Taylor Hicks - Season 5

[pillbeam]

Sharrhys:

Simon (and the producers) have at least known that Taylor "sang himself into the semifinals" several weeks ago, probably with "Levon," the song Taylor sang for his first performance for the voting public during the Top 24 contest. That night, Simon said he thought Taylor should make the Top 10 and that Taylor was the contestant he was getting the most positive feedback from the public about. I would further speculate that the producers have known for a while that Taylor is going to win this thing and they have already commissioned the writing of his song for the finale. [Gawd I hope it's decent.]

Lets be real folks, Taylor is the perfect contestant: He's so confident and positive about his music, original as hell and funny to boot. And Taylor not only far surpasses the other contestants in vocal and performing ability, but he is better than a number of current superstars in the industry. And Taylor is the first AI contestant to not only be compared on an equal footing with the stars who originally performed his AI cover songs, but in some cases, rated BETTER than the original. For example, the Washington Post said his version of "Taking It to the Streets" was better than Michael McDonald's.

I think the producers and judges adore Taylor as much as we do, but they have wanted to maintain the ILLUSION of a contest, hence not giving Taylor the pimp spot as often, changing his songs at the last minute and unrealistically promoting Kellie and Katherine in the earlier weeks. Also, there have been some out-of-character, blase comments from Randy about a couple terrific Taylor performances. And Simon, well, he's just being Simon with the anti-dancing schitck.


[Side note: Did anyone notice that Simon referred to Taylor as "young man" last night? Such a contrast to Simon's past drunk- and sober- father references to Taylor. I guess Simon and the producers are ready to secure Taylor's run to the finish.]

[graycat11]

Taylor was the most consistent singer there last night, because BOTH of his songs were on tune and sounded great. I voted and voted and voted..and it was pretty difficult getting through. Keep it up, TAYLOR!

Yes, I thought he was the most consistent. he sang "In the Ghetto" very well.

"Taking It to the Streets" performed by Taylor is my favorite. I like it when Taylor punctuates the last note with his hand gesture in sync with the musicians. That jesture alone is just mind boggling.

Hoping it'll be a Taylor/Elliott finale. Love Taylor but if Elliott won I'd be very happy too.

[misskitty]

LOVED IT. Loved it. Loved it. Fab-u-lous performances by Taylor. And great that he FINALLY got some more recognition from Simon .

He's going for the win. And it will be an all-male finale, I'm sure. Taylor is so versatile. He's just a hoot when pumped and dancing all around, and he can be so very serious and charming when singing softer.

If you close your eyes, and listen to the vocals, he has a great tone. I think the judges are a bit surprised that he is so well-liked. But I think they're ready to show that they support him.

Maybe it's just to keep things interesting so people continue to watch, but I think he has a great chance to win it all!

Love the Grey FOX!

[rag133]

The show is awful when they do songs from Elvis, Queen, etc... I love when the
judges say the performances were Karaoke, boring, etc... what the heck do they
expect?? Its ELVIS. Jeez. WHat, they are gonna take all time classic songs
over a 1 week period and make them even better? Why not stick to crap they will
sing in the real world, not stuff from the 60s, 70s, elvis, queen,etc... Whats
next, yelling at them for sucking while singing Beatles songs?? And not really
fair to the chicks to make them sing male songs too, they just won't sound
right.

I don't see them making all the guys sing Whitney Houston or someone like
that....zzzzzzz

[OldSchoolBabe]

Fabulous night, Taylor! I would love to hear him do a full version of "In The Ghetto". He really does know how to make a song his own. Chris may be a good singer, but, he's no Bo when it comes to personality. Elliott is a sweetie, and if Tay can't be the winner, I hope E-Dub is. Kat should be going home this week, but, I'll be happy as long as Tay & Ell stay.

[Kyle]

Really , i expected more from Taylor on Elvis Night , cause the older , mature Elvis is totally in his range.
As everyone could hear when he sang "In the Ghetto".

Altogether it was just OK.

[Pharoah]

Yeah, he did....fine I guess, but both Elliott and Chris outsang him as they consistently do. I just wish he weren't such a yawn.

[realfun]

Yeah, he did....fine I guess, but both Elliott and Chris outsang him as they consistently do. I just wish he weren't such a yawn.

This is so interesting to me Pharoah! See, because I thought Chris (as always, for me) was a yawn! It's all in the eye of the beholder...

[graycat11]

Chris sang the first song well, the 2nd song was a dud, boring and he was flat.

[Salty Sea Hag]

Well, to be singled out by Rebecca Romijn to perform an encore is pretty special. Thanks for rising to the occasion, Taylor, and giving me a good laugh. You looked like you were having the time of your life and I was thoroughly entertained.