazzi (Lady Gaga)
4) Sober (P!nk)

5) Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke)
6) The House That Built Me (Miranda Lambert)
7) Bubbly (Colbie Caillat)
8) Hillbilly Bone (Blake Shelton)
9) Stuck Like Glue (Sugarland)
10) Stupid Boy (Keith Urban)
11) Single Ladies (Beyonce)

12) Leather and Lace (Stevie Nicks/Don Henley)
13) Creep (Radiohead)
14) Need You Now (Lady Antebellum)
15) Blow (Ke$ha)
16) Use Somebody (Kings of Leon)
17) Price Tag (Jessie J)
18) When Love Takes Over (Kelly Rowland/David Guetta)
19) Stop And Stare (OneRepublic)
20) Sex on Fire (Kings of Leon)

21) Addicted to Love (Robert Palmer)
22) Everyday People (Sly & The Family Stone)
23) Like A Prayer (Madonna)
24) Whataya Want From Me (Adam Lambert)
25) Losing My Religion (R.E.M.)

26) The Thrill Is Gone (B.B. King)
27) Dog Days Are Over (Florence & The Machine)
28) Honey Bee (Blake Shelton)

29) I Won't Back Down (Tom Petty)
30) Freedom! '90 (George Michael)
31) Beautiful (Christina Aguilera)
33) Good Life (OneRepublic)
34) Because We Believe (Andrea Bocelli)

35) American Girl (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)
36) Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)
37) Calling All Angels (Train)
38) Stay (Sugarland)
39) Already Gone (Kelly Clarkson)
40) I Want It That Way (Backstreet Boys)
41) Say Aah (Trey Songz)
42) Complicated (Avril Lavigne)
43) Find Your Love (Drake)
44) Take A Bow (Rihanna)

45) The Joker (Steve Miller Band)
46) Paris Ooh La La (Grace Potter & The Nocturnals)
47) Let's Get It Started (Black Eyed Peas)
48) Tighten Up (The Black Keys)
49) Mr Know It All (Kelly Clarkson)
50) The Lazy Song (Bruno Mars)

51) Free Fallin' (Tom Petty)
52) Valerie (Amy Winehouse)
53) Babylon (David Gray)
54) You Save Me (Kenny Chesney)
55) Shark In The Water (V V Brown)
56) Chicken Fried (Zac Brown Band)
57) Just Like A Pill (P!nk)

58) You Make My Dreams (Hall & Oates)
59) Rumour Has It (Adele)
60) Dancing With Myself (Generation X)
61) If I Were A Boy (Beyonce)
62) Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)
63) Rehab (Amy Winehouse)
64) Last Name (Carrie Underwood)
65) You Make Me Feel (Cobra Starship/Sabi)
66) So Sick (Neyo)
67) Last Friday Night TGIF (Katy Perry)

68) I'm Goin Down (Rose Royce)
69) Ironic (Alanis Morissette)
70) Pumped Up Kicks (Foster The People)
71) Heart Shaped Box (Nirvana)
72) You Know I'm No Good (Amy Winehouse)

73) Get Outta My Dreams Get Into My Car (Billy Ocean)
74) Wake Up Call (Maroon 5)
75) Stronger (Kanye West)
76) Power (Kanye West)
77) Turning Tables (Adele)
78) Right Through You (Alanis Morrissette)
79) Misery Business (Paramore)
80) Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)
81) Tonight, Tonight (The Smashing Pumpkins)

82) In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel)
83) Ordinary People (John Legend)
84) Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Tears For Fears)
85) Airplanes (Hayley Williams/B.o.cool.gif
86) Walk Like An Egyptian (The Bangles)
87) When You Were Young (The Killers)
88) Are You Gonna Go My Way (Lenny Kravitz)
89) Spotlight (Jennifer Hudson)
90) She's Country (Jason Aldean)
91) Halo (Beyonce)
92) A Little Bit Stronger (Sara Evans)
93) Foolish Games (Jewel)
94) Part Of Me (Katy Perry)

95) Heartache Tonight (The Eagles)
96) Please Don't Go (Mike Posner)
97) It's My Life (Bon Jovi)
98) I'm Like A Bird (Nelly Furtado)
99) Baby One More Time (Britney Spears)

100) Instant Karma! (John Lennon)
101) Torn (Ednaswap)
102) How You Like Me Now? (The Heavy)

103) Ave Maria (Schubert)
104) Skinny Love (Bon Iver)
105) All These Things I've Done (The Killers)
106) Crazy (Gnarls Barkley)
107) 99 Problems (Jay-Z)
108) God Gave Me You (Dave Barnes)

109) Soul Man (Sam & Dave)
110) Bitter Sweet Symphony (The Verve)
111) Wild Ones (Flo Rida/Sia)

111) Rich Girl (Hall & Oates)

Asterisks:
1) Live Like You Were Dying (Keith Urban)--Kris Allen did it in the finale with Keith Urban
2) I Kissed A Girl (Katy Perry)--Idol has used it as an audition song to mock crappy singers
3) American Boy (Estelle/Kanye West)--Janell Wheeler did it AI9 Hollywood week, AI9 group song
4) Breakeven (The Script)--Chris Medina's audition song, AI10
5) I'm Yours (Jason Mraz)--Audition song by Travis Orlando, AI10
6) Teenage Dream (Katy Perry)--Group song top 11 week AI10
7) Mercy (Duffy)--Amazingly, never done on the Idol stage, but a staple of Hollywood group songs
8) Hey Soul Sister (Train)--Group song top 7 week AI10
9) Forget You (Cee Lo Green)--AI10 group song used extensively
10) Chasing Pavements (Adele)--Thia Megia's audition song, AI10
11) Lady Marmalade (Labelle)--Tamyra Gray's audition song, AI1
12) Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (The Andrews Sisters)--Done AI11 Vegas week
13) Burning Love (Elvis Presley)--Done AI11 Vegas Week
14) Fix You (Coldplay)--Colton Dixon, AI11, did it for SFYL
15) The Man Who Can't Be Moved (The Script)--Done AI10 as an audition song
16) Faith (George Michael)--Group song, AI7
17) Hell On Heels (Pistol Annies)--Skylar Laine's audition song AI11
18) Animal (Neon Trees)--AI10 Tour song
19) Baby (Justin Bieber)--Idol has used it as an audition song to mock crappy singers
20) One Of Us (Joan Osborne)--Jermaine Sellers' audition song AI9
21) Grenade (Bruno Mars)--Done extensively AI10 group week
22) Vision Of Love (Mariah Carey) --Tamyra Gray's audition song, AI1, also Lisa Leuschner
23) Jar of Hearts (Christina Perri)--Joshua Ledet of AI11 sang it in round 3 Hollywood week
24) Killing Me Softly (Roberta Flack)--Fantasia's AI3 audition song
25) The Prayer (Celine Dion)--Jessica Sanchez's AI11 SFYL song

And this is probably the only reason I like The Voice—yeah, their contestants are horrendous and the judges are style over substance, but in two seasons they’ve managed to do 112 songs that most likely have never, ever been done on the Idol stage before. Moreover, only 22 of those 112 songs were introduced before the 1990s (in other words, only 19.6% songs are more than two decades old; or on the flip side, 80% of the songs not done on Idol are from the 1990s and beyond). This is a testament both to how current the Voice’s song choices are, and how ancient Idol is in general. And Idol introduces about 120 new songs in the live shows every year, and even more than that with auditions and Hollywood week—and still, the Voice has a ton more new songs than Idol has ever had. You know when people say the Voice is better? It’s their song choices which are really, really kicking Idol’s rear. Seriously.

Not only that, look at the choices—does anyone ever think Jay-Z, Kanye West, Mike Posner will be mixed up with indie types like The Black Keys, The Verve, Bon Iver on Idol? That happened on the Voice—hasn’t happened on Idol. Cool points are also gained with ‘90s classics from R.E.M., Nirvana, and Radiohead, and The Voice can satisfy country enthusiasts with Sara Evans, Jewel, Sugarland, Miranda Lambert and Blake himself. We don’t see that sort of current variety on Idol ever.

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Let's do the same for The Sing Off (now canceled, but way more current than Idol):
*I omitted the Christmas songs from this list.

I'm gonna start this one off by quoting that guy, Shawn Stockman, who will hopefully replace Randy Jackson soon on Idol: "The Sing Off is the first show on TV in primetime to dedicate the whole show to the biggest genre in music right now--which is hip hop." Idol? Idol? Bueller? Bueller?

The Sing Off:
1) Down (Jay Sean)
2) Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel)
3) Drive (Bobby McFerrin)
4) Why Can't We Be Friends? (War)
5) Magical Mystery Tour (The Beatles)
6) Right Round (Flo Rida)
7) Come Sail Away (Styx)
8) Where Is The Love? (Black Eyed Peas)
9) You Don't Own Me (Lesley Gore)
10) Freedom! '90 (George Michael)
11) Pocketful of Sunshine (Natasha Bedingfield)
12) Already Gone (Kelly Clarkson)

13) Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now (Starship)
14) A Hazy Shade of Winter (Simon & Garfunkel)
15) Dancing Queen (ABBA)
16) Hold On (Wilson Phillips)
17) Rehab (Amy Winehouse)
18) Whatcha Say (Jason DeRulo)
19) Happy Ending (Mika)

20) Leaving On A Jet Plane (John Denver)
21) Here I Go Again (Whitesnake)
22) So Long Farewell (Sound of Music)
23) We Gotta Get Out of This Place (The Animals)
24) I Want It That Way (Backstreet Boys)
25) Love In This Club (Usher)
26) Motownphilly (Boyz II Men)
27) Hold My Hand (Michael Jackson feat Akon)
28) Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Tears for Fears)
29) Creep (Radiohead)
30) Come On Eileen (Dexys Midnight Runners)
31) Help! (The Beatles)
32) Down On The Corner (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
33) Gone (Ben Folds)
34) If I Were A Boy (Beyonce)
35) Love Shack (The B-52s)
36) Poker Face (Lady Gaga)
37) Paparazzi (Lady Gaga)
38) Just Dance (Lady Gaga)
39) King Of Anything (Sara Bareilles)
40) Save The Last Dance For Me (The Drifters)
41) Love Train (The O'Jays)
42) Live Your Life (TI feat Rihanna)
43) Pour Some Sugar On Me (Def Leppard)
44) Kyrie (Mr Mister)
45) The Bitch is Back (Elton John)
46) Cooler Than Me (Mike Posner)
47) Changes (David Bowie)
48) You Make My Dreams (Hall & Oates)
49) Grace Kelly (Mika)
50) The Longest Time (Billy Joel)
51) Good Girls Go Bad (Cobra Starship)
52) Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye (Steam)
53) Take A Bow (Rihanna)
54) Leavin' (Jesse McCartney)

55) Home Sweet Home (Motley Crue)
56) The Final Countdown (Europe)
57) Hit The Road Jack (Ray Charles)
58) Goodbye To You (Scandal)
59) Sing (My Chemical Romance)
60) Under Pressure (Queen/David Bowie)
61) Mr Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)
62) Use Somebody (Kings of Leon)
63) 21 Guns (Green Day)

64) Put A Little Love In Your Heart (Jackie DeShannon)
65) Rhythm of Love (Plain White T's)
66) Nothin' On You (B.o.B feat Bruno Mars)
67) This is Halloween (Nightmare before Christmas)

68) Werewolves of London (Warren Zevon)
69) Ghostbusters (Ray Parker Jr)
70) Wake Up (Arcade Fire)
71) I Can't Turn You Loose (Otis Redding)
72) I Got You (I Feel Good) (James Brown)
73) ABC (Jackson Five)
74) Crazy In Love (Beyonce/Jay-Z)
75) Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve)
76) Hollaback Girl (Gwen Stefani)
77) Last Friday Night TGIF (Katy Perry)
78) ET (Katy Perry)
79) Your Love Is My Drug (Ke$ha)

80) Video Killed The Radio Star (The Buggles)
81) Love Lockdown (Kanye West)
82) Oops! I Did It Again (Britney Spears)
83) Toxic (Britney Spears)
84) Hold It Against Me (Britney Spears)
85) Stuck Like Glue (Sugarland)
86) Dog Days Are Over (Florence & The Machine)
87) Without You (David Guetta/Usher)
88) Give Me One More Night Una Noche (98 Degrees)
89) Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen)
90) Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)
91) Pinball Wizard (The Who)
92) Jessie's Girl (Rick Springfield)
93) Club Can't Handle Me (Flo Rida)
94) We're Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister)
95) Save A Horse Ride A Cowboy (Big & Rich)
96) Ignition Remix (R Kelly)

97) Sympathy For The Devil (The Rolling Stones)
98) Paradise By The Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf)
99) Not The Same (Ben Folds)
100) Just Can't Get Enough (The Black Eyed Peas)

101) Dance to the Music (Sly & The Family Stone)
102) Poison (Bell Biv DeVoe)
103) Airplanes (Hayley Williams/B.o.cool.gif
104) What's My Name (Rihanna/Drake)
105) Knock You Down (Keri Hilson/Kanye West/Ne-Yo)

106) It's Your Thing (The Isley Brothers)
107) Hot in Herre (Nelly)
108) All of the Lights (Kanye West/Rihanna)
109) Stereo Hearts (Gym Class Heroes/Adam Levine)
110) Gonna Get Over You (Sara Bareilles)

111) What Have You Done For Me Lately (Janet Jackson)
112) When I Think Of You (Janet Jackson)
113) Miss You Much (Janet Jackson)
114) American Girl (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
115) Need You Now (Lady Antebellum)
116) We Belong Together (Mariah Carey)
117) Fly (Nicki Minaj/Rihanna)
118) Jump Jive n' Wail (Brian Setzer Orchestra)
119) Never Say Never (Justin Bieber)

120) Footloose (Kenny Loggins)
121) I'll Be Missing You (P Diddy/Faith Evans)
122) Don't Be Cruel (Elvis Presley)
123) Every Little Step (Bobby Brown)
124) Whataya Want From Me (Adam Lambert)
125) How To Love (Lil Wayne)
126) A Woman's Worth (Alicia Keys)
127) Wavin' Flag (K'naan)
128) Dynamite (Taio Cruz)
129) Wanna Be (The Spice Girls)
130) The Show Goes On (Lupe Fiasco)
131) The River of Dreams (Billy Joel)

132) She's Always A Woman (Billy Joel)
133) Uptown Girl (Billy Joel)
134) Rocketeer (Far East Movement/Ryan Tedder)
135) Give Me Everything (Pitbull/Ne-Yo)

136) Feels Like Home (Randy Newman)
137) Listen To Your Heart (Roxette)
138) Runaround Sue (Dion)
139) The Lazy Song (Bruno Mars)
140) Secrets (OneRepublic)
141) Price Tag (Jessie J)

142) Aquarius/ Let The Sunshine In (The Fifth Dimension)
143) Tomorrow (Annie)
144) Bye Bye Love (The Everly Brothers)
145) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
146) Mama, I'm Coming Home (Ozzy Osbourne)
147) Loser (Beck)

148) It's So Hard To Say Goodbye (GC Cameron)
149) Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite
150) Goodbye To You (Michelle Branch)
151) Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan)
152) Tubthumping (Chumbawumba)
153) Survivor (Destiny's Child)
154) Home (Michael Buble)

155) We've Only Just Begun (The Carpenters)
156) Coming Home (Diddy/Dirty Money)

Asterisks:
1) I'm Yours (Jason Mraz)
2) Love Story (Taylor Swift)--Janell Wheeler did it Hollywood week AI9
3) Home (Daughtry)--Done in various HW weeks
4) DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love (Usher)--Covered by Stefano Langone AI10 Tour
5) Hey, Soul Sister (Train)
6) Fix You (Coldplay)
7) Breakeven (The Script)
8) Firework (Katy Perry)--Covered AI10 tour
9) Mercy (Duffy)
10) Baby (Justin Bieber)
11) Haven't Met You Yet (Michael Buble)--Group song AI9
12) Forget You (Cee Lo Green)
13) Animal (Neon Trees)
14) Before He Cheats (Carrie Underwood)--AI audition joke song over the years
15) American Boy (Estelle)
16) Killing Me Softly (Roberta Flack)
17) Life Is A Highway (Tom Cochrane)--Aaron Kelly performed it in AI9 tour
18) Grenade (Bruno Mars)
19) Can't Take My Eyes Off You (Frankie Valli)--AI11 Vegas week
20) Who Says (Selena Gomez & The Scene)--Thia Megia performed it in AI10 tour

So in three seasons of the Sing Off, they've done about 156 songs that have never been performed on Idol before. Of those 156, only 71 were performed before the 1990s (45.5% of songs were introduced before the '90s; that means about 55% of the songs are from the '90s or beyond). Again, that's a way better ratio of current songs compared to Idol. The Voice strikes as more current (80% of songs not done on Idol are current), but the Sing Off, looking at the choices, has cornered a ton of the market on hip hop, and as Shawn Stockman said in the quote above that's the market right there. So there's definitely freshness felt on this show. It's a shame it got canceled.

Will we see this on Idol?


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Let's also do it for XFUS in its first season, for kicks. This is a Simon Cowell show, and given that he did Idol for the first nine seasons, there's probably a lot of overlap here, so I expect few new song choices. Is that correct?

*Once again, Christmas songs are omitted.
XFUS:

1) Creep (Radiohead)
2) Superman (Five For Fighting)
3) Run (Snow Patrol)
4) I Won't Let Go (Rascal Flatts)
5) All My Life (Kci & JoJo)

6) Hot Stuff Let's Dance (David Bowie)
7) No Surprises (Radiohead)
8) That's Not My Name (The Ting Tings)

9) You Make My Dreams (Hall & Oates)
10) People Everyday (Arrested Development)
11) Can't Nobody Hold Me Down (P Diddy)
12) It Must Have Been Love (Roxette)
13) I Want It That Way (The Backstreet Boys)
14) Impossible (Shontelle)

15) It Don't Mean A Thing (Duke Ellington)
16) I'm Going Down (Mary J Blige)
17) If I Were A Boy (Beyonce)
18) Listen (Beyonce)

19) Stop! In The Name of Love (The Supremes)
20) Must Be Doing Somethin' Right (Billy Currington)
21) Colder Weather (Zac Brown Band)
22) Billionaire (Bruno Mars/Travie McCoy)
23) End of The Road (Boyz II Men)
24) Price Tag (Jessie J)
25) Almost Home (Craig Morgan)
26) Swag Surfin' (Lil Wayne)

27) Sex Machine (James Brown)
28) Barracuda (Heart)
29) You Are My Sunshine
30) Lucky Star (Madonna)
31) Land of a Thousand Dances (Wilson Pickett)
32) Seasons of Love (Rent)
33) When I Look At You (Miley Cyrus)

34) Give It To Me Baby (Rick James)
35) When I Grow Up (Pussycat Dolls)
36) Emotions (Mariah Carey)

37) The Message (Grandmaster Flash)
38) Help! (The Beatles)
39) Crazy In Love (Beyonce)
40) Nobody Knows It But Me (Babyface)

41) Purple Rain (Prince)
42) Don't Stop The Music (Rihanna)
43) Stop Crying Your Heart Out (Oasis)

44) Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Tears For Fears)
45) If You Love Me (Brownstone)
46) Russian Roulette (Rihanna)
47) Like A Star (Corinne Bailey Rae)
48) Don't Give Up On Me (Solomon Burke)
49) No Diggity (Blackstreet)
50) Jump (Kriss Kross)

51) Love Don't Live Here Anymore (Rose Royce)
52) Do You Really Want To Hurt Me (Culture Club)
53) The Clapping Song
54) Footloose (Kenny Loggins)
55) Come On Eileen (Dexys Midnight Runners)
56) Womanizer (Britney Spears)
57) I Kissed A Girl (Katy Perry)
58) Nobody Knows (P!nk)

59) One More Try (George Michael)
60) Forever Young (Bob Dylan)
61) Just Be Good To Me (The SOS Band)
62) Rhythm Nation (Janet Jackson)
63) Walking On Sunshine (Katrina & The Waves)
64) Hip Hip Hooray (Naughty By Nature)
65) Get Ur Freak On (Missy Elliott)

66) Kids In America (Kim Wilde)
67) Party Rock Anthem (LMFAO)
68) Just A Dream (Nelly)
69) Nothin' On You (Bruno Mars/B.o.cool.gif

70) Every Little Step (Bobby Brown)
71) Emotion (Samantha Sang)
72) Queen Of The Night (Whitney Houston)
73) Somebody Like You (Keith Urban)
74) Lose Yourself (Eminem)
75) Ain't No Other Man (Christina Aguilera)
76) Gangsta's Paradise (Coolio/LV)
77) Without You (David Guetta/Usher)
78) Save The World (Swedish House Mafia)
79) I Believe (Yolanda Adams)
80) A Song For Mama (Boyz II Men)
81) The World's Greatest (R Kelly)
82) Show Me What You Got (Jay Z)
83) Skyscraper (Demi Lovato)
84) You Lost Me (Christina Aguilera)

85) Don't Let Me Down (The Beatles)
86) Can You Feel It (The Jacksons)
87) Listen To Your Heart (Roxette)
88) Neither One Of Us Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye (Gladys Knight & The Pips)
89) Music And Me (Michael Jackson)
90) We Found Love (Rihanna/Calvin Harris)
91) Something (The Beatles)
92) Live Your Life (TI/Rihanna)
93) I'll Make Love To You (Boyz II Men)
94) Fly (Sugar Ray)
95) They Don't Care About Us (Michael Jackson)
96) Wait Until Tonight (50 Cent)
97) In da Club (50 Cent)
98) Give Me Everything (Ne-Yo/Pitbull)

99) Heroes (David Bowie)
100) Uninvited (Alanis Morissette)
101) Complicated (Avril Laivgne)


Asterisks:
1) Baby (Justin Bieber)
2) Firework (Katy Perry)
3) Mercy (Duffy)
4) Forget You (Cee Lo Green)
5) I Touch Myself (The Divinyls)--Used for AI's joke auditions.
6) Rich Girl (Hall & Oates)--AI audition phases AI6.
7) Faith (George Michael)
8) My Life Would Suck Without You (Kelly Clarkson)--AI9 tour song
9) Fix You (Coldplay)
10) Raise Your Glass (P!nk)--AI11 group song
11) So What (P!nk)--AI8 group song

So in just one season, X Factor US introduced about 101 new songs that were never before done on Idol. Only a third (34) of the songs were before the '90s (33.7%), so two-thirds of the songs (66.3%) came from 1990s and beyond. Considering that Simon was in Idol, there's quite a few new songs here. Of note is that there's very few country--mostly '90s R&B, actually, and a bit of hip hop (XFUS cast quite a few hip hop contestants this year).
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So here's the rundown, compared to AI's 11 seasons:

The Voice (2 seasons): about 112 new songs (56 new songs per season); only 19.6% of the songs done before the 1990s.

The Sing Off (3 seasons): about 156 new songs (52 new songs per season); 45.5% of the songs done before the 1990s.

XFUS (1 season): about 101 new songs (101 new songs per season); 33.7% of the seongs done before the 1990s.

I don't even need to do stats for American Idol to know that probably 70-80% of their songs are done before the 1990s, if not more than that; seriously, it's lacking in freshness rating compared to the three shows above. The Voice comes off the freshest, then X Factor, then The Sing Off. Also, the Voice blends a good mix of current hip hop/indie rock type songs with '90s rock classics, The Sing Off goes for golden oldies and current hip hop, and XFUS loves '90s R&B a ton with little country. X Factor follows Idol's format the most, so it introduces the most songs every season compared to the other two.

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