'Making the Band': What Will Diddy Reveal?
By Joshua Alston
Tonight is the live finale of MTV's "Making the Band 4," and if you haven't been watching this season, let me quickly catch you up. There's an R&B singing group called Day26, which was assembled by Sean "Diddy" Combs after a lengthy audition process. Day26 has five members: Robert, Willie, Mike, Brian and Qwanell. Qwanell is hyperemotional and likes to argue about everything, and his antics are always at risk of destroying the group.
Everyone is concerned by this, of course, including Dawn, Qwanell's girlfriend. Dawn was in a group of her own called Danity Kane, which was also assembled by Diddy in a previous season. Danity Kane also had five members, but in this season, they're down to two—Diddy fired Aubrey and D. Woods, and Shannon decided not to rejoin the group. That's because they fought a lot and got on Diddy's nerves. Danity Kane was down to Dawn and Aundrea, but then Diddy decided to fire Aundrea, too. There's another guy named Donnie Klang, whom Diddy made into a solo artist after not selecting him for Day26. Donnie doesn't fight with anyone because he's a solo artist. He also dated Aubrey for like a minute and a half. Those are the "Making the Band 4" Cliff's Notes.
On tonight's finale, it's safe to expect Diddy to reveal something major, because that's his thing. In previous seasons, he's used the finales to announce the final lineups of his bands or that band members have been canned. Neither of those outcomes is likely here; in Danity Kane, there's no one left to fire, and with a brand-new album out, a shake-up in Day26 seems like too much of a risk. It has been confirmed that the estranged members of Danity Kane will all be present for the finale. So what that likely means is that Diddy will announce a full-blown Danity Kane reunion, which means more ridiculous fights could be just around the corner. But I hope he doesn't go that route, because I'm really getting annoyed with his groups' fighting.
I understand that human beings will behave humanly, that people have egos, and when you put a bunch of folks together to try to accomplish a goal, there will be some static. But in this season of "MTB," there's a screaming match in practically every episode. What is it that a prefab singing group could possibly fight about all the time? There are songs, you pick the ones you want to perform, you perform them, you go on the road and perform them, you repeat as necessary. What's the drama about?
I recently watched "loudQUIETloud," a documentary about the reunion of the Pixies. The Pixies broke up mostly because lead singer Black Francis and bassist Kim Deal couldn't stand each other. This was because Frank wouldn't use Kim's songs for the albums and resented her for getting all the attention, as female members of otherwise male groups so often do. The Smashing Pumpkins had internal struggles around the time of the release of their breakthrough album, "Siamese Dream," because frontman Billy Corgan decided he'd record all the album's guitar and bass parts. He did that because he didn't think the bassist and guitarist in the band were good enough to do it themselves. That's a reason to fight.
In other words, I think bands should be able to keep it together when what they do doesn't involve a whole lot of creative effort on their parts. Bands only get to fight with each other when they write their own songs and play their own instruments. So sayeth Joshua. I do hope that Diddy doesn't reassemble the drama-prone Danity Kane. He's got another show coming down the pike, "Making His Band," in which Diddy will put together a group of touring musicians for his upcoming show. I'm looking forward to that, because at least the fights will be valid.
