American Idol - Season 5 (1 Viewer)

[danak]

DialIdol Spoilers:
Taylor is ahead right now, but Kat may get more support when the West Coast kicks in

Dana

 

[Patrick Sun]

1st round:
Kat - totally safe song that didn't really need to be re-sung.
Taylor - used the song to announce that he wasn't taking any prisoners by singing a song suited to his strengths.

Taylor 1, Kat 0

2nd round:
Kat - I don't think lightning struck twice, plus I think singing while sitting on the floor is just too gimicky.
Taylor - he was pacing himself with this performance, he totally sang under the key of the song (needed to sing it higher to make it sound "right").

Taylor 1, Kat 1

3rd round:
Kat - though she got saddled with a horrible song, her voice gave out through most of the big or long notes, and made her sound very ordinary.
Taylor - pacing himself paid off big because he imbued his "original" song with much more passion and much better vocals to boot.

Taylor 2, Kat 1

I suspect the vote will also be close, but given the choice these two, Taylor should win.

 

[Keith Paynter]

Both "originals" songs were utterly forgettable and anticlimatic to the entire final competion. That being said, Taylor still had a better night than Katherine, but it all comes down to the voting.

 

[Elizabeth S]

I felt the same way as Simon -- the definite feeling that Taylor had won after his original. (I didn't like, though, how they emphasized Katharine's song was her first single, but didn't do likewise for Taylor.)

It's pretty hard getting votes in tonight -- guess because the 4-hour window means for the first time this season, the west coast is voting partly the same time as Hawaii. So many, many calls which won't go through (not busy signals, but again, that "phone is out of order" tone.) I'll probably get in a few more after I log off here.

 

[danak]

Looking over the season, I think Taylor showed himself to be the better entertainer and he was more consistant overall. He also has a lot more passion as a singer. I think Katharine is a superb singer who gave some really great performances throughout the season, but towards the end, appeared to succumb to the pressure somewhat and got inconsistant, though she still gave some great performances. I think she'll do well with more experience. Overall, I think they were the best of the top 12, with Kat being the best singer and Taylor being the best performer (and a really good voice that I like). I think they both have great personalities and are very likeable. And they were two of my favorites. They both should be very proud of themselves.

Dana

 

[danak]

I'll amend what I just said. Both Kat and Elliott were the best singers of the Top 12, but I think Kat had more of a personality and was better on stage than him.

Dana

 

[Ronald Epstein]

A terrific show, though I don't think the choices in song were
that great all-around. Taylor is going to be the next
American Idol.

A few observations...

1. First of all, the 5.1 surround was phenomenal. It was nice to
have the audience surrounding me. For the past season all I have
heard in the rear speakers was the rattling of the microphone stand.
It was pretty odd that sound channel was delegated to the rear.

2. A teleprompter? That's a new one! Simon said something at
the start of the show about the singers forgetting their words. Not
a chance if they have teleprompter assistance. It's sort of sad that
such a visual aid is given in a competition that should rely on
memorizing material.

3. Once again, it was pretty pathetic to see Simon and Paula
shoving each other around during a performance. You would hope
that both the judges would be fixated on every move and note that
is taking place on stage.

4. An apology -- and a big one! You know, at the start of this thread
when we first met Taylor, I thought he had some sort of medical condition.
If we ever have the opportunity to back and look at the Las Vegas auditions,
you'll see that he had a very odd quirkiness about him in the way he walked
and his overall composition. I think that played a big part in Simon saying he
would not go on to the finals. In time, it was obvious that this wasn't a
medical condition, but rather just whom Taylor was. I feel very bad about
what I said very early on, though all of you know that I have been rooting
for Taylor since day one.


Look forward to seeing Taylor getting crowned tonight.

 

[todd stone]

snore fest. Over the rainbow was just terribly boring.. AGAIN. Yea it sounded ok, but what a cop out...

Taylor wins.

 

[chuck_b]

With Chris & Elliott out, I lost interest this week. Both remaining performers are certainly TV friendly, but Kat's singing leaves me cold and Taylor although talanted, does not make me want to buy his music. I also think he will win and probably deserves to based on his fans never letting up and his no problems attitude.

The Idols 12 record is out on iTunes and I downloaded Elliott's excellent "Moody's Modd for Love". A slightly differnet version than the one performed on the show, much more bluesy and smokey with heavy sax. Still shows his great pipes and he and Chris should be glad they broke the stereotypes and made it as far as they did.

 

[ChristopherG]

I really like both of the finalists and they each have their individual strengths as noted by many of the folks here already:

Taylor - very likeable entertainer who is consistent and fun. I personally don't see Taylor becoming a star at the level of even a Kelly Clarkson. (if previous idol contestants is your measure). Would I buy his CD? Maybe.

Kat - incredible voice yet inconsistent. I can see her becoming a real star with some voice coaching and a little more time. Would I buy her CD? Probably not.

I don't care who wins, but I suspect Taylor will take it easily.

Is anyone else getting tired of Taylor's "Soul Patrol, Soul Patrol" schtick?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Yeah, just as his final performance ended I saw the fans holding
up the SOUL PATROL banners.

I thought, "He ain't gonna say it...He ain't gonna say it...."

...but he did!

 

[Jed M]

Those singles Kat and Taylor had written for them is exactly why Chris and Elliot are better off not winning this competition.

I will say that the way Taylor's ended his "live" performance of his single was much better than his dress rehearsal. If you go back and watch the last 20 seconds of his live song and then the "recap" from dress rehearsal it is night and day the way he finished. That may just have won him the competition on those last 20 seconds that he changed. Much more powerful and emotional.

I thought Kat made a huge mistake by doing a song 2 weeks in a row, even if it was her best.

I don't really care who wins but I am picking Taylor.

 

[Hanson]

So what are we to expect from the American Idol finals? The first thing is that we can expect some sort of really cheesy song that’s instantly unlistenable and will bring up thoughts of suicide or mass murder upon further listening. I’m not sure why the producers are incapable of procuring a halfway decent song for this point of the competition, so I can only conclude that they want some sort of syrupy bombast. I’ve been reading about the Eurovision song contest (the US version coming on NBC), and perhaps the producers’ European heritage compels them to commission the kind if bottom of the barrel dreck that seems popular in Europe. The second thing to expect is that the show will end on a disappointing note because the final number is the cringingly awful song that I’m talking about. The third thing to expect is Paula to be incoherent. Well, actually, that’s not limited to the finals, but hot damn, you can always expect it.

Katharine – I question her choice to sing Black Horse and the Cherry Tree at this point. I mean, it was one of her two best performances to date, but she sang it only three weeks ago. At the time, I concluded that she sang on her knees because moving around on her feet to a song with a propulsive rhythm would have exposed her horrible lack of co-ordination and inability to do anything other than an Elaine Benes style “full-bodied dry heave set to music” (that’s Elaine from Seinfeld). Well, I was proven correct, and awkward doesn’t even begin to describe how painful it is to watch Katharine move on stage (there was that one weird move she kept busting out that looked like she was doing the Charleston while she had to pee). And because the song was sung so recently, it was way too easy to make comparisons to her first attempt, and I gotta say that this version seemed a bit draggy compared to the first version. There was an overall lack of energy and it ended up flat in comparison. She did throw in a run this time at the end, and of course, it totally sucked. Look, it’s a great song and she sings it reasonably well, but it was too close on the heels of the first performance, and the best she could have done was a carbon copy. Kat had fashion repeat as well, which was to wear a belly shirt that didn’t expose her bellybutton. As I’ve stated before, the whole point of a belly shirt is to show off your bellybutton. Either she has some sort of bellybutton deformity or she lacks one because she’s an android (or gyndroid to be gender appropriate). If it’s the latter, maybe I’m just projecting that it wasn’t as good, and in reality she just played back the recording of the first performance. It’s difficult enough to write her emoto-algorithms, so I guess programming competent dance moves proved to be beyond her creators’ capabilities. Either that or it was more than her on-board memory could handle. Maybe in the future they can install a memory upgrade and she will become Katharine McPhee 2.0. While they’re at it, maybe they could give the gyndroid a bellybutton.

 

[Rain]

After watching poor Taylor sing that god-awful "Do I make you proud" song (although he did squeeze as much life out of it as humanly possible), I have reiterate my sincere hope that he does not win--for his own sake.

Let Kat win and see how much mileage she can get out of her one big number before fizzling into oblivion...and let Taylor have at least enough freedom to cut a record wherein he doesn't have to sing hideous concoctions like last night's song.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I think it's way too late for that at this point. Coming in second still puts you under contract to the cheese merchants.

 

[Hanson]

BTW, I'm not the only one who thinks Kat borrowed very heavily from Jane Monheit:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...c-3a96439cebfb

 

[Rain]

That's true. Not claiming he will have complete artistic control or anything, but he'd be slightly better off I think.

The problem is that these record execs can't see the forest for the trees. To carry the Taylor example further, he did not get this far singing shmaltz, so why make him do that now? The people have voted for Taylor, not some Pop-Taylor that they will undoubtedly try to make him into. It's like new Coke....if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

At the end of the day, I think this show is terrible, at least for those few contestants who are truly too good for it. They get the exposure, but they have to trade in their souls. It's really like a bad car wreck...absolutely horrific, yet I cannot look away. :frowning:

 

[OliverT]

I have to agree. I don't care how good the song (SOtR) was last week - HUGE deductions for singing it 7 days later. Same arrangement as well? BLAH...incredibly boring. For this reason alone Taylor also "won" round 2 IMO.

Taylor should win it going away. The "real" top 3 in my book were Taylor, Chris and Mandisa. That would have resulted in some fireworks.

ot

 

[Hanson]

A co-worker of mine has a theory that if they got good songs, it would be difficult to figure if it was the song that catapaulted them to success or if it was the singer. So they go out of their way to get songs that, if they sold, would be based solely on the merit of the singer and their following. Seems a little baroque to me, but at the same time, they seem to go out of their way to get songs like this, so it makes you wonder.

 

[Jed M]

Taylor and Kat have both been signed, hence they both have their own single. They are both going to put out "A.I." style albums whether they win or lose, so that is why Chris and Elliot should consider themselves lucky. Coming in second now does nothing to improve your chance at not doing an Idol style album.