Taylor and Katharine
Hit The Kodak

Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee hit the stage of the Kodak Theater this week on American Idol 5. With two previously-performed songs and one original apiece, the finalists had their work cut out for them.

Following is the It's Destiny! panel's take on the AI5 Finals Round 11: Taylor and Katharine Hit The Kodak

Katharine "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree"
Tammy: Katharine revisits one of her better performances on Idol. It was a good choice, though her initial performance of the song was better overall. She had some pitchy moments in the song, but still managed to look like she was having some fun onstage.
Score: 8.4
Liza: I enjoyed this performance and was flabbergasted when Randy started blathering about how the song wasn't that exciting as if he expected her to sing a new song. It did not come across as well on television as it did live, but either way, she did well.
Score: 8.5
Destiny: Katharine seemed much more comfortable onstage than she did during the original performance of this song. It's a fun song, and she sang it well.
Score: 8.9

Taylor "Livin' For The City"
Tammy: Taylor had the crowd in the palm of his hand with this one, showing no nerves at the larger crowd and raised stakes. It was an energetic performance, though the song choice and jacket still seemed a bit, yes I'll say it again... 'wedding singer'.
Score: 8.9
Liza: My first reaction - WHAT IS HE WEARING?!?! Not only was the Barney colored jacket atrocious, but he looked so unkempt and sloppy, and he looked like a lounge lizard. But people didn't really care because he really grabbed the crowd and whipped them into a frenzy. It was impressive to see in person. He definitely won the first round, but it wasn't a "slaughter" as Simon said.
Score: 9.0
Destiny: Taylor commanded the stage, sounded great and proved why he deserved to be the last man standing. A solid performance all the way around.
Score: 9.4

Katharine "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"
Tammy: Again, Katharine's reprise of an earlier Idol performance isn't as strong. Though it was still pretty good, her posing in the exact.same.place. as SOTR 1.0 made it apparent how choreographed every nuance of the song was. This song suits her well, as she loves to emote and showcase her theatre background.
Score: 9.2
Liza: I disagree with the notion that this wasn't as strong as the one she did last week. I thought it was better! She really connected with the song and sang it beautifully. I was moved by it, and the crowd absolutely loved it. This song must be the B-side of her single! And bonus points for getting through what I don't doubt is sabotage with her earpiece. Shades of Diana DeGarmo!
Score: 9.99
Destiny: Look at that score, Liza! You really think this was near perfection? I agree that it was better than last week's performance, but I still don't think it is magic. There's something that doesn't ring true about her performance, but she did sound lovely, even with her musical theatre over-enunciating of the words.
Score: 9.0

Taylor "Levon"
Tammy: Not a fan of this performance. It was a poor choice for Taylor, as the song doesn't really build to much, but rather chugs along at a steady pace. There were several better songs from Taylor this season, like 'In The Ghetto', which could have brought the house down. Taylor may like performing this song, but I sure don't like watching it.
Score: 7.8
Liza: When I heard he was singing "Levon" it raised eyebrows because I did not think it was a good choice for him. But since I wasn't all that thrilled with his first performance of it, I thought the chances of him doing it better were pretty high. Oops! His voice sounded a bit strange on it - pitchy, as Randy said - and he also went into a vocal spasm towards the end that sounded ridiculous.
Score: 7.0
Destiny: I didn't think he was pitchy, but I did think there were some problems. He looked so worried, and I got the feeling that something was wrong with the music and/or the sound system. Not the best song choice, considering what he had to choose from. Good, not great.
Score: 8.0

Katharine "My Destiny"
Tammy: Er...wow. That was a fantastically dreadful song. And possibly the worst vocals from Katharine all season. So much warbling and pitchyness. This is so not the type of song that Katharine should be singing. All season long, the judges have been saying how Katharine isn't 'this type' of singer, and yet they give a song that is meant to be diva-ed up. And she just can't do the runs and hit the notes. She's not that kind of singer. That last screech as Katharine neared the end of the song was a final nail in her coffin.
Score: 6.0
Liza: I actually kind of liked the beginning of the song. It was in a pretty safe register for her, albeit a bit low. And then things went all kinds of wrong. Now in person, I did not hear how warbly and pitchy she got because it happened right as the crowd stood up and cheered for her. It's weird because at the time that I felt like she really connected with the song and felt its cheesy coronation lyrics was about the time things went wrong vocally. It was kind of like when Carrie warbled out of tune at the end of "Angels Brought Me Here" except more prolonged.
Score: 6.5
Destiny: Katharine just does not have good range, and this song exposed that problem. By the end of the song, she erased almost any memory of her good vocal qualities. While I appreciate the shout out she gave me with the song title, I just didn't dig the performance.
Score: 6.0

Taylor "Do I Make You Proud"
Tammy: While the opening bars of the song made me think that a trainwreck was a comin', Taylor somehow made this song work. This song, while slightly less crappy than Katharine's tune, wouldn't be that out of place on any country radio station. Taylor channeled enough emotion and had an Idol moment up on that stage tonight. Who would have thought that would have been possible with an Idol song? He may have just clinched it.
Score: 9.0
Liza: Listening to the song, I could not get over how horrific those lyrics are. I mean seriously - "I never raised my hand blah blah blah" ... and the title. Gah! Who WRITES this crap?! Anyway, Taylor sounded good in the very beginning, lost it a bit in the middle and then shined at the end and made the song work like I didn't think could be possible. Huge props to him for putting his all into such garbage and making it tolerable.
Score: 8.0
Destiny: I agree. Taylor put his all into this song and did the best he possibly could with it. Loved his vocals and passion. Good on him for making the most out of an ill-fitting song and embracing the Idol experience for all it's worth.
Score: 9.2

Who Should Win?
Tammy: Taylor
Liza: Daniel Powter - he was awesome!! Oh. He's Canadian? And he's not in the contest? Darn. Ok - Taylor.
Destiny: Taylor

Who Will Win?
Tammy: Taylor. I think the most interesting thing to come out of a Taylor win is how they'll market this guy. I don't expect to hear Mr.Hicks on my radio station anytime soon, regardless of the outcome.
Liza: Taylor. Yes, it will be interesting to see because that song should never be played on any radio station.
Destiny: Taylor

Visit the Idol Talk Archives to see all of our existing Idol coverage.
Visit our homepage for the latest features, updates, and polls.

We Asked You, "What Would You Like To See On The AI5 Finale?"
58% Top 24 of This Season Performing A Huge Group Number
38% Kelly and Justin Reunited To Sing Together
4% The Best of The Worst In AI History Singing A Medley Together
We Asked You, "Who Should Be The Next American Idol?"
46% Elliott, 42% Taylor, 12% Katharine

The Future of Entertainment.
It’s Here. It’s Fun. It’s Destiny!
"Contact Us" to let us know you were here and what you think!

American Idol logo courtesy Fox. www.idolonfox.com.