American Idol: Waiting on the results
The American Idol Showdown between Katharine McPhee and Taylor Hicks took place last night 5-23-06 at the Kodak theater in LA. Each contest sang 3 songs and American got their final chance to vote.
How do you like your “American Idol” power ballad — horribly bland or bland but mildly catchy?
Depending on who wins Wednesday’s “Idol” final, we’ll be hearing a lot of either “My Destiny,” the wretchedly boring single that Katharine McPhee had to sing on Tuesday’s program, or “Do I Make You Proud?,” a catchier song that does not come close to harnessing Taylor Hicks’ scruffy soul style.
This year, the two “Idol” finalists got to sing different songs; the winner’s song no doubt will be all over the radio for weeks to come. Too bad both tunes came from the same hollow, emptily “inspirational” school of mainstream songwriting.
Even the judges didn’t like the songs that the contestants, who also sang two other songs each on Tuesday, had to belt out.
“You are better than the song,” the normally effusive Paula Abdul said after Hicks debuted “Do I Make You Proud?”
“I did not love the song,” Randy Jackson said after McPhee unveiled her potential single, “My Destiny.” Jackson summed things up neatly by calling the song “average.”
Hicks, a natural-born soul singer, would have been much better off by finishing the finals with a cover of Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour.” And judging by the rapturous response every time McPhee sings “Over the Rainbow,” that should be her first single if she wins on Wednesday.
But the “Idol” machine, year after year, subjects viewers to these newly commissioned, empty power ballads that convey nothing in the most inoffensive way possible. Though these two particular specimens of songwriting do work well, it must be said, as sleep aids.
Having said all that, Hicks had the slightly more memorable and catchier song. And it’s safe to say that his loyal fan base, the Soul Patrol, will overlook the fact that “Do I Make You Proud?” didn’t exactly play to his strengths as a performer.
Nor did the purple blazer he wore during the finals, but never mind. Hicks brings a note of unpredictability to “Idol,” and that is a blessed relief.
You said Kat should win because she will fit the mold?
Think about it this way. Kat only can sign love songs. Taylor can do it all. Who are you going to pay money to go see in concert? Who can you cry with and dance with at the same time? Only one comes to me TAYLOR HICK!!!!!!!