American Idol Top 5...Taylor Hicks back on top
Just like the judges said, last night was a mixed bag of good and bad performances.
Here's how I rank them.
Theme 1: Year of birth
1. Taylor Hicks - 1976 - Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry. Taylor took Rod Stewart's advice about performance to heart with this one. He decided to grab the audience by taking a fun song and going all out with it. Those who have some of Taylor's live shows downloaded, or who have actually been to them, will know that Taylor frequently throws in a few lines from other songs during his performances, so I got a kick out of him doing it here. Towards the end he threw in "I want to take you higher" from Sly and the Family Stone's Higher.
2. Elliott Yamin - 1978 - On Broadway by George Benson. I thought Elliott had a rough start, but then worked in to a great vocal performance. I liked the way Elliott really go into the ending of song, and he was really able to show off his voice. I think he should be able to hang on for another week after tonight.
3. Chris Daughtry - 1979 - Renegade by Styx. Renegade is the one and only Styx song I like and Chris did a pretty good job singing it, but I thought it was kind of boring. I liked that he was making more use of the stage, and even ventured to the stage behind the judges for the first time. One of my problems with Chris is he never makes anything his own. This version sounded exactly like the Styx version. Chris, however, never gets accused of doing karaoke, it may be good karaoke, but that's what it still is.
4. Paris Bennett - 1988 - Kiss by Prince. Ok, so Prince's version of Kiss came out in 1986, but Paris gets to do it because Tom Jones covered it in 1988. Interesting to note that Paris only mentioned Prince, and not Tom Jones though. Kiss is one of my favorite Prince songs, and his version is nearly impossible to beat, and Paris didn't come close. I don't think this song suited her at all.
5. Katharine McPhee - 1984 - Against All Odds by Phil Collins. Katharine didn't seem into this song at all. The performance was boring and she just wasn't singing well. I started being reminded of Kellie Pickler's last 2 performances, which is not a good sign. Ryan asked her where she thought she started having trouble and she said it was as soon as she started singing. LOL.
Theme #2: Top 10 from any Billboard chart.
1. Taylor Hicks - Something by the Beatles. The Beatles are my favorite band of all time, and I couldn't believe Taylor was able to do one of their songs. So Taylor was able to grab a song from the top 10 catalog chart, that's pretty cool, or as Simon said "clever." I love hearing a good Beatles cover, and Taylor went beyond my expectations with this one. I was a little worried at first that he might go for the Joe Cocker arrangement, which I don't really like. Taylor sang this one beautifully and showed that he is here to stay.
2. Elliott Yamin - Home by Michael Buble. I didn't really like this song, and I didn't think it showed off Elliott's voice enough. To quote Randy "it was just ok for me."
3. Katharine McPhee - Black Horse to the Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall. Great song, weird performance. Katharine performed the entire song on her knees. I was so ditracted wondering when she was going to stand up, I could barely listen to her singing. I guess she sang it ok, but her voice lacks to rawness necessary to make this song sound really good.
4. Paris Bennett - Be Without You by Mary J. Blige. I think Paris doesn't sound very good singing new songs. She sounded pretty good, but it didn't do anything for me. She was unable to win me over on a song I didn't know, and didn't really like once I heard it.
5. Chris Daughtry - I Dare You by Shinedown. So adding a second song to the week caused Chris to blow out his voice. The judges all pointed it out, and Simon even seemed a little angry, and I guess he should be. If Chris can't sing two songs on one night during the week, how is he supposed to record an album and tour with it? This song wasn't very good, and it was too high for Chris. He sounded bad.
Taylor took the most advantage of having 2 songs and showing some versality, so I think he comes out on top for the night.
Paris left no impact on me, and I think she may have had her last night.
Bottom 2: Katharine and Paris. It could be Elliott instead of Katharine, but I think Katharine's off night may have hurt her this week.
Going Home: Paris
Here's how I rank them.
Theme 1: Year of birth
1. Taylor Hicks - 1976 - Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry. Taylor took Rod Stewart's advice about performance to heart with this one. He decided to grab the audience by taking a fun song and going all out with it. Those who have some of Taylor's live shows downloaded, or who have actually been to them, will know that Taylor frequently throws in a few lines from other songs during his performances, so I got a kick out of him doing it here. Towards the end he threw in "I want to take you higher" from Sly and the Family Stone's Higher.
2. Elliott Yamin - 1978 - On Broadway by George Benson. I thought Elliott had a rough start, but then worked in to a great vocal performance. I liked the way Elliott really go into the ending of song, and he was really able to show off his voice. I think he should be able to hang on for another week after tonight.
3. Chris Daughtry - 1979 - Renegade by Styx. Renegade is the one and only Styx song I like and Chris did a pretty good job singing it, but I thought it was kind of boring. I liked that he was making more use of the stage, and even ventured to the stage behind the judges for the first time. One of my problems with Chris is he never makes anything his own. This version sounded exactly like the Styx version. Chris, however, never gets accused of doing karaoke, it may be good karaoke, but that's what it still is.
4. Paris Bennett - 1988 - Kiss by Prince. Ok, so Prince's version of Kiss came out in 1986, but Paris gets to do it because Tom Jones covered it in 1988. Interesting to note that Paris only mentioned Prince, and not Tom Jones though. Kiss is one of my favorite Prince songs, and his version is nearly impossible to beat, and Paris didn't come close. I don't think this song suited her at all.
5. Katharine McPhee - 1984 - Against All Odds by Phil Collins. Katharine didn't seem into this song at all. The performance was boring and she just wasn't singing well. I started being reminded of Kellie Pickler's last 2 performances, which is not a good sign. Ryan asked her where she thought she started having trouble and she said it was as soon as she started singing. LOL.
Theme #2: Top 10 from any Billboard chart.
1. Taylor Hicks - Something by the Beatles. The Beatles are my favorite band of all time, and I couldn't believe Taylor was able to do one of their songs. So Taylor was able to grab a song from the top 10 catalog chart, that's pretty cool, or as Simon said "clever." I love hearing a good Beatles cover, and Taylor went beyond my expectations with this one. I was a little worried at first that he might go for the Joe Cocker arrangement, which I don't really like. Taylor sang this one beautifully and showed that he is here to stay.
2. Elliott Yamin - Home by Michael Buble. I didn't really like this song, and I didn't think it showed off Elliott's voice enough. To quote Randy "it was just ok for me."
3. Katharine McPhee - Black Horse to the Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall. Great song, weird performance. Katharine performed the entire song on her knees. I was so ditracted wondering when she was going to stand up, I could barely listen to her singing. I guess she sang it ok, but her voice lacks to rawness necessary to make this song sound really good.
4. Paris Bennett - Be Without You by Mary J. Blige. I think Paris doesn't sound very good singing new songs. She sounded pretty good, but it didn't do anything for me. She was unable to win me over on a song I didn't know, and didn't really like once I heard it.
5. Chris Daughtry - I Dare You by Shinedown. So adding a second song to the week caused Chris to blow out his voice. The judges all pointed it out, and Simon even seemed a little angry, and I guess he should be. If Chris can't sing two songs on one night during the week, how is he supposed to record an album and tour with it? This song wasn't very good, and it was too high for Chris. He sounded bad.
Taylor took the most advantage of having 2 songs and showing some versality, so I think he comes out on top for the night.
Paris left no impact on me, and I think she may have had her last night.
Bottom 2: Katharine and Paris. It could be Elliott instead of Katharine, but I think Katharine's off night may have hurt her this week.
Going Home: Paris
posted by Sherry L at 6:32 AM
6 Comments:
I love this show. I think Elliot is going home tonight.
You have something against Kat, don't you, Sherry?
It was an obvious Elliott and Paris in bottom 2. Kat's Black Horse and the Cherry Tree was so cool!!
It was spazzy,jazzy, cool and completely wild! Loved it.
Anyway, yeah, Taylor has a big fan base I guess, and like all competitions having a large fan base is a good thing.
Why don't you like Kat? I thought she was really really good.
My predictions were spot-on with Paris and Elliott bottom 2.
Hey, leave a comment! I got the results post up already.
Can't wait for next week though. This is when the eliminations get really tough.
apparently I was wrong because Paris went home.
Katharine certainly looked like she thought she was going to be in the bottom 2.
Hey kar liang, I just don't really like Kat. I think she's boring. Her first performance on Tues was bad, probably her worst of the competition. Her second was pretty good.
I'm not an AI fan, I just like Taylor. I only caught his audition because I was taping the show for someone.
Taylor sings the kind of music I like. I can tell he and I have nearly the same taste in music, which is rare for people our age. In addition to all that I think Taylor has a great voice.
Yeah I guess. But this season could turn out to be a Kelly Clarkson season. Whoever wins (Taylor included) could possibly achieve as much success as Kelly Clarkson did the first season.
Yeah, Kat's Tuesday performance (the first one) wasn't all that good.
Ah, I wish I could just sit in and watch the show live and just soak up the real thing. Pity I live in a completely different continent.
Anyway, I wanted to ask your opinion on a rather stale topic (by now, at least): Do you think Clay Aiken's gay?
Hah. My mom's totally going crazy about the whole Clay Aiken scandal thing. She really likes his singing.
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