I’ve still got Katharine McPhee-ver

I am still scouring for Idol related topics. They have all been from official sources, no blog hunting or anything yet.

I did come across an insightful blog post though. I forgot how I came upon it but anyhow, here it is.

I think of this season in general as the year of the “Geek” on “Idol”.  Of  the last three standing, each has an outsiderish quality.  In Katharine’s case, it’s a bit less obvious, but part of her charm is that you sense that she hasn’t gone through life as the babe. When they do the pictures, they skip junior high and high school with her.  There’s something  Lisa Lupner waking up in Catherine Zeta Jones’s body (maybe she was heavier or just way tall really early) that at its best gives her a sense of vulnerability on camera.  If you saw the back to Catholic School clips, she wasn’t hugging the football players and the cheerleaders. Her people seemed to be the high school commoners.  I just don’t think high school Katharine was one of the “Plastics”.  

Anyway, here she is suddenly looking like a plastic on national television and her teen years maybe didn’t prepare her for it.  I honestly think her rougher moments come from the fact that she’s not used to the role and doesn’t take to it well.  When she deals with the judges, she’s both giddy and emotionally unprepared.  My side theory is that most Americans have their sense of adult sexual esteem formed some time in junior high school.  If you’re cute and popular as a pre-teen, you can gain a hundred and fifty pounds as an adult and still flirt with confidence.  If you were a geek back then hiding in theater productions, no matter what happens in your adult life you never quite lose that fear of not being fully accepted.

You should read the rest of the post. And you think I’m long-winded?? His post after this was also rather interesting.

One of the commenters said this, 

“ On another note, you’ve hit the nail on the head on why I like Katharine. She started as a goofy,giggly, silly, girl-next-door with insecurities. May have even been a geek and didn’t realize how pretty she really is. On stage she is transformed into the sexiest, sultriest, hottest girl to grace the idol stage (Carrie is pretty, but could never by sexy). Then after performing, she goes back to being the goofy girl again. That is why I have McPheever. “

Very insightful on the whole she was never really the confident, pretty, popular girl in school. I can kind of see that in her and that makes her even more vulnerable which supports what I had to say when she was singing in the final Top 2 show. Every time she was in front of the judges, she looked like she was going to throw up. This also explains why in her previous performances, she used to sing and smile and it’d be so unnerving because, why is she smiling when it’s a sad song? It’s just nerves nerves nerves…

b4 and after

What a transformation. Check out the scrapbook from People Magazine. Isn’t it interesting? Even during the audition, she was tearing and blubbering and she has become more polished and confident over the weeks which is great to see. 

I was reading up yesterday and found out that aside from being 90% deaf in one ear, Elliot Yamin has Type 1 diabetes which means he has to wear an insulin pump. And even more interestingly, Kevin Covais also has Type 1 diabetes. That’s very impressive for me because they made it to top 12 on Idol and one even to Top 3. That’s superb.

I think USA Today has some great articles:-

Pop Beauty or Soul Man: Who’ll sell more records?

Didn’t know Katharine was Student Body Vice President until now. The article above is not that flattering by the way. Enter at your own risk. Muahaha…

No to Taylor

My favourite line from this article was,

“For starters, she’d be the first “Idol” not to hail from the South. She went to Boston Conservatory, and they can’t say enough nice things about her. When she’s not giggling but really focusing on the material, she has lovely phrasing and feel. She doesn’t have the annoying tics of Hicks. And I wouldn’t mind checking her out in a musical where a director could keep her erratic melisma in check.”

I was trying to find the word to describe what I liked about the way she sings and yes, that’s it. It’s her phrasing, the way she pronounces her words is so magical. She can say a word and it is emphasised at the right parts, etc etc.

I realised only people who have been trained pick this up. Mariah Carey has lovely phrasing as well. Some times when she sings a word or says something, it is orgasmic. I think it has something to do with being vocally trained by their mothers. HAHAHA.

Enunciation is the key for me. I think that’s why I like stage musicals, broadway songs, the people who act in theatre because the way they speak is rhythmic. It is very attractive. I had a friend who studied drama and she was giving an example with a line, “Waiter, may I have a glass of water?” and the way she said it just blew my mind away. I made her repeat it many times after.

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Comments: 2 comments

All the fields that are marked with REQ must be filled

  • chancelucky
    May 31st, 2006 at 3:56 am

    Pigduck,
    thanks for the link to my site and my post on the possible psychology of Katharine McPhee.

    I was always worried that they were a littl long, but readers seemed to get into them.

    Other Chancelucky Idol Reviews

    btw, most people seem to have found my blog through sirlinksalot, don’t know if you’re already linked there, but they’re very helpful.

  • pigduck
    May 31st, 2006 at 10:14 am

    Thanks Chancelucky for replying and the advice!

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