Kat- Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Black Horse and Cherry Tree
Taylor- Levon
Living for the City
My thoughts on these choices. Good job on the picks by Katharine. Taylor, I love Levon, and most people did too, so good choice with that. I'm just not so sure of Living for the City. I guess I was expecting him to sing "Something" or In The Ghetto".
haha i remember this is how i got into INR! i think it was back in season 2 with corey clark. haha. i dont really watch AI anymore. but i like that gray hair guy taylor... hes a really good singer... but i thought that chris was going to win.. he had a really nice rock voice.. better than bo and that other guy from last season. sorry if i offended anyone.. just what i think.
cheers
ya i know eh. gawd. i miss it so much. i use to spend everyday there. you knoe you and kris got me through so much though **** when i was growing up eh. it was crazy. just chilling talking about hp. lol
hellz ya.. i pmed her so im hoping she will pm me back when she gets it. lol prolly wont even remember me. but hey... go watch ai and message me when its over k.. and well talk... gotta catch up k. lol
oh i will
i am SOO getting that HP fourm up and running again.. i need yours and kris's help tho.. are you in for it??
i gotta head over to my gfs to grab some clothes lol. been there for the last 2 weeks and just came home. i'll tty when i get back and AI is over k.
<3
Here's a blow by blow from the show tonight, posted from a friend, on the AI board.
Ryan is looking less scruffy tonight. Stood a little closer to his razor. The crowd is big and wild. Lots of cheering and screaming.
Ryan's suit is a little shiny .But well cut.
Showing the make up tables.
Now for the judges. Everyone looking serious - except Paula of course. And Simon's in a jacket.
Whew. Lots of cleavage on Paula. Gray jacket on Simon who suggests contestants pray not to forget the words.
You have FOUR hours to vote. (Sherry, you are going to be up VERY late tonight)
Ryan says 'two guy gal finales and both times the gals have taken it....can Taylor break the cycle?'
Showing clips of them when they were trying out...early auditions etc.
Clips of Taylor. I forgot what he looked like when he started. He's more polished now, of course.
Now clips of Kat. She's more polished too. They really do work with them in terms of style etc. don't they?
The theatre is JAM packed. They are wall to wall. I hope that those up in the nosebleed sections brought a portable television with them. They'll never see the contestants from there.
Commercials...commercials...commercials. Season finale of Lost on tomorrow. Gotta see that.
And we're back...
Chris is there, hugging Ryan. McPhee family there too. I see ...is that Jasmine Trias in the background.
Oh good. Kat is doing Black Horse And a Cherry Tree. She did well on that one.
This is not quite as high energy and sexy as her original performance. That was hot - with the little over the shoulder glances. This one is showing her nerves I think. Could be just me though. She's moving well and dancing, but there was an audible gasp from her just now - like she's out of breath. I think there's so much riding on this, it has to affect performances.
Judges - Randy says 'you looked like you were having fun. Not that super exciting, but you sang it better this time.' [huh]
Paula says 'America loves you. A fun opening. But I know there's more of you and better'
Simon says 'good with a small g' 'I think the occasion is bigger than that song...that's what I call warm up'
Kat showing a bit of cleavage and some tummy. Cute shirt. Very age appropriate. She's got a thousand roses from 'the McFan Club'.
Taylor has chosen 'Living For the City'
Whew, he is an awful fuschia (did he do that JUST for our very own fuscia, Sherry?) velvet blazer. Well, he's a blaze of colour anyway.
His voice is pitched low, shoulder moves. He's doing a bit of knock kneed dancing across stage - like a white boy moon walk. It's pure Taylor, but again it's not as high energy as it could be. Still, I think his fans will love it.
He's up on the cat walk bopping now. Getting some moves on. He's a singing dancing happy boy. Oh Taylor those knock knees!!!
Good ending.
Judges:
Crowd is going wild. Judges can't talk yet.
Okay, Randy got them to stop a bit. Not much though. "you know what I love about you...you don't care what it's from, you always make it your own...' Then the crowd drowns him out again.
Paula 'You and I match' "I have your dance down too'
Simon 'This audience hated you...[fascetiously] 'smart way to start the show' 'worst jacket I've ever seen'
I'd say round one to Taylor. Except that jacket............
Kat is next with Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
I love that Taylor loves his fans...but I wish he wouldn't shout out Soul Patrol Soul Patrol Soul Patrol at the end of each of these. I don't know why, but I just find it annoying. That's just me though.
And we're back again. Talking about the tour and the downloads.
Okay, now Kat with Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Darkened stage, spot on Kat. SHe's sitting on the floor. THAT'S why she didn't sit on the floor for Black Horse. It would have been weird to do it twice in a row.
Lots of jewellery. Her voice is in good form. Just slightly sultry/husky. She's pitched it perfectly for her range. Soulful looks into the camera. She's slowing the tempo, building to a very powerful 'far behind me'.
The crowd is doing the wave thing. Well, I didn't care for that note, but the crowd did. I think the acoustics here and live are different.
She's carrying it off beautifully I think.
I think the rendition is good - but I'm wondering if it's too soon after she did it before. Maybe that takes some of the magic out of it. Dad is crying.
Randy doesn't look impressed. Crowd is going nuts though. Randy says 'for me...you worked it out again...worked it out'
Paula says 'God given talent...every father is feeling the tears on his face as your father cries. And every little girl wants to be you'
Simon "round one you got slaughtered. I believe this is your best performance of the competition so far."
Kat looking very happy. She had to remove her earpiece before she started because it didn't start to give her the right key. She's happy she figured it out anyway.
Well, I thought Kat's performance was pretty good, but for me it was too close to the first time she did it. I guess I have a low threshold of boredom, but you can't really recreate magic that way - it's not a surprise anymore.
There's Taylor's Dad. Says 'It's a long way to Alabama'
Taylor is performing 'Levon'.
Darkened stage. Spotlight. Taylor starting slow, low. A little shake in the voice? Singing it straight.
Oh there, that's better. I was worried. Just didn't seem like a Taylor performance. More energy now. Still, I liked the last one better.
Okay, bring it Taylor. He's going into the spazzy dancing. Voice getting stronger. More energy and enjoyment.
Crowd going NUTS again. They love Taylor. For sure.
Taylor smiling ear to ear.
Judges:
Randy says 'nice song. to be honest, keep it real, it was a little pitchy for me this time' [I thought so too Randy]
Paula 'it was the essence of who Taylor is'
Simon 'Paula what you said didn't make sense. You walked the first round. Katherine has taken the second round'
Well, he's setting it up for a tie game to keep us on the edge of our seat. As if he needed to.
Okay, we're coming back for the Sappy Idol Song. Oh wait, they don't call it that, do they?
Okay, the McPhee parents are being interviewed. They say Kat was always singing as a child. Kat says she heard 'scales all day long'. Her mom says it's what she was born to do.
The song is 'My Destiny'
BIG old spot on her now. Blinding. Like a Close Encounters leaving the spaceship moment.
Oh, it's LOW for her. Really low. Her voice is almost not carrying the melody at this point.
There, she's moving up a bit, catching the melody - but barely. Is the song MEANT to sound like this?
She looks beautiful in a shiny gray dress. But this song is NOT great for her in my opinion.
She keeps getting down too low - beyond her low register - so it sounds harsh or growly. It's happened a couple of times. When she gets up there it's okay, but not a memorable song - or a memorable performance. I couldn't humm this song if you paid me.
Okay, another really bad note there - and this one was a high one. I am SO not loving this song. I like Kat but this is torture - torture.
Kat...just stop singing. This is really really bad. If the judges get all gaga about this they are fakihg --- aren't they? Am I that bad a judge of music?
Randy says 'check it out...keeping it real...you look amazing [she does], you sounded really good, I did NOT love the song - but you sounded good'
Paula says 'that is not your fault because you are brilliant'
Simon says 'you weren't brilliant. you are a great potential...vote and remember the second song'
The judges were luke warm on that - but emphasized that they LOVE Kat [but not the song.] Well, Simon didn't even love Kat with that song, but was encouraging about her second song.
hope Taylor's song is better - or does he jsut do a different version of this same song? Isn't that what they did last year - same song, different tempo/arrangement?
Taylor's dad on. Taylor talking about his harmonica. He taught himself to play.
I'm Gonna Make You Proud is Taylor's song.
Slow tempo. Blue light on stage. Taylor starting right in key. Nice sound in the first. A little low, but it's got a melody anyway.
Taylor with this sexy little smile. Nice move into higher notes. It's so MUCH a better song. I might even be able to hum this one when it's over.
There's a good tempo here - not as fast as Taylor needs to really spazz but lets him do a little head bobbing.
Well, that one was a bad note, but the only one so far. And he's recovered. Rasping the ending. Good strong notes. Oh goodness, he's spazz dancing...big finish.
Randy says, 'based on the song - this is a slightly better song. You know who Taylor Hicks is and no matter what the song is you know what to do to make it your own'
Paula 'you are better than your song. All the nuances of Taylor Hicks exist in this song'
Simon says 'assuming that the show WAS tied - you've just WON American Idol'
They are teasing Simon for passing on Taylor initially. Simon says "that's show business"
Taylor is doing the Soul Patrol business. Okay, he deserves to be happy. Can't be too hard on him....or on Kat really. They've both worked hard. BOth nice kids.
Recaps are on.
So I guess if you want to vote Kat it's 01, 03 and 05
Taylor is 02, 04 and 06.
The recaps show just what we saw....strong performances by both of them on at least one of the reprise songs. Stronger performance by Taylor on the original song.
Taylor's suit pants are weirdly shiny!
Now they are playing Daniel P. live 'You Had a Bad Day'...he's there on stage with a piano.
Showing both Taylor and Kat clips...as if both were leaving.
:::>^..^<::: ~*~The Journey is more important than the end or the start~*~ :::>^..^<:::
Listening to the MP3s, the crowd went NUTS for Taylor on Living for the City.
Kat had many pitch problems, but I think her nerves got to her. Hell, it would be hard not to feel that way being up on that huge stage.
Taylor's last song was much better than Kats. He took a bad song and make it work. Kat took a bad song and struggled to find the key. All in all BOTH did well, and I hope they both sit back tonight and breathe a sigh of relief. The judging is OVER! They both have careers, and they both should enjoy tomorrow night.
05-23-2006 09:22 PM
Meg 
