American Idol Season Finale: Hicks Scores!

Ladies and Gentlemen, American Idol Season 5 is officially over. And it ended fantastically. Yes, Birmingham, Alabama native Taylor Hicks is the America’s new Idol. I am very satisfied to hear the result. Not that I think Katherine McPhee didn’t deserve to be the winner though. As we know it, Kat sings as good as hell, with an ultra wide range of vocal, beautiful (obivously!), and all that jazz. But I think it’s time for America to pick a different element for their idol and Soul Patrol it is. I remember Tika saying that it would be interesting if Taylor Hicks and Elliot Yamin made the final two because those were two guys who are lack in appearance and cannot be made handsome nomatter what (well, my Father said that Taylor is handsome, that’s a different story). And although Elliot didn’t pull it off, still, by choosing Taylor as its new idol, America has proven that there is no such thing as stereotype. At least for the very moment. Well, as for me my favorite idol would’ve been Elliot all along. But still, Taylor is a breath of fresh air. Congratulations for the two grand finalists, Kat and of course Soul Patrol himself.

As for the result show, I really couldn’t have asked for more. They had more surprises that anyone could’ve had expected. Let’s review it. All 12 finalists plus last year’s idol Carrie Underwood started off the show with a song called “We Made It Through The Rain”. Honestly, I don’t know what Carrie was doing in the show, I still think that she’s still overated as ever. Sorry. Then the top five performed individually with their own idol. Starting from Paris Bennett with the great Al Jarreau, singing a song which pretty much called “We’re in This Love Together” and Chris Doughtry and his favorite band, Live, with a song that contains the lyric “…you’re a mystery..”. I’m not sure of the title but that was a great great performance I must say. Until Elliot Yamin came out and sang one of my favorite songs of all time “One”, with one of my favorite singers Ms. Mary G. Blige. Ahh.. lagu ini ga pernah salah. Elliot started it out so well, cause as we know Mary sang pretty much 2/3 of the song. The best way to describe the way Mary sings is in Indonesian, Mary nyanyi kayak setan. I don’t know any other singer who sings as wild and free as her. For the record, wild is never a negative connotation in my dictionary ;).

The two grand finalists were also performing with famous singers. Katherine with Meat Loaf and Taylor with Tony Braxton singing “It’s all Coming Back to Me” and “The Ghetto”, respectively. The two idols outsang the professional singers I must say which is quite impressive. I love the fact that Taylor sang “The Ghetto” again, as his performance in Elvis Presley week is one of my favorites. The 12 finalists were divided into two groups that night, Male and Female, each having their own performance. I can relate most to the performance by the Female finalists as they were singing medley the ultimate feminine songs such as “I’m Every Woman” and “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman”. But I think the best part of the show was the performance by all finalists singing medley beautiful songs written by Burt Bacharach such as “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again”, “A House is Not A Home”, and “Close to You”. My favorite part of that performance was of course Dionne Warwick herself singing “Walk on By” and “That’s What Friends Are For” with the finalists. Ga ada matinya…!

Dionne Warwick was not the only surprise in that show. As I mentioned earlier, there were lots of them. This year American Idol is giving away Golden Idol Awards because Ryan Seacrest said that after all the works they’ve done, they are pretty tired to leave all award shows empty handed ahahaha. The most hillarious one was Randy Jackson Special Award for Public Speaking which went to who else but the wicked Rhonetta Johnson. Still cursing as ever. Well, my favorite surprise for the night was of course the one when Clay Aiken showed up in the middle of the dreadful performance by Michael Sandecky, the winner of Best Impersonation Award, singing “The Sun Going Down On Me”. That one I didn’t see coming and I was so excited. Clay dyied his hair black and that somehow ascertains that Clay actually can be made handsome. Who would’ve thought? And just when Ryan Seacrest said that they had no more surprises, Prince came out on stage. Performing as authentic as ever. Good job.

Just before the results were announced, the two grandfinalists performed together for the last time singing “Time of My Life” the original soundtrack of Dirty Dancing. The show ended when Ryan read the results of more than 64 million votes that came in. The good thing is as soon as he had the result, Ryan didn’t wait to announce it, ga kayak Indonesian Idol, ngumumin hasil eliminasi aja lamanya kayak setan. BASI! The next thing happened after the announcement was the performance by the new Idol singing his first single, “Do I Make You Proud”. To sum up, the season ended dramatically. I’m sad though as one of my favorite entertainments of the year is over. Well, I never said that the winner of each season of American Idol is necessarily an ultimate Idol and that he/she can survive the music industry. All I know is that it’s all about the show and the brilliant people behind it. The show is getting better and better all the time and it sure as hell is entertaining.

This one's for you. Chosen from last night’s performance by Elliot Yamin and Mary G. Blige. Let’s make peace everyone!

One
written by U2

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
You got someone to blame
You say...

One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it

Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's...

Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One...

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One...life

One