The finals. At last. Four hours of voting, one more night and this season is done.
Again this week each contestant will sing three songs. While they didn’t say outright, my gut feel is that the contestants pick their first two songs and the producers of the show pick the final song, which becomes the winner’s single if they should win. After all, the producers want a song that can make money. That makes sense.
Taylor Hicks
Living for the City by Stevie Wonder
Levon by Elton John
Do I Make You Proud (Lyrics Only)
Katharine McPhee
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall
Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland
My Destiny (Lyrics Only)
Katharine started things off on a weak note with a re-singing of Black Horse and the Cherry Tree (I really liked the version she did in the Top 5, but this one sounded a bit forced to me). To use Randy’s lingo, I just didn’t dig it. Taylor, meanwhile, came out firing with a new song, the Stevie Wonder classic Living for the City, and round one quickly went to him. Even Randy seemed to be getting into things and Simon, one of Taylor’s largest critics, conceded early that perhaps things were going his way.
Round two may or may not have gone differently. Katharine came out with another rehashed song, this time from last week’s show, the Over the Rainbow that everyone but me seemed to like. Frankly, I didn’t really like it that much then and I liked it even less this time around. For what it’s worth, the crowd in the Kodak seemed to like it. Perhaps it’s one of those “had to be there” moments where the emotions didn’t translate well to being broadcast. Taylor opened the door a bit, however, as he also redid a song, though to be fair he did Levon, which is the song that turned around Simon’s opinion (well, as much as that can happen).
Taylor sang Levon during the semifinal phase of the competition, and in case you’re keeping track, that’s early March. Perhaps even late February. I didn’t blog those shows, so I don’t know for sure. In any case, we’re talking at least three months. Katharine sang songs that she did in the last month. Sure, they were received well and all, but I’m not sure I follow the logic. Taylor did what by all counts was his turnaround song, the one that got Simon on his side, albeit somewhat snarkily, so I can understand that. Also, most of the songs from that part of the show many people who only recently have followed Taylor have never heard, so it’s like a new song entirely. I don’t recall him singing it at all. I think it was a good choice, though he didn’t do that well.
All things considered, I think Taylor made much better song choices than Katharine, and I think despite the judges’ comments, I think Taylor held a solid lead after the first two rounds to anyone watching on television. I’m willing to concede that to those in the Kodak, who could see Katharine’s emotions during her second song, perhaps that wasn’t completely accurate. The third song would likely decide the competition, and as these were, to my opinion, decided by the show’s producers, you can’t really fault the contestants, except in their singing ability. Which is what I found odd because Randy said that Katharine had a bad song but a good voice. Perhaps he is more knowledgeable than I.
But I thought her potential single, My Destiny, was atrocious. I didn’t like it at all. Taylor had a song called Do I Make You Proud, which lyrically at least, wasn’t much better. But he sang it at least ten times better, and in the words of Simon, it’s very likely he just won himself the competition. Of course, America doesn’t always do what you expect, but my vote, based on the performance, is that Taylor should be the winner. That said, he’s not necessarily what most people view as an idol, and things don’t go as you’d expect (look at Clay Aiken). So we’ll just have to see what happens on Wednesday.
Update: After a two-hour finale, filled with performances from the other finalists and loads of big-name celebrities, Taylor was indeed proclaimed the American Idol for season 5. Congratulations, Taylor!
