Idol 57 - Taylor Hicks

57. Taylor Hicks

Season 5, Winner

Despite being apart of one of, in my opinion, the most top heavy seasons of American Idol of all time, the old man with the gray hair and awful dance moves was able to win the season. Well, Taylor is the first winner to appear on my countdown, which means he's my least favorite of winner of all time. Haha.

Ok. So, Taylor and I had a major love/hate relationship back during Season 5 and anyone who knew me in real life during Season 5 would probably be shocked to see Taylor this high - yes, at 57 - after the way I talked about him. But let's start from the beginning, shall we?

When Taylor first auditioned for the show I was absolutely in agreement with Simon. I thought his A Change is Gonna Come was mediocre at best, and his Swanee River Rock sounded much better. But I was very put off by the way he moved and acted while he sang. He seriously became a mentally handicapped person when he sang, or so it appeared.

Once he got to the semifinals, I admit, I liked what I was hearing from Taylor. I thought he was unique, he was interesting, he sang well. But NO ONE ever heard me say any of that. Now, when the Top 12 were announced there were actually seven people that I really liked and wanted to see do well: Taylor, Katharine, Elliott, Chris, Paris, Lisa and Kellie. But from the get go, Taylor was my least favorite of the favorites. However, his popularity at that time really frustrated me. He was too popular that it seemed pretty inevitable from early in the competition that Taylor would win with ease, and all of my other favorites would fall victim to him.

Another thing that frustrated me was that Taylor kept professing to be soulful and he would shout "Soul Patrol!", but, to me, he wasn't even close to being the answer to soul in Season 5. That honor belonged to someone else - Elliott Yamin! But Taylor was going for a more lounge, visual-type soul, I guess. Still, it frustrated me. He actually does have quite a soulful voice, but it seems a tad bit.. learned, I guess.

Well, my fears came true and starting at the top five I got to see my favorites fall prey to Taylor's rabid fanbase one, by one, by one, by one. No surprises. Was I bitter? You better believe it! Am I bitter now? Not at all. I actually now think Taylor somewhat deserved the title. He is, arguably, very talented and he brought something different to the show, which is what it should be about.

That being said, he clearly didn't have modern commercial appeal, so his lack of success - if you want to call it that - was inevitable. Taylor was facing sabotage constantly, but he prevailed and left with the title. So props to him and his fans for winning the fair way.

Favorite performance(s): My favorite performance by Taylor was definitely Levon. The song complimented his tone perfectly. And I thought the way he got into it at the end worked out well for him, unlike a lot of other performances he did. It just worked. Other than that I loved his take on Taking It To The Streets. It didn't sound perfect, but it was a new facet to his talent that I enjoyed.

Levon

Taking It To The Streets

#56 - Delilah!