They talked about that on the radio too. They commented on how can she have been singing in pagents, and in the show 'Gimme the Mic', where she came in second and not know that the words and lyrics were the same thing?
Folks,
This much is clear -- THE WEEKLY DIALING RESULTS OF BOTH DialIdol.com and the AT&T Landlines clearly shows a distinct DIRECTION that cannot be ignored.
The top 3 used to consistently be -- Chris, Taylor and Kellie. Now, it seems that Kat is displacing Kellie by a tiny number. This is not enough for us to conclude anything yet, but quite enough to know that the top 4 might be two men and two women. Kat is VERY OBVIOUSLY ON THE UP-SWING.
If you bothered to look at the actual dialing numbers, you might be surprised to know that Taylor is always number 1. He is a very polarizing figure because his style is a throwback to the great singers of the late 60's and 70's --- music which the young ones no longer appreciate. That is why you see so much love and hate for the man. SOUL PATROL is very rabid and unified and you'll continue to see him on top until the rest are eliminated and voters of the those gone gravitate to the remaining ones. THEN, you'll see how large the SOUL PATROL numbers are ( I suspect they number in the millions ). Within weeks, it's going to be Soul Patrol vs The rest of America. THEN, well get to REALLY see how large Soul Patrol is. In Taylor, you are seeing some sort of generational war going with the later Gen Xers and baby boomers loving him and the under 25's NOT liking him. In Taylor, there is no in between. Simon has nightmares of him winning because he has a financial stake in the outcome and is used to marketing/promoting modern pop singers whose genre he is familiar with selling. Simon DOES NOT know how to sell Taylor.
Chris is easier to sell because his style fits into the current Boy/Girl band, hip hop, R&B, rapper, ALT-rock genre that is the current music fad. That's why Simon prefers Chris to win.
Katharine is relatively easier to sell because she is one of the most beautiful women to grace AI in it's 5 seasons. She has the cover girl look, the voice to match, and as Simon says in her pre-idol audition -- CURRENT. I'm not sure what modern niche she fits in because her style is very Cabaret/Broadway ( she starred in Annie Get Your Gun on stage last year ). Kat's style reminds me more of Barbra Streisand. But I don't know how that will sell. I'm not sure how "force fitting" Kat into one of the modern style mode will go .... It could be Kat can adopt like Kelly Clarkson did. But I can't answer that question just yet. I am a fan of her type of music but I am just one person and don't really represent the modern market ( I dislike MOST MODERN faddish music and simply got dis-interested buying these CDs in the early 90's ). I just continue to watch them as a cultural phenomenon but NEVER enjoy them. There used to be a time when I eagerly anticipated the Grammies.... NO LONGER. That's how modern music has lost a baby boomer like me.
But note --- Baby Boomers are a $2 Trillion market and guys like Simon who continue to ignore our taste are losing a significant opportunity to profit by simply concentrating on what they are comfortable with.