Last night, after Siobhan Magnus’s closing performance of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” American Idol cut to the traditional shot of the contestant’s friends and/or family wildly applauding. Her lead “friend” seemed particularly ecstatic about her song, going through all of the motions of fervent clapping except one: His hands seemed to slow down just short of connecting, which really is the linchpin for making the clapping sound. A careful study of the video indicates that this man is either a plainclothes mime, or he was making a metaphorical statement that once ears have heard her transcendent vocalization, it is not worth anyone ever making a sound again.
