American Idol

[DaysFanJean]

The show tonight was indeed a showstopper. Fabulous, stupendous, huge, spectacular showcase for everyone. I loved every SINGLE SECOND of it. Of course, Taylor Hicks was not my choice, but he definitley is a peronable young man and when I learned his major in college was marketing, the idea of how he sold himself by organizing and marketing Soul Patrol, I was impressed. If you noticed, most of Taylor fans were announcing Soul Patrol wins. That's team work and team pride. Smart young man. Anyway back to the show....which did a bit of selling itself, too. I had already decided not to watch beginning in January having a routine of the good, bad and the ugly and so would just pick up at the final ten....so guess what, after tonight's show which probably was not very effective if you didn't watch since last January, OK...so now I will be watching in January once more and looking good at the contestants and trying to visualize them as the polished performers that will shine on the next finale. I thought Kat owned the stage tonight. Her vocals were crystal clear, completely audible, distinctive and she is so gorgeous. My favorite guest performer was Prince and second Clay Aiken...I had never seen either one before so it was a first which is always special. My favorite special award was the young man who adored Clay Aiken and my heart ached when he realized his idol was standing beside him. What a joy to see a young man's miracle come true before my eyes and he even had presence to keep on singing with him...super. My favorite post revelation scene was of course Taylor's dad. To me this was so much more that I ever had dreamed of and I hope it comes out on DVD because I want to watch it again and again.

[DaysFanJean]

I wanted to comment on a few of your remarks. Most of these are what I think, too. I do however think Katharine will have a fantastic career in broadway and Taylor will be mediocre in lounges appealing to old folks after the new of him wears thin. I loved how Clay looked.

Prince was stuck in traffic and they weren't even sure he would get there in time. They dashed in at the very end....it was interesting how Ryan had just announced that all the special appearances and surprises were over and there they open the door for Prince. It was too cool. The idols were going crazy backstage as they went through...I heard on the channel we watched Dallas Fox News. We also got to see Taylor's grandmother and family members on the beach party at Gulf Shores. It was really neat.

Sigh. I just loved it. all. Chris is going to be so hot and wasn't Bucky fine tonight?

[King]

Word.

I agree.

I think it's unfair to say Simon is not happy with the outcome because he was sitting down....he is always sitting down.........Simon is happy. And he'll be happy all the way to the bank.

[PhoenixRising05]

Well he never liked Taylor. He passed on him in auditions and said he would never make the top 12. He usually stands the whole time with the other judges until the winner begins singing and then they all sit down and rise again when the big pyrotechnic part of the song comes up. Simon stood up and clapped for like a second and sat back down and never got up. He never even rose during Taylor's last song. It's just an observation who knows what to make of it but I know he did not care for Taylor.

I just noticed how much Taylor's single suits him. I mean the whole "standing out" think and all the lyrics. It's perfect for him much like Kat's is for her even thought her song was crap. They really need new song writer's next year .

[Ms. Walsh]

I don't think anything can compare w/ the original. I still like AI, but I think at times it gets really over-the-top w/ all of the celebrities on the show.

I did like seeing Prince and Meatloaf though.

WTF at Hasselhoff crying??

These pics on Yahoo! are really funny:

Clay...wow! I don't know if he's trying to appeal to EMO kids or what. During the 2nd season, he was my favourite, but now it seems like he's just trying too hard. I hope he doesn't think he's trying to look "hip" b/c, to me, he looks like someone pretending to be a member of The Beatles.

:lol:

Seacrest is a douche. I absolutely loathe that man.

I'm glad that Taylor won b/c it's nice to see that being "sexy" doesn't always trump talent. We'll see how it goes, though, w/ the CD and all. I mean, people are always criticizing Kelly for her body and she's one of the best singers out there right now IMO>

[All My Shadows]

Dionne Warwick is the [!@#$%^&*].

Carry on.

[King]

Simon revoked his harsh critiquing of Taylor multiple times.

Elliot and Mary J. was, IMO, the best performance of the season by a mile. This ties with Jennifer Hudson's "Circle of Life" from Season 3 as the best and my favorite performances in this show's history! Gave me absolute chills! Sent shivers down my spine.

On a sidenote, J. Hud's movie, Dreamgirls, with Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, and Beyonce is coming out soon.

[DaysnPassionsFan]

Dionne Warwick was awesome, and probably the best part of the night.

Prince's number was really too long, and Elliott/Mary J would've been better if Elliott had a bigger part. Clay coming out was hilarious (that sentence I just typed is pretty funny at first glance too ). He wasn't so annoying tonight.

I was waiting for Melissa O'Neil to start singing, but I remembered that no one on AI5 is as good as her Kelly, thankfully, continues to stay away from this mess

[KMan101]

I heard Justin Guarini was to perform but was actually doing something and couldn't. Go figure.

Kelly will remain the best Idol winner. Ever.

Carrie is close behind due to her success in just one short year.

Taylor won't have that. He'll probably beat Fantasia and Ruben, LOL.

Katharine has the better voice. I just downloaded her "Think" from the American Idol soundtrack and she sounds flawless. Her voice would sell.

Only reason Taylor won was because of his personality. Not because of his singing ability. Not to diss him because he seems like a genuine, nice guy, I just can't see the win doing much for him. I ran out and bought Kelly and Carrie's CDs ... and I probably won't be buying Taylor's.

But then, we could be wrong and he's huge. But I don't see it.

And the margin wasn't that great, Mike. I know that disappoints ya, lol. I looked at Dial Idol and their margin is about 10-20%, so odds are it was closer. Probably rivals the Bo/Carrie closeness last year.

[RogerNewcomb]

I actually think Taylor has a great chance of success because he is an experienced artist and knows what he wants to sing. I think it took a while for Kelly to grow into the artist she is today. Carrie will grow as well, but she knew the kind of sound she wanted on a country album.

I'm most looking forward to Elliott's CD. Rumor has it he signed a recording deal that he would not have been able to get if he was in the Top 2. I hope that is true. His Moody's Mood for Love is the best on the AI album.

[KMan101]

Taylor just won't ever reach as high as Kelly and Carrie have. I'm sure he'll be succesfull but he's just so different from any Idol we've had. They all have their niches. It will be interesting to see Taylor's.

And I will definitely buy Elliot's CD. I've already downloaded his and Mandisa's songs from the AI compliation album. LOL. I love both of them. I'd download Paris' too but she sounds awful. Kellie's "Walking After Midnight" isn't that bad and Ace sounds fantastic (honestly! and I hated him) singing "Father Figure". Even Melissa McGhee sounds great singing "What About Love."

Taylor's sounded the worst ("Taking It To The Streets"). He had a lot better songs than the one that was picked, and why it was picked is beyond me.

[Bree]

I think Taylor will appeal to older music fans. My mom really liked him, but she also wanted Elliot to win too.

Time will tell, you can't predict success of these winners. I thought Bo would overshadow Carrie, but that's not the case, and I thought Ruben would be popular as well, but Clay overtook him. So you'll never know.

Most of the Idol contestants have found fame on Broadway, which is nothing to sneeze at. A Broadway career can outlast a record career.

[PhoenixRising05]

I agree Krypton. Taylor will succeed but I just can't see him rivaling anyone but Ruben/Fantasia if that. Experienced or not he isn't going to be able to perform on his album. He has to sing and other then his last song on Idol His single) his vocals have never been gripping. I think he will sell but will have a hard time garnering attention outside of his fans which will be a problem. Carrie and Kelly were very marketable outside of their fans and people that never even watched Idol grew to like them. They were also in two very popular genres. Ruben and Fantasia did well but for some reason Idol did not market them as well and I think Taylor falls into that boat. Who knows-maybe he will surprise us all? I just don't see it though.

That AI album though is kinda weird. Kellie and Ace do sound good and Kat just founds fantastic. With songs like that she will do very well with vocals like that along with all her marketability. Taylor does sound bad on there but that song typically sounds better being performed live IMO so it was a bad song choice for the album (there is the running theme of song choice again).

I can't get over how good most of the top 12 sounded. I still found Kevin corny and not worthy of being there but oh well. I just adore Melissa too. She reminds of Sheryl Crow a bit look-wise.

I will be in line as soon as Elliot, Chris, Kat, and Paris release CD's. Taylor I will probably just buy his Idol single because I sort of like it for reasons unknown to me but that will be it for me with him.

Oh and one poster mentioned they were glad Kelly stayed away from this-that wasn't her choice. It is her management and I honestly think Idol doesn't want her back. I think they started a new cycle with Carrie and every 3 winners a new cycle will start with the winners returning.

I know he took it back a few times KR but on Tuesday night Paula and Randy called him out on passing on Taylor and he just laughed it up. I mean he even told Kat voters to "remember her second song." Simon never does that-if you are bad on your last performance he would just say you lost your chance or something. He was really pushing for anyone but Taylor and was hoping Kat voters and others would vote based on her second song to maybe get an upset. He took it back a few times but it was clear he was not happy with Taylor winning just by seeing what I did.

[RogerNewcomb]

Simon has been predicting a Taylor/Chris finale since the Top 12. I think he expected Taylor to be there, but was hoping Chris would win. I thought he was quite pleased with the results. All the judges picked Taylor this week.

Taylor sounds like the Doobie Brothers to me and I think he could airplay on AC, Top 40, Country and possibly other genres of music. Time will tell. Much worse singers and performers sell millions of records so why not?

I think Ruben and Fantasia (who still went Platinum) could have sold more if they had a few singles with a broader appeal. I think they really targeted the R&B market and stayed true to themselves versus trying to crossover into multiple genres. Fantasia garned 4 Grammy noms this year so obviously her peers respect her work.

[Kylie]

Taylor who? I didn't want Clay to leave the stage. Not the best look for him, but that voice....*swoon*. I have such a fangurl crush on him.lol The highlight of the night (minus Taylor's win) was Clay coming out to surprise his fan. The look on that guys face when he realized that Clay was on stage....LMAO, priceless.

I love Taylor, so happy he won. And I think he's going to do better then Ruben/Fantanisa, and I think he may even do better then Katherine.

Chris's the first album I'm going to buy though, even if his comes out after. That man is just hella sexy, and god can he sing. He rocked it last night.