Wildest's Idol winners rankdown/analysis

[wildestinvegas]

Hey loves! I've been rewatching the runs of the winners of the franchise and I decided to do a rankdown of their performances and give my overall thoughts on their runs on the show. I'm not taking success post show into consideration here. I'm strictly analyzing and judging what they delivered during their time on the show as a contestant. During the proccess, I'm gonna be grading all the competitive performances from our champions (so voting rounds onwards). I decided not to do auditions or hollywood week performances because not every winner had their performances aired during pre-lives so taking that out of the equation was the most fair thing to do. Feel free to reminisce the winners runs alongside me and give your thoughts on their journeys on the show as I post my thoughts on each one of them. Here's my grading system: 

 

A+ = Flawless 
A = Great 
A- = Pretty Good
B+ = Good
B = Decent 
B- = Average
C+ = Mediocre 
C = Bad
C- = Pretty Bad
D range = Trainwreck 
F = Abomination

[wildestinvegas]

Kelly Clarkson - Season 1 

 

Best performance: Stuff Like That There 

Round: Final 6

Theme: Big Band

 

 

Kelly Clarkson is the original American Idol for a reason. Her win allowed the show to have longevity and instantly made the Idol franchise a pop culture stample. It's easy to see why she came out on top as our very first champion. Kelly's run was effortless. Only Tamyra Gray truly gave her a run for her money. Kelly made mostly everything look easy by delivering powerful vocals alligned with a very laid back stage presence that helped amplifying that feeling that we were witnessing someone that was a natural at music. Her performances were engaging, easy on the ears and both "Natural Woman" and "Stuff Like That There" were probably the first "Idol moments" of the history of the show with the first being a fantastic vocal showcase and the latter being her best and most unique performance, forcing her to step out of her comfort zone and get creative with her delivery. Speaking of that comfort zone.... She was a big fan of divas and wanted to sing every one of them. She was still learning to master her vocal style when covering those big names with her transitions from growls (something that she used a lot in her performances) to chest voice being a bit sloppy at times. Her lower range was also underdeveloped during the show and she had some renosance issues when going too low but nonetheless she was only 20 years old and already a pretty darn impressive vocalist that could hit her notes 9 out of 10 times. 
Her worst performance was "It's Raining Men". It came across as cheap karaoke and it didn't help that she was sick that week and couldn't get her voice to fully work but it wasn't a complete trainwreck and gets completely overshadowded by her multiple stronger showings. Overall, Kelly is a stellar first winner and even tho didn't serve variety with songchoices, she dominated the season vocally and sang the hell out of those songs. 

 

Performances ranking:

1. Stuff Like That There (A+)
2. Natural Woman (A+)
3. Without You (A)
4. I Surrender (A)
5. Think Twice (A)
6. Respect (A)
7. A Moment Like This (A-)
8. Walk On By (A-)
9. You're All I Need To Get By (B+)
10. Before Your Love (B+)
11. Respect - Reprise (B)
12. Don't Play That Song (B-)
13. It's Raining Men (C-)

Edited May 24 by wildestinvegas

[MalwareDie]

Lee DeWyze better get really low scores and be at the very bottom, or I'm rioting.

[KelseyW]

11 minutes ago, MalwareDie said:

Lee DeWyze better get really low scores and be at the very bottom, or I'm rioting.

His original music is actually decent. Sadly he mostly sucked on Idol...

[nytsch]

I watched her on Idol rewind back then and I remember some of her great performances mainly Stuff Like That There, Natural Woman, Respect, and You're All I Need to Get By. I can't remember It's Raining Men so it probably wasn't that good, I just know that she was clearly the right winner like you said.

[Crisis]

I was thinking about creating a topic similar to this but never got around to it.

 

Pretty much agree with everything you said about Kelly and her performance rankings. One thing I will add is that Kelly didn't receive any airtime prior to the voting rounds during the season. Her audition was only shown during the American Idol rewind episodes. Hence, she was a dark horse going into the competition, and I think this made her win even more impressive.

 

I will be looking forward to the rest of your commentary about the winners.

[wildestinvegas]

13 hours ago, Crisis said:

Her audition was only shown during the American Idol rewind episodes. Hence, she was a dark horse going into the competition, and I think this made her win even more impressive.

Yep! Her rise to popularity was super impressive. I was always confused as to why they never aired her audition bc it was pretty good IMO. 

[wildestinvegas]

Ruben Studdard - Season 2 

 

Best Performance: A Whole New World

Round: Final 11

Theme: Movie Hits

 

 

Ruben has a very rich and warm tone with a beautiful velvet-esque texture to it and his delivery of runs are extremely tasteful. The guy knows how to respect a melody while still adding his own flavor to the song and that's what I loved the most about him. I could always count on him to not give me karaoke. Just check what he did with songs such as "A Whole New World" and "Sweet Home Alabama" infusing them with new life and tons of personality through his vocal delivery. However, although he started the live shows really strong with a series of back to back great performances that highlighted the colors of his tone and his chill but endearing delivery, he seemed to have hit a road-block on the middle of the live shows and never fully recovered from it. His performances (and songchoices) started to sound repetitive and a bit predictable with quite a few of them entering the boring territory even tho "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" is the only one that I truly consider to be bad. Not our most versatile contestant. With all that being said, he's still a great winner and even tho I would’ve personally crowned Clay over him, his overall run is still good enough to justify why America decided to make him the first male contestant to ever win the show. A worthy successor to Kelly and a great singer. 

 

Performances ranking:

1. A Whole New World (A)
2. Kiss and and Say Goobye (A)
3. Baby I Need Your Loving (A)
4. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (A-)
5. Superstar (A-)
6. Sweet Home Alabama (A-)
7. Flying Without Wings (A-)
8. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (A-)
9. Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe (B+)
10. If Ever You're In My Arms Again (B+)
11. Imagine (B+)
12. A House Is Not a Home (B)
13. Just The Way You Are (B)
14. Nights On Broadway (B)
15. Signed, Sealed, Delivered (B-)
16. Music Of My Heart (B-)
17. Smile (C+)
18. Ain't Too Proud To Beg (C-)

 

Winners ranking:

1. Kelly Clarkson 

2. Ruben Studdard

Edited May 25 by wildestinvegas

[Carrie_On]

2 hours ago, wildestinvegas said:

Yep! Her rise to popularity was super impressive. I was always confused as to why they never aired her audition bc it was pretty good IMO. 

On the Idol Farewell Special that aired back in 2016, Nigel said he thought Kelly was “just okay” when he first heard her. They obviously thought she was good enough for Top 30, but I don’t think the producers or even the judges thought she had any chance of winning. She really had to prove herself because Justin, Tamyra, and Christina were the early producer favorites. 
 

And I’ve never really cared for Ruben or Season 2 overall.

Edited May 25 by Carrie_On

[CarmenSandiego]

1 hour ago, wildestinvegas said:

Ruben Studdard - Season 2 

 

Best Performance: A Whole New World

Round: Final 11

Theme: Movie Hits

 

 

Ruben has a very rich and warm tone with a beautiful velvet-esque texture to it and his delivery of runs are extremely tasteful. The guy knows how to respect a melody while still adding his own flavor to the song and that's what I loved the most about him. I could always count on him to not give me karaoke. Just check what he did with songs such as "A Whole New World" and "Sweet Home Alabama" infusing them with new life and tons of personality through his vocal delivery. However, although he started the live shows really strong with a series of back to back great performances that highlighted the colors of his tone and his chill but endearing delivery, he seemed to have hit a road-block on the middle of the live shows and never fully recovered from it. His performances (and songchoices) started to sound repetitive and a bit predictable with quite a few of them entering the boring territory even tho "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" is the only one that I truly consider to be bad. Not our most versatile contestant. With all that being said, he's still a great winner and even tho I would’ve personally crowned Clay over him, his overall run is still good enough to justify why America decided to make him the first male contestant to ever win the show. A worthy successor to Kelly and a great singer. 

 

Performances ranking:

1. A Whole New World (A)
2. Kiss and and Say Goobye (A)
3. Baby I Need Your Loving (A)
4. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (A-)
5. Superstar (A-)
6. Sweet Home Alabama (A-)
7. Flying Without Wings (A-)
8. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (A-)
9. Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe (B+)
10. If Ever You're In My Arms Again (B+)
11. Imagine (B+)
12. A House Is Not a Home (B)
13. Just The Way You Are (B)
14. Nights On Broadway (B)
15. Signed, Sealed, Delivered (B-)
16. Music Of My Heart (B-)
17. Smile (C+)
18. Ain't Too Proud To Beg (C-)

 

Winners ranking:

1. Kelly Clarkson 

2. Ruben Studdard

I agree that I would have crowned Clay — in fact, he’s the only man I voted for from the beginning.  But Ruben did well enough to win.

[wildestinvegas]

Fantasia Barrino - Season 3

 

Best Performance: Summertime

Round: Final 8 

Theme: Movie Songs

 

 

Fantasia is insane. Point. Blank. Period. I have so much love for this woman and I can't believe she was 19 when she was on the show. To have that much passion, fire, energy and originality inside herself at such a young age is mind-blowing. Her tone might be polarizing but I absolutely love the sound of her voice and the unique textures of her instrument helped her making all the songs she covered her own, for better or for worse. With the majority of the occasions turning out to be for the better. And when you allign that with her great taste for melodic choices, strong pitch and infectious stage presence displayed in performances like "A Fool In Love" and "Knock On Wood"... Well, you get someone that delivered a bunch of strong musical moments week after week. The few instances where she slipped and had straight up bad or mediocre performances such as "Get On Your Feet" or "All My Life" are all directly correlated to songchoices or keys that pushed her voice too high to the point of screeching. Overall, she's one of the GOATs of this show and 20 years later, there's still a strong case to be made about Summertime being the single best Idol performance ever. Simon said at the time that Fantasia was the best artist to ever step foot on the show and he was completely correct on that assessment. She mixed up tempos, displayed versatility, originality and conveyed whatever she brought to the stage with her body, soul and vocal chords. What a beast.

 

Performances ranking:

1. Summertime (A+)
2. I Believe (A+)
3. A Fool In Love (A+)
4. I Heard It Through The Grapevine (A)
5. What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life? (A)
6. Chain Of Fools (A)
7. Knock On Wood (A)
8. Always On My Mind (A)
9. Something To Talk About (A)
10. Summertime - Reprise (A-)

11. Greatest Love Of All (A-)
12. Signed, Sealed, Delivered (A-)
13. Something About The Way You Look Tonight (A-)
14. Crazy Thing Called Love (B+)
15. It's a Miracle (B-)
16. Holding Out For A Hero (C)

17. All My Life (C)
18. Get On Your Feet (C-)

 

Winners ranking:

1. Fantasia Barrino 

2. Kelly Clarkson

3. Ruben Studdard

[MalwareDie]

I can tell based on your reviews that Lee will be towards the bottom due to him being off key so much of the time. I will riot if he isn't dead last though.

[wildestinvegas]

9 minutes ago, MalwareDie said:

I can tell based on your reviews that Lee will be towards the bottom due to him being off key so much of the time. I will riot if he isn't dead last though.

LOL no spoilers but I can tell you that I was a Crystal Bowersox stan so you can probably imagine how I feel about Lee 

[Elliott]

21 hours ago, wildestinvegas said:

Yep! Her rise to popularity was super impressive. I was always confused as to why they never aired her audition bc it was pretty good IMO. 

There was only one audition episode that season originally, and the show cast her as fodder.

 

Paula and Randy were the only ones who really pushed for her to be in the Top 30.

[Elliott]

On 5/24/2024 at 4:04 PM, wildestinvegas said:

Kelly Clarkson - Season 1 

 

Best performance: Stuff Like That There 

Round: Final 6

Theme: Big Band

I'm also somebody whose favourite performance from her is Stuff Like That There, so this was a pleasant surprise. It seems like nowadays, everyone tends to think of A Natural Woman as her shining moment.  I love Kelly and really enjoyed her Idol run, but based solely of S1, she wasn't my favourite.

 

19 hours ago, wildestinvegas said:

Ruben Studdard - Season 2 

I marginally preferred him to Clay, but I wanted Trenyce or Kimberley Locke to win.

 

12 hours ago, wildestinvegas said:

Fantasia Barrino - Season 3

 

Best Performance: Summertime

 

Performances ranking:

1. Summertime (A+)
2. I Believe (A+)
5. What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life? (A)

Queen.  I preferred I Believe and WAYDTROYL to Summertime, though.

[Elliott]

10 hours ago, wildestinvegas said:

LOL no spoilers but I can tell you that I was a Crystal Bowersox stan so you can probably imagine how I feel about Lee 

Me putting this thread on ignore when we get past S8:

[wildestinvegas]

2 hours ago, Elliott said:

Me putting this thread on ignore when we get past S8:

LOL rewatching some of those winners journeys has been… an experience for sure!

[Elliott]

1 minute ago, wildestinvegas said:

LOL rewatching some of those winners journeys has been… an experience for sure!

No, I meant because Lee’s my favourite contestant.

[CarmenSandiego]

8 minutes ago, Elliott said:

No, I meant because Lee’s my favourite contestant.

You would like Lee!

[Elliott]

Just now, CarmenSandiego said:

You would like Lee!

Not sure why you felt the need to try and make it a personal slight like that given you also like the same style of contestant every single season.

 

But seeing as how I knew him before Idol, my husband and I have become friends with him, and he recorded a version of his one of his songs for us to do our first dance to, yeah, I do like him.

[wildestinvegas]

19 minutes ago, Elliott said:

No, I meant because Lee’s my favourite contestant.

Oh…. he is not my least favorite winner so I can tell you that much. 

[NGL2008]

3 hours ago, Elliott said:

Me putting this thread on ignore when we get past S8:

Your write-up on all the times you've met/rooted for Lee was iconic tbh.

Edited May 26 by NGL2008

[Hsamid]

Wow, I didn't realize Fantasia was even younger than Kelly when she won!

 

I've watched a few of her AI performances but I mostly know her from outside the show. Gotta give her entire run a listen sometime. I didn't expect you to rank her above Kelly either which makes me excited to go through her performances. Especially since Kelly's run was great.

 

Know nothing about Ruben.  But definitely gonna be using these writeups to check which performances to watch and which ones to skip.

 

 

[wildestinvegas]

1 hour ago, Hsamid said:

Gotta give her entire run a listen sometime. I didn't expect you to rank her above Kelly either which makes me excited to go through her performances. Especially since Kelly's run was great.

 

You def should, her run on the show is extremely fun and original. I was never bored watching her. Kelly's run is great but Fantasia beat her in songchoices and versatility for me. She's def not everyones cup of tea because her tone is very polarizing but if you like her voice, you should enjoy it. 

[wildestinvegas]

Carrie Underwood - Season 4

 

Best performance: Alone

Round: Final 11

Theme: Billboard #1 Hits

 

 

Not sure how unpopular this is but here we go. First of all, let me say that I do like Carrie and I have followed and supported her career throughout the years. She's one of my favorite country singers out there. However, I do have quite a few issues with her run on Idol. Carrie had a natural power to her voice and that was what carried her throughout the competition, turned her into one of the instant frontrunners to win the season and made her standout moments such as "Alone" generate such overwhelming positive reactions. But while she had the vocal range to deliver strong and consistent showings across the board, she lacked emotional range to interpret a lot of the songs she decided to take on. That is not to say she never connected to the songs she was singing, there was definitely instances (Crying, Making Love Out Of Nothing At All, etc) where she did but for a majority of her performances, that was a big issue for her. Smiling during the entirety of a song about being cheated and mistreated, openly admitting to have no idea what the lyrics of a song she was singing meant seconds after finishing performing it.... girlfriend had the emotional depth of a teaspoon. Aside from that even tho she was a great singer, just like Kelly she wasn't at her prime just yet and when she would miss vocally, they turned out to be ugly misses. "MacArthur Park" in particular might be one of the worst performances from any winner in 22 seasons with the key at the verses being way to low for her voice and the key change at the end making her strain her voice to the edges of it to try to catch up to the notes. If I'm being completely honest, I think Bo Bice outperformed Carrie for a huge portion of the live shows and should've won. That doesn't mean Carrie was a bad winner. Not at all. Overall her run was pretty solid and I consider 11 of her 20 performances to be on the flawless/great/pretty good/good area of my ratings. She's a strong singer with a well established musical identity that served her well throughout the competition but I don't think she was able to tap into all her potential during her time on Idol.

 

Performances ranking:

1. Alone (A+)
2. Independence Day (A)
3. Crying (A)
4. Could've Been (A)
5. Making Love Out Of Nothing At All (A)
6. Bless The Broken Road (A-)
7. Trouble (A-)
8. Sin Wagon (A-)
9. Independence Day - Reprise (A-)
10. Love Is A Battlefield (A-)
11. Angels Brought Me Here (B+)
12. Inside Your Heaven (B)
13. Hello Young Lovers (B)
14. Because You Love Me (B)
15. When God-Fearing Women Get The Blues (B-)
16. When Will I Be Loved (B-)
17. Piece Of My Heart (C+)
18. If You Don't Know Me By Now (C+)
19. Man! I Feel Like A Woman (C)
20. MacArthur Park (D-)

 

Winners ranking:

1. Fantasia Barrino 

2. Kelly Clarkson 

3. Ruben Studdard

4. Carrie Underwood

Edited May 26 by wildestinvegas