I am prepared to console her if she loses.

I can't believe that people think katherine doesnt have talent...thats rediculous. she is certainly the most talented female this season. i liked chris the best...but once he was gone...nothin but kat...i think taylor is too hyper with his little leg thing and his arm twitches...grr..i cant believe he won. people were saying that she isnt good looking....personally i think she is gorgeous...and everything that means more than that...KAT ROCKS...

Okay! Now, all you jealous girls can jump up and down and be soooooooo happy that Katherine didn't win! I'm tired of hearing (well, reading) "Wah! She's so ugly! Wah! She's got such an attitude! Wah! Her boobs are in my face!"
Now, all of you who voted for Taylor.........you better get out there and buy his first CD (whenever that comes out.....Oh! That's right! By then you will have forgotten all about him....mainly because he's not that great?!?! Yyyyyyeah....pretty sure that's why :-)
He won this contest and that's about how far he'll go. He's just an alright kinda guy that wins all the Karaoke contests around town. He happened to win this contest based on the fact that he has the "Underdog" thing going for him. He doesn't "look like an American Idol." That's why he got so many votes. A little backwards, huh, America?

I have been rooting for Katherine all season. It's too bad she lost, but I don't think she is going to have too much trouble with her career. For anybody to say that she isn't beautiful is crazy.. And alot of people say she is a snob.. Remember people....... cock......confident... fine line....ok...... she's GREAT win or lose.... Good luck Kat.

OOPS .... that was supposed to say Cocky..... sorry everyone..

What can I say...Kat is both a talented and georgeous woman. I have enjoyed watching her this idol season so much.

I applaud the courage she showed on the show. Despite some of the rather harsh comments thrown at her by judges and others, she has been a class act. She never once cried or "mouthed" off to the judges as I've read at some other sites. In fact the only time she stood up for herself was to Randy when he was preaching about song choice. She didn't choose the song...duh!

Katharine is a star already and will make it very far. She doesn't have to be content to just do one thing either...she can sing, act, go on Broadway...wherever the wind carries her.

Let's all look back on Katharine ten years from now...My prediction...she'll still be success, probably much more confident, and the same beautiful young lady she is today.

Only difference...she'll have sold many CD's, toured, maybe done some acting, who knows...

It doesn't stop here for her here though, that much I DO KNOW!

This was, quite simply, a popularity contest, really more about political differences than musical ability. Taylor Hicks appeared on Jay Leno two nights ago, and his singing of Jailhouse Rock sounded so pathetic without the big sound of the Idol Band backing it, it was hard to imagine him winning on karaoke night at the local bar and grill, let alone American Idol. His voice was thin, and he had none of the emotional intensity he displayed on Idol. Perhaps he was simply exhausted from several days of interviews. On the other hand, Taylor did well in the interview, coming across as witty and likeable. In a nutshell, Hicks won because he was a "likeable" alternative to someone certain fans chose to dislike. I live in the Nashville area. Hicks couldn't cut it in this town. He had to go back to Birmingham. I can tell you, Hicks would have to fight to get a gig here. He's that amateurish.

But on American Idol, he got incredibly lucky. For some reason, probably because she's incredibly naturally beautiful, nice (high school vice president), unpretentious, and superbly trained and gifted, Kat McPhee evoked incredible amounts of envy. Throughout the competition, angry, bitter people (the majority of them women) posted incredibly hateful and ignorant comments about McPhee, inferring from no information whatever that she's stuck up, thinks she's better than everyone else, blah, blah. If she smiled, it was because she was stuck up. If she frowned she was a whiner. If she wore jeans, she was a cow. If she wore a gorgeous dress, she was a slut. It was a veritable Rohrschach Inkblot for the securities of the American female.

What any psychologist could tell you is that these people [McPhee-haters] have a lot of anger. McPhee represents something hateful to them -- a beautiful mirror that reflects back to them their own lack of talent. In many cases, the McPhee-haters have very limited musical taste. Many of them are as tone deaf as those Idol auditioners we laugh at. When you hear someone say that Kat has "no talent," you know you are listening to someone who is simply tone deaf! David Foster, Kenny Rogers, Barry Manilow, and numerous industry professionals are blown away by this kid, but Mary Jane in Toledo thinks she sucks, has no talent, and is so stuck up.

The Idol judges consistently held McPhee to a higher standard than other contestants, probably because they subconsciously expected so much more. On the other hand, as Hicks's strong fan base became apparent, the judges suddenly shied away from criticizing him. Hicks even got a "spontaneous" extra exposure, when, on a "results show," Rebecca Romijn "spontaneously" asked him to do Jailhouse Rock, and the band "just happened" to have their charts ready to start on cue.

Hicks is nothing but a pale imitation of Bill Medley. He has many of the same sensitivities of Bill Medley, but none of the vocal power. He's going to need some sonic help in the studio. Listen to Taylor sing "In the Ghetto," then cue up Elvis. Listen to Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes sing on "I had the time of my life," then hear Taylor and Kat on the results show. Taylor sounds miniscule next to Bill Medley, while Kat is right up there with the legendary Jennifer Warnes with the warmth, power, and clarity of her voice [although she wavered for a second as she gathered that incredible dress she was wearing].

Hicks will sell quite a few records at first, because his fan base is not about talent, it is about "winning" and showing those "California snobs that our good ole boy can beat their Ice Princess." He could put out 10 Joe Cocker covers, and sell half a million copies. But unless he chooses his songs very wisely, it will end quickly.

The problem is that Taylor probably isn't such a good ole boy, and Katherine probably really is as sweet as she is talented. He's already 29, and I suspect his musical evolution is just about over.
Several websites have posted stories about how Taylor has been rude to fans and executives, and is already undercutting himself in the industry. I have no way of knowing if these stories are true, but it certainly raises a red flag.

David Foster's face [you can catch it in a frame by frame replay] says it perfectly. When Taylor's win was announced, the camera panned to him, and his face was a mask of anger and disbelief. No wonder. With 14 Grammys under his belt, Foster knows talent, and he knows that McPhee absolutely runs rings around Taylor Hicks.
As he put it on the Idol show, "Katherine has a great, great future."

Sometimes the best person doesn't "win" in life. But every defeat is an opportunity to learn. I've been watching and playing music and talking to professional musicians much of my life, and I honestly believe McPhee is one of the most gifted *combinations* of natural beauty and singing ability to ever grace a stage. But she can improve. For example, Barry Manilow told her to sing "Come Rain or Come Shine" TO SOMEONE. Kat gave a great rendition, but did not sing TO SOMEONE, and it would have been even better if she had. She's still learning. When she hones her dancing, learns to connect better with the audience, and reins in her vocals just a bit, WATCH OUT. This is a potential superstar.

American Idol stamped itself this year as the musical equivalent of the Jerry Springer show.

I thought she was beautiful, but most of her songs pitchy and over sag.

As a first time viewer, and music lover, I have to say that I was dissappointed that Taylor Hicks won. American Idol should be about vocal ability. And sadly, Taylor Hicks does not epitomize that.

Judging by people's comments, such as "he has so much soul", and their gushing about his singing, it leads me to believe that AI truly isn't about singing, but rather a popularity competition.

Taylor's song choices have never been a variant, and ironically, his fans overlook the reports on disputes with producers with song choices that fit him..but not the style of that week.

I'll give him one thing..he's very good at exploiting his story, and his style. He successfully masks his small range with grunts, and rasps, and covers up the monotonous singing style with his erratic dancing.

Either way. I do hope the best for him. Though he certainly didn't deserve to go as far as he had.

***

On to Katharine. I have to touch on two points.

It's very puzzling for me to read from angry Taylor/Elliot/Chris fans on the points such as Kat's "inconsistency", her "personality", and her "voice".

It's very interesting to see the reactions this girl recieves. There are few unbiased posters that I have read. Fans either love her passionately, or hate her rabidly.

A good example for this is that within 2 days of Katharine's release of her single on Amazon, her whole review sheet had accumulated more than 800+ reviews, with 300+ of them oddly 1 star reviews.

Her rating was a 3 star, and I decided to see how she had so many reviews, and why so many 1 stars. After skimming the review sheet, it was painfully obvious that these 1 star reviews were spammed. And all of them were oddly posted by a reviewer reviewing for the 1st time.

I inquired to Amazon about this, seeing the obvious hate spam on an excellent single (the best single thus far).

I then decided to Check Taylor hicks review sheet.

In 2 weeks he had only accumulated 300+ reviews. All were shining 5 star reviews, and I found it a bit odd that after looking at the posters history, they were going back to Katharine's review sheet and giving her a 1 star review.

It can be counted on both sides. But I found a lot of these reviewers left one liner 1 star reviews in Kat's review.

Deeply flustered, I decided to post my own review of Katharine's single.

I gave it a 5 star review....and oddly.....5 minutes after it was posted.....3 1 star, and 1 line negative reviews from Pam or Jeff were put one after another.

It's very interesting. And in a way. All the reviews backfired since a lot of nonfans posted after buying it from the local store saying it was excellent. And many even posted on how they were nudged to purchase it to see what all this hoopla was about.

Thankfully Amazon deleted the 300+ 1 star reviews leaving only 35 1 star reviews.

And leaving 300+ 5 star reviews that were not spam.

That in itself shows how Katharine can elicit such passion from both sides.

Why?

honestly. Competition can be fierce, and Katharine was definitely one of the contendors for the title.

Fans had to find some way to peg this super talented girl. So they would use a smile, or laugh as a sign of "arrogance", and a frown as "rudeness".

Frankly. There were other performers that treated, and backtalked to the judges in a much more rude fashion than Katharine had ever done.

For example. Even sweet Elliot talked back to Simon saying how he didn't agree. If Katharine had said that..she would definitely be torn apart.

The only time I can recall she ever talked back, it was during top 3 week.

Randy criticized her " I believe I can fly " performance due to wrong song choice.

But that was totally asinine since...Clive Davis was the one that chose their songs. Kat smiled as sweetly as ever, and said plainly "I didn't pick it!".

That was in no way rude, or offensive. It was the TRUTH, and she did do it in a respectable manner.

Criticing this girl for a smile, or frown in a candid moment is totally ludicrous.

Now, I also have to say that I believe most of these "haters" are older females...mostly from the Soul Patrol fan group.

The AI official boards reflect this very much. There are many posters with avatars of their children's face, and it's a fact that the majority of Ai's demographic is older women.

Taylor was lucky since he not only appealed to the older women group (over 30), but he came from Alabama. -- a sure 1-2 million votes right there.

I've concluded after reading the many hateful remarks directed toward Katharine that these women are envious.

They would deny it in a heart beat. But it's obvious in their keen, and scathing remarks on her looks, and her personality that these very opinionated, and jealous fans cannot stand to see someone like Katharine...a talented, and gorgeous girl without pegging her down with the "snobby rich girl label". It would be all too easy to say that Katharine was the perfect performer. She can sing, and works the camera wonderfully.

But these fans would never admit it, and heatedly argue back. Which leads me to believe that it really is true.

**

Now on to Katharine's singing. In my opinion. There were 3 very noticeable diamonds in the rough in AI's 5 year reign.

They are Katharine Mcphee, Kelly Clarkson, and Carrie Underwood.

If Katharine plays her hands right, and utilizes her resources, using top 40 material in her album..then she may be able to be part of Carrie underwood's and Kelly Clarkson's success.

Being in second may even prove more beneficial since the wort called AI isn't with you for 10 years. *looks at Taylor Hicks*

Hopefully this immensely talented girl, who has the admiration of the esteemed David Foster.. Who said bluntly on the View a few days ago that Katharine was such a star, and immensely talented. And also said that the slot for a singing star was open, and she was the perfect candidate to fill that slot.

Elizabeth, the Chris fan of the View girls tried to get Foster to talk about Hicks, but he bluntly said "I don't." A lot of the SP were angered by David's comment, but I have to back him up and say that this man has been in the business with 14 grammies under his belt, and a slew of mega singing stars such as Barbara Streisand, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, and more. he IS more than entitled to his opinion, and it's obvious that he though Katharine should have won. No one should begrudge him that right. Which I happen to agree with heartedly.

**Hopefully, Miss Mcphee will break her haters label, and show them that unbelievable potential she has in her in her debut album coming later this year.