When Ryan Malcolm first met Sass Jordan, he was a jittery 23-year-old singer auditioning for an unproven new reality television show.
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he → meet → show
Jordan, already a celebrated Canadian rock singer-songwriter, was sitting on the other side of the table as one of the judges on the first season of “Canadian Idol.”
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Jordan → sit → Idol
Malcolm had grown up listening to her music.
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Malcolm → grow → music
Now he was performing for her.
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he → perform → her
She was so talented and just a true badass, a real rocker, 100 per cent,” Malcolm recalled in an interview Monday.
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Malcolm → recall → interview
Malcolm, who went on to become the inaugural “Canadian Idol” winner in 2003, said Jordan also kept it unusually real as a judge.
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Jordan → go → judge
“She was the quote-unquote nice judge, but she was also the most honest,” he said.
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he → say → ?
“One thing she never did was play it up for the cameras.”
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she → do → cameras
Jordan died Friday surrounded by those who loved her most, said a statement from her publicist Eric Alper.
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statement → die → publicist
The Montreal-raised singer kicked doors open for women in rock with her raspy, powerful vocals before bringing that same authentic, unfiltered energy to a generation of hopefuls on “Canadian Idol” in the mid-aughts.
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singer → raise → aughts
“She was no holds barred,” said Jake Gold, who was a judge with Jordan on all six seasons of “Canadian Idol” and eventually managed her as an artist.
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who → bar → artist
“She was honest and funny and vivacious and smart and she had really good ears.”
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she → have → ears
Gold said Jordan had an instinct for identifying artists before the rest of the industry caught up.
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rest → say → industry
He remembers Jordan watching a young Carly Rae Jepsen audition for “Canadian Idol” and immediately telling the young singer: “You are a bona fide star.
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You → remember → singer
You are going to go somewhere.”
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You → go → ?
Jepsen would go on to become one of Canada’s biggest pop stars.
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Jepsen → go → stars
Fellow judge Farley Flex said Jordan provided a perspective on celebrity that became useful as the series exploded in popularity.
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series → say → popularity
“She was the only one of us that was famous before the show started,” Flex said.
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Flex → start → us
“She was so grounded and thoughtful and absorbed it for what it was.”
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it → ground → it
Jordan also understood what it meant for contestants to put themselves on the line in front of millions of people.
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contestants → understand → people
“She cared about how much the contestant cared,” Flex said.
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Flex → care → ?
That combination of honesty and empathy became a defining part of Jordan’s presence on the show.
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combination → become → show
Malcolm remembers one particularly memorable critique from when he performed Stevie Wonder’s “For Once in My Life” and attempted what he now acknowledges was a questionable pirouette.
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he → remember → Life
“The crowd loved it,” he said.
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he → love → it
“I definitely knew how to ham it up for the cameras.”
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I → know → cameras
Jordan, however, called him out on it with a tongue-in-cheek comment about his “perfect pirouette.”
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Jordan → call → pirouette
“She was right,” Malcolm said.
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Malcolm → say → ?
“It was, you know, what the hell was I thinking doing that?”
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I → know → that
Despite the playful burn, Malcolm said Jordan never seemed interested in forcing contestants into a more marketable version of themselves.
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Jordan → say → themselves
“The inside joke was always that my dancing was horrific,” he said.
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he → say → ?
“But I think she thought that was endearing.
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that → think → ?
When we chatted, she was like, ‘It’s what you are known for.
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you → chat → what
Jordan’s genuineness is something all three men remember.
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men → remember → ?
“She laughs with her whole body,” Flex said.
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Flex → laugh → body
“She really gives herself to the moment.”
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She → give → moment
The four “Canadian Idol” judges — Jordan, Flex, Gold and Zack Werner — spent long days together during the show’s run.
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judges → spend → run
Flex said they could spend 17 or 18 hours on set together, eventually becoming something like friends and family.
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they → say → friends
Despite the television format, he said, the judges weren’t coached to manufacture personalities or conflict.
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judges → say → personalities
“We never compromised who we were for the camera, never,” Flex said.
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Flex → compromise → camera
Jordan’s conviction in the talent of rising artists, and her impact on them, is part of her legacy, said Gold.
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Gold → rise → legacy
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
