Three cheers for Casey Donovan

Most of the time I take a fairly dim view of the musical tastes of a substantial proportion of the population. Every now and then, however, they prove me wrong and give me hope that the 'music industry' is still producing some good things.

There's a little competition you may have heard of, called "Idol". Well, strictly speaking it's called something different in each place. There's American Idol, Canadian Idol, Belgian Idol, and for all I know there might be Senegalese Idol or Paraguayan Idol.

My local version, Australian Idol, just finished its second year. It was won by a 16-year-old girl called Casey Donovan. This is what is giving me hope.

She wasn't the favourite. She was up against a very smooth, very good looking guy with a really nice voice. He deserves a career in pop music, he's certainly good enough. So, good luck, Mr Anthony Callea.

Casey Donovan is not conventionally good looking (ie thin and blonde). She's got Aboriginal ancestry, which doesn't tend to get you far in this country. She started the competition wearing baggy clothes and trying very hard to not look like anything at all. She's anything but smooth when she talks.

And she has a voice that can reach into your soul and lay bare anything you're trying to hide.

It's not simply the voice, to be accurate. It's much more about the way she uses it. When she sings a song that has deep and dark emotions hidden in it, you can't so much hear it as instinctinvely FEEL it. It was the quieter, less outwardly spectacular songs that really showed off her gifts.

I am now fervently hoping and praying that the 'music industry' doesn't waste what has been offered to it. The "winner's single" that she has been saddled with is utterly bland, and she has to record an album in just 8 days so that it's available for Christmas. If it's nothing but a collection of light, bubbly pop music, it will be a complete disaster. This is a girl who could have a very long and successful career ahead of her, if only they don't milk her for short-term gain.

Good luck, Casey.