Well, it's official - Jordin won the 6th season of American Idol last night after garnering the majority of the 74 million votes cast. Erin and I joined the other 160 million viewers and watched the whole two hour finale (with the exception of the final 2 minutes - including the coronation of the new winner, because the show went overtime and our DVR stopped recording!), and I've got to say that overall I was quite impressed. There were some great performances, some not-so-great performances; Ryan did a fantastic job of keeping the night moving. Here are my observations:
Highlights
- Taylor Hicks performance (including harmonica moments!)
- Blake's beatboxing duet with Doug E. Fresh
- Melinda singing with BeBe & CeCe Winans
- the John Lennon vocal tag at the end of Green Day's performance of "Working Class Hero"
Lowlights
- Bette Midler's performance of "The Wind Beneath My Wings" (as Randy would say: "pitchy")
- Carrie Underwood's performances... nothing to write home about (although having a 6x certified platinum record - 6,000,000 albums sold - IS)
- Sanjaya - please, just let us all forget!
All in all, I was quite impressed. I have not been a huge American Idol fan and this is honestly the first season I've followed even remotely. But as far as season finales go, I was entertained throughout the whole show... enough so to make me watch next season (once the top 12-15 are selected!).
What did you think?
Okay, I spoke too soon. Reading through the Take 6 message boards led me to this video. On the board, they comment (and I agree) that Take 6 likely laid down the bg vocals, which you can hear before the AI guys even take the stage, and the AI guys sing over that.
Posted by: euphrony | May 25, 2007 at 11:40 AM
I did a quick search to try and find a clip of that Take 6 number on the web - no luck. From what you are saying, there is no way you can get six random guys to do tight harmonies like Take 6 specializes in without a great deal of time in rehearsal. Not everyone can pull off good a capella music. And Glen is right, they have rather distinctive voices - hard to hide if the boys on stage were just lip synching.
Was it a song Take 6 has recorded, or just one arranged by one of the guys?
Posted by: euphrony | May 25, 2007 at 11:29 AM
So it looks like it happened to everyone... our DVR cut off (during a commercial) the entire last 8 minutes and we had to get online and surf the web to see if Jordin had won (as we correctly guessed she would).
I had picked Melinda from her very first audition episode to go all the way, so I was pretty bummed when she didn't make it. But look how "not making it" has worked out for Chris Daughtry! And she made it one week farther than he did. Plus her exit interview was SO uplifting... she was all smiles that her "baby girl Jordin" had made it and Melinda said, "What's meant to happen is going to happen... if you can't deal with that by this point, then you shouldn't even be here!"
That's curious about the Take6 guys - makes me want to go back and listen for them. I was wondering how the contestants could have learned that song so quickly, but I guess they possibly could have started learning it a lot earlier, since they knew they would all be in the finale episode no matter what.
Posted by: Holly | May 25, 2007 at 09:30 AM
we had taped the show as well, and of course didn't see the end either!!! it was pretty good. I prefer Canadian Idol, however.
Posted by: Kathryn | May 24, 2007 at 11:52 PM
Poor poor Sanjaya. The guy does have talent. I thought it was kind of cruel of them to have him sing the song he did on the finale. It's totally not his style. He's more of a Stevie Wonder/Smokey Robinson sounding guy. Oh well.
I'll watch next season. At least the audition episodes. I'm all for seeing the bad stuff.
About Take 6 . . . They were definitely in the back ground either canned or live. That bass voice is recognizable anywhere!!
GL
Posted by: Glenn Lavender | May 24, 2007 at 09:21 PM
Well Euphrony, you wouldn't have SEEN Take6 - the 6 guy finalists just did an a cappella number that was arranged by one of the guys from Take6. And honestly, I think probably some of the Take6 guys were singing backstage - I can't imagine the AI guys could have pulled off harmonies like that on a week's notice...
Posted by: Normal Rockstar | May 24, 2007 at 05:31 PM
Hey Jeremy,
I've added your link to my blog...in fact, I thought I already had, because you're in my dailey feed reader. But you're on the blog now too.
Yeah, I might tell some 80's CCM stories...but then again, maybe not. ;-)
Posted by: Paul J. | May 24, 2007 at 01:13 PM
I've never watched a single show, despite being a huge music fan (or maybe becaue I'm a music snob, like the guys in High Fidelity). I'd read that there was a fair amount of CCM in the show, especially this season. I didn't realize that Scott Krippaynewrote the AI song. And I (almost) regret not seeing Take 6 on there - I've loved their music for years.
Posted by: euphrony | May 24, 2007 at 01:06 PM
Hey Paul - thanks for stopping by and speaking up. I wasn't speaking about the contestants as much as I was the show itself. I agree - Melinda was the best vocalist of the bunch... I guess the age thing worked in Jordin's favor. Seeing as you're an old-timer CCM guy (I wouldn't have a snowball's chance in Hades to pick you out of that mullet-sporting crew on your blog!), I was rather surprised at the CCM representation on the show - Take6, BeBe and CeCe, The African Children's Choir, Smokey Robinson, Scott Krippayne (wrote the AI song)... Very interesting, anyway.
Posted by: Normal Rockstar | May 24, 2007 at 12:44 PM
I'd have to disagree overall. After watching Idol for a few years, I found this year so UNinteresting that I stopped watching at around the final 6. None of them had the "it" factor that the last finalists have had, IMHO.
I also think that whats-her-face that got booted out of the final 3 got robbed. She should have won.
Posted by: Paul J. | May 24, 2007 at 08:33 AM