American Idol: The Final Two

Our household was divided about who deserves to be named "American Idol" after last night's performances. Maddie busted a move during Katharine's first performance, but seemed distracted for the rest of the evening. When it came time to announce our favorites, however, she shouted "Katharine! Katharine McPhee!" Alecia and I were amazed that she knew the name, but even more amazed that she chose Katharine to root for.

The rest of us chose Taylor, of course. Josie danced through both of Taylor's first two performances, pulling out some new moves we hadn't seen before. It was clear who she was rooting for. Alecia and I were anti-Katharine anyway, and last night's performances didn't do a thing to change our minds. Her first song, "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree" wasn't as interesting the second time around, with her standing instead of sitting. We did have to agree that her second attempt at "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was actually better than the first time she sang it, and may have been the best vocal performance of the season. But we never had any doubt that she could sing--we just don't like her. Luckily, she stunk up the joint on the last song, justifying our dislike. Yes, it was an awful, awful song. But she also sounded pitchy and mumbly while singing it.

I think I figured something out about Katharine, by the way. In two of the last three weeks, she messed up the words of one of her songs. And last night, she sounded unsure and off kilter on her last song. I think she carefully choreographs and rehearses each song to such an extent that it's difficult for her to learn multiple songs and still keep everything in her head. When you're carefully planning each step, each gesture, that's a lot to call back up under pressure. So one of her songs has suffered for it each week. I think it's why she chose the boring '40s-era song for her final song last week--it was probably something she'd done for auditions or in a show before, so she didn't have to learn anything new. And not coincidentally, it was the first time in three weeks that she didn't mess up one of her songs.

Taylor doesn't seem to have the same problem, nor did Elliott. But they both move naturally (sometimes awkwardly), as the music compels them, and they both sing with their hearts, not with their heads. Neither of them really has choreography or scripted moments (like when Katharine was singing her final song last night, and suddenly pointed skyward as if she remembered that she was supposed to do it on that specific line). When you're just running around like a crazy person, or bouncing up and down, you don't need to think about your movements, so you can concentrate on the lyrics. But if you've planned every single movement of your hands and feet, it's hard to get all of that down in a week of preparation and still learn the song. That probably won't hurt Katharine in the long run, of course. She'll have plenty of time to learn her concert moves and songs. But it showed up again last night and may cost her the competition.

Anyway, both singers were solid last night, but I agree with Simon that Taylor should be the winner. His final song was a better song to begin with (I'm glad they gave them each unique songs to fit their styles, though Katharine sort of got screwed there), but Taylor also put a lot more of himself into it than Katharine did. So if it was tied before then (which I agree that it might've been), hopefully, that final rendition put him over the top. When it came time to vote, we voted by text messaging, and stayed true to our family allegiances: three votes for Taylor, one for Katharine.

For Josie and Maddie, who knows how they made their decisions. But for Alecia and I, I think we chose who we'd most like to see be named winner. Not necessarily who will sell the most records or have the most mainstream success, but who was the nicest person and most deserving of nice things happening to them. Katharine has always had an arrogance and flippance to her that makes her unrelatable. She just seems like someone who has natural gifts and has never had to sacrifice for anything. She's genuinely shocked whenever someone says anything negative about her, and is full of excuses. Taylor, on the other hand, has always seemed humble and appreciative of where he's at. We'd rather hear a grateful and ecstatic Taylor doing the winner interviews the next day, I guess.

How about you?