Bumping my prediction. Yay, I got something right.
-PJ
Congrats.
You got it and thread bragging rights....
I had 2 of 3 in a prior thread post. Picked Michael as 3 , but also had Maddie, Gabby in the finale...
Should be interesting to see if Carrie Jr, Maddie the Meek, or just a fine Ole Country Boy becomes the next American Idol
Jones became a hit when she performed Chuck E's In Love on Saturday Night Live in 1979, but then seemed to slowly fade from the pop charts. Maddie has that same quirkiness (she even did a little scat last night) and plays several instruments, but I do think that Idol wants the showstopper, the person who will wow a concert arena.
I had hoped to see Maddie break out of her subdued persona and try a diva belt, so maybe she's saving it for the final (a gutsy move that belies a confidence that she'd make it that far). I hope she's not suckered into the box the judges are putting her in by calling her a "storyteller" singer.
If the power song is what the voters want, and if it comes down to Caleb and Gabby, I think that Gabby will win. Yes, she looked like Mini-Carrie (which helps a lot), but she also delivers the goods. She won't get lost in the arena smoke and lights, and her voice will rattle the rafters. Caleb will have to match that with a high-energy country hit, not another deep soft-sung country ballad.
The voters want glitz and the producers want future bodies in concert arenas. Maddie may sell the albums if she does more than covers, and the same goes for Caleb. None of them have to write their own material if there are songwriters looking for performers to leverage. While my heart is in Maddie winning, my head says that Gabby will take it.
-PJ