Wildest's Idol winners rankdown/analysis

[MalwareDie]

The list is perfection so far. Lee being at the very bottom is all I could ever ask for. Rating Volcano A+ also wins you some brownie points.

[wildestinvegas]

26 minutes ago, wildestinvegas said:

Phillip Phillips - Season 11

 

Best performance: Volcano

Round: Final 4

Theme: Songs You Wish You Wrote

 

 

Okay first things first, he’s the hottest man to ever step foot on that stage so he has that going on for him! But I actually don’t dislike Phillip. Although his voice is pretty much a one tricky pony and only has that growly chest tone to it that I complained about Lee, I do think that Phillip’s tone is less grating on the ears than his so he didn’t get on my nerves nearly as much. He’s also probably the best guitar player of the Fox era of Idol so his constant use of the instrument didn’t feel so redudant as it did with some other contestants from his niché during past seasons. I also liked the intensity he brought to his interpretation of songs, it was groovy and passionate and the instances where he didn’t overdo that but still was able to bring that feeling to the songs such as “Volcano” and “We’ve Got Tonight” ended up becoming his most memorable moments on the show. But unfortunately Phillip was…. incredibly inconsistent. I’d say he was the worst performer of the night at least 3 or 4 times (which is truly baffling for a winner) and once we got to the Top 7, all of the other 6 competitors outperformed him at some point. Phillip didn’t really respect the original melodies of his songchoices when rearranging them and that made for some jarring listening experiences at times. He also would straight up scream at your face instead of reaching notes when going "big" on his songs so there's that. But yeah overall, I have mixed feelings about Phillip. When he was on, he was usuallly my top favorite of the night but when he was off, he was disastrous. My biggest issue with his win is that he lacked the consistency that I like to see in the winners of the show but I do find him much more interesting than a lot of the WGWG's we had prior to him.

 

Performances ranking:

1. Volcano (A+)
2. We've Got Tonight (A)
3. U Got It Bad (A)
4. Home (A)
5. Still Rainin' (A-)
6. Beggin' (A-)
7. Movin' Out (A-)
8. Movin' Out - Reprise (A-)
9. Hard To Handle (B+)
10. This Love - With Joshua Ledet (B+)
11. Fat Bottomed Girls (B+)
12. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around - With Elise Testone (B+)
13. Superstition (B+)
14. In The Air Tonight (B)
15. Somebody That I Used To Know - With Elise Testone (B)
16. The Stone (B)
17. Have You Ever Seen The Rain (B)
18. Give A Little More (B-)
19. Stand By Me (C+)
20. Disease (C+)
21. In The Midnight Hour (C+)
22. The Letter (C-)
23. That's All (D)
24. You've Lost That Loving Feeling - With Joshua Ledet (D)
25. Time Of The Season (D-)

 

Winners ranking:

1. Fantasia Barrino (Season 3)

2. David Cook (Season 7)

3. Kelly Clarkson (Season 1)

4. Kris Allen (Season 8 )

5. Ruben Studdard (Season 2)

6. Jordin Sparks (Season 6)

7. Carrie Underwood (Season 4)

8. Scott McCreery (Season 10)

9. Phillip Phillips (Season 11)

10. Taylor Hicks (Season 5)

11. Lee DeWyze (Season 9)

 

Based on personal taste, I'd rank him much higher but I can't put my blinders on and ignore his trainwrecks. 

bumping it bc i didn't realize it was gonna be the last post of the previous page LOL

[wildestinvegas]

15 minutes ago, MalwareDie said:

The list is perfection so far. Lee being at the very bottom is all I could ever ask for. Rating Volcano A+ also wins you some brownie points.

It's gorgeous. I wouldn't change anything about it and I'm a huge Damien's fan. 

Edited June 6 by wildestinvegas

[CarmenSandiego]

26 minutes ago, wildestinvegas said:

Phillip Phillips - Season 11

 

Best performance: Volcano

Round: Final 4

Theme: Songs You Wish You Wrote

 

 

Okay first things first, he’s the hottest man to ever step foot on that stage so he has that going on for him! But I actually don’t dislike Phillip. Although his voice is pretty much a one tricky pony and only has that growly chest tone to it that I complained about Lee, I do think that Phillip’s tone is less grating on the ears than his so he didn’t get on my nerves nearly as much. He’s also probably the best guitar player of the Fox era of Idol so his constant use of the instrument didn’t feel so redudant as it did with some other contestants from his niché during past seasons. I also liked the intensity he brought to his interpretation of songs, it was groovy and passionate and the instances where he didn’t overdo that but still was able to bring that feeling to the songs such as “Volcano” and “We’ve Got Tonight” ended up becoming his most memorable moments on the show. But unfortunately Phillip was…. incredibly inconsistent. I’d say he was the worst performer of the night at least 3 or 4 times (which is truly baffling for a winner) and once we got to the Top 7, all of the other 6 competitors outperformed him at some point. Phillip didn’t really respect the original melodies of his songchoices when rearranging them and that made for some jarring listening experiences at times. He also would straight up scream at your face instead of reaching notes when going "big" on his songs so there's that. But yeah overall, I have mixed feelings about Phillip. When he was on, he was usuallly my top favorite of the night but when he was off, he was disastrous. My biggest issue with his win is that he lacked the consistency that I like to see in the winners of the show but I do find him much more interesting than a lot of the WGWG's we had prior to him.

 

Performances ranking:

1. Volcano (A+)
2. We've Got Tonight (A)
3. U Got It Bad (A)
4. Home (A)
5. Still Rainin' (A-)
6. Beggin' (A-)
7. Movin' Out (A-)
8. Movin' Out - Reprise (A-)
9. Hard To Handle (B+)
10. This Love - With Joshua Ledet (B+)
11. Fat Bottomed Girls (B+)
12. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around - With Elise Testone (B+)
13. Superstition (B+)
14. In The Air Tonight (B)
15. Somebody That I Used To Know - With Elise Testone (B)
16. The Stone (B)
17. Have You Ever Seen The Rain (B)
18. Give A Little More (B-)
19. Stand By Me (C+)
20. Disease (C+)
21. In The Midnight Hour (C+)
22. The Letter (C-)
23. That's All (D)
24. You've Lost That Loving Feeling - With Joshua Ledet (D)
25. Time Of The Season (D-)

 

Winners ranking:

1. Fantasia Barrino (Season 3)

2. David Cook (Season 7)

3. Kelly Clarkson (Season 1)

4. Kris Allen (Season 8 )

5. Ruben Studdard (Season 2)

6. Jordin Sparks (Season 6)

7. Carrie Underwood (Season 4)

8. Scott McCreery (Season 10)

9. Phillip Phillips (Season 11)

10. Taylor Hicks (Season 5)

11. Lee DeWyze (Season 9)

 

Based on personal taste, I'd rank him much higher but I can't put my blinders on and ignore his trainwrecks. 

I was trying to get Jessica Sanchez to victory that season, so I didn’t like Phillip much and would put him near the bottom as well.  But his “Home” song was very good.

[Elliott]

Phil.  It was low key hilarious watching this place predict Josh and. Jessica being the breakout stars from that season while I was constantly shaded for being a Phil Stan. not just cuz I apparently look like him.

 

I know his run was less than great, but that didn’t stop me from getting attached and being super happy he won. His post-Idol career has spoken for itself and I’m glad he has proven this place wrong.

[keychange]

11 minutes ago, Elliott said:

Phil.  It was low key hilarious watching this place predict Josh and. Jessica being the breakout stars from that season while I was constantly shaded for being a Phil Stan. not just cuz I apparently look like him.

people on IDF thought Joshua would be a breakout star? i get Jessica, but where exactly was Joshua going to fit in the 2012 music industry lol. amazing vocalist and contestant but i never thought he was destined for mainstream success (though hindsight is 20/20 i suppose).

[KelseyW]

PHILLLLLL.

 

 

Still salty my July 5th birthday babe Hollie didn't have a breakout music career. Her voice is so unique and pretty!!

[Hsamid]

my mom only watched seasons 7, 8 and 11 in full. All her favourites came in 2nd place and she never watched the show again.  

 

I actually like Phillip's voice. He happened to be performing live in one of the events I attended and he sounded pretty good.  his originals that I'd hear on the radio werent half bad either. But yeah. I would have much preferred Joshua or Jessica to take the win. Both of whom were leagues above the rest of the cast that season.

[StarWalker1]

season 11 was such an incredible season with MONSTER-TITAN SINGERS like Jessica, Joshua, Elise, Skylar, Hollie, Erika, and DeAndre ... and even singers like Colton and Jeremy were personal standouts to me as well too

 

def in my top 5 all time fave seasons

[RTV]

5 hours ago, Elliott said:

Phil.  It was low key hilarious watching this place predict Josh and. Jessica being the breakout stars from that season while I was constantly shaded for being a Phil Stan. not just cuz I apparently look like him.

 

I know his run was less than great, but that didn’t stop me from getting attached and being super happy he won. His post-Idol career has spoken for itself and I’m glad he has proven this place wrong.

Although I enjoyed the performances of several season 11 contestants, I was rooting for Phillip to win. He doesn't get enough credit for managing to compete and perform on American Idol while enduring all the kidney stone pain. Not only has Phillip been successful with sales and streams since 2012, but he also seems to be a good husband and father. 

[Elliott]

13 hours ago, m1key said:

people on IDF thought Joshua would be a breakout star? i get Jessica, but where exactly was Joshua going to fit in the 2012 music industry lol. amazing vocalist and contestant but i never thought he was destined for mainstream success (though hindsight is 20/20 i suppose).

They thought Jessica would be the best Beyoncé and Joshua would be the next Bruno Mars.

 

And then ignored pretty much every time I pointed out that Phil’s style was what was “in” at the time (Mumford and Sons had just blown up).

[nytsch]

I didn't really have anyone in S11 who I liked as much as Haley in S10 but I enjoyed Phillip overall. He had some great performances like Beggin, Volcano, and the rearrangement of U Got It Bad was kinda genius

 

I do remember That's All being bad and Disease wasn't exactly terrible but just not good enough for a semifinals performance, he was obviously going through anyway though.

 

My other favorites were Elise and Colton, Vienna and Whole Lotta Love are still all timers imo

 

Speaking of Phillip's original music I really like his debut. The second album I don't think I listened to but I liked a few singles like Unpack Your Heart. After that I didn't keep track of him but I think even lately he has a couple songs doing well on HAC radio so that's good for him.

[MalwareDie]

I'm guessing now that Candice will knock Fantasia off the top of your list. Candice had so many amazing performances. Lovesong, I (Who Have Nothing) (both versions), Somewhere, and Ordinary People were some of the best Idol performances of all time.

Edited June 7 by MalwareDie

[Hsamid]

@wildestinvegas

 

Btw if we're just going by personal taste, how would your order look? Just curious since you said Phillip would be much higher.

[wildestinvegas]

3 hours ago, Hsamid said:

@wildestinvegas

 

Btw if we're just going by personal taste, how would your order look? Just curious since you said Phillip would be much higher.

If I didn't take the quality of their performances in consideration, I think it would probably be something like:

1. Kelly

David
Fantasia
Kris
Phillip

Jordin

Carrie
Lee
Ruben
Scotty
11. Taylor

Maybe I'd need to give it more thought to it but based on my preference when it comes to music, I think this would probably be it? Although I really dislike Lee's voice so he might stay last anyways.

[Crisis]

Earlier I said I have a few winners who I'd rank below Lee. Well, Scotty is one of them. He was probably the least versatile winner the show has had. Also, he was one of the most predictable winners. I knew the crown was his to lose once "baby lock dem doors" came out of his mouth during his audition. Everyone else was competing for second at that point. With that said, he was one of the few teenagers (especially among the boys) who had and still has a concrete music identity and never swayed from it. My favorite performances from him were "Gone" "You've Got A Friend", and "That's All Right". He's carved a nice career for himself and while I don't actively seek his music, I've come to enjoy some of his songs when I do hear them.

 

Speaking of predictable winners, Phillip was the easiest one to predict in Idol history. People were calling him the winner if he made the voting rounds once his audition aired. I believe Nigel confirmed that Phillip ran away with the votes after Colton's elimination. I focused primarily on other contestants during the season; however, he became the one I was the most interested in once the Top 3 came around. He wasn't the best vocalist nor was he the most consistent (his Top 5 showing was especially rough); however, he had an intriguing style and gave some solid performances. "U Got It Bad", "Volcano", and "We've Got Tonight" were my favorites from him. I also enjoyed his duets with Elise despite how awkward he looked during them.  Finally, "Home" is one of the better coronation songs (it can be argued that it's the best) and helped springboard his career. While he may be a prototypical WGWG, he's in the upper half in my list of winners.

[wildestinvegas]

On 6/8/2024 at 10:19 PM, Crisis said:

He was probably the least versatile winner the show has had. Also, he was one of the most predictable winners. I knew the crown was his to lose once "baby lock dem doors" came out of his mouth during his audition.

I agree with all that. He was very one dimensional. 

[KelseyW]

Is Abi, or Maddie next?  

[wildestinvegas]

1 hour ago, KelseyW said:

Is Abi, or Maddie next?  

no- 

 

i’m doing them in chronological order so candice is next.

[KelseyW]

Okie. I thought so. lol

 

I figured ABC Idol wasn't coming up for a bit! Haha Thanks.

[wildestinvegas]

Candice Glover - Season 12

 

Best Performance: Lovesong

Round: Final 6 

Theme: Wish You Wrote

 

 

From a pure technical standpoint Candice Glover is the best singer that ever step foot on American Idol and that’s a fact. I won’t hear otherwise. She has a piercing tone, fantastic pitch, amazing range and is able to execute the most clean and intricate runs that I’ve ever seem (I absolutely love the jazzy edge she would add to them). That alone gives her the edge over so many winners just based on natural talent alone but Candice was much more than just a fantastic vocalist. This girl had musicality for days. 90% of the runs and changes she made to vocal lines and arragements were not showy or gimmicky but instead complemented the melodies and lyrics of the songs she was performing by adding new layers to it and packing an extra punch to them. Good examples for that would be “ACCEPT FOR WHAT I AM-AMMMM” in “Don’t Make Me Over” and the other wordly “However long I STAAYYYYYY-YYYYY-YYY” in “Lovesong”, arguably the best performance of American Idol history. Her instincts were based on great knowledge of instrumentation and vocal technique. It’s almost hard to be too critical of her run because I don't think she ever truly delivered a bad performance. I think the few occasions where she didn’t raise above the line were either instances where she overcooked the song with way too many runs such as “Find Your Love” or just picked songchoices that didn’t allow her to add anything new to the song such as “Natural Woman” and “Chasing Pavements”. You can probably count on one hand how many notes she missed during her performances and most of them would be during "One". A top tier Idol contestant. 

 

Performances ranking:
1. Lovesong (A+)
2. You've Changed (A+)
3. I (Who Have Nothing) - Reprise (A+)
4. Don't Make Me Over (A+)
5. I (Who Have Nothing) (A+)
6. Ordinary People (A)
7. I'm Going Down (A)
8. Somewhere (A)
9. Stay - With Angie Miller (A)
10. When I Was Your Man (A)
11. Straight Up (A-)
12. Come Together (A-)
13. I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - With Angie Miller and Amber Holcomb (A-)
14. I Am Beautiful (A-)
15. When You Believe (A-)
16. Emotion (A-)
17. Next To Me (B+)
18. Natural Woman (B+)
19. Heard It Through The Grapevine (B+)
20. I Can't Get No Satisfaction (B)
21. Chasing Pavements (B)

22. The Letter - With Burnell Taylor (B)
23. Find Your Love (B-)
24. One (B-)

 

Winners ranking:

1. Candice Glover (Season 12)

2. Fantasia Barrino (Season 3)

3. David Cook (Season 7)

4. Kelly Clarkson (Season 1)

5. Kris Allen (Season 8 )

6. Ruben Studdard (Season 2)

7. Jordin Sparks (Season 6)

8. Carrie Underwood (Season 4)

9. Scott McCreery (Season 10)

10. Phillip Phillips (Season 11)

11. Taylor Hicks (Season 5)

12. Lee DeWyze (Season 9)

 

Funny enough despite all this praise that I threw her way, Candice is not my favorite winner when it comes to personal taste (she would definitely rank Top 5 but Fantasia, Kelly and others would be above her) but when we look at the quality and consistency she displayed throughout her time on American Idol, which is the goal of this thread, I felt like first place made tons of sense. The girl was a beast. 

Edited June 12 by wildestinvegas

[MalwareDie]

Lee at the very bottom. Volcano A+. Candice at the very top. Your list is beyond perfection.

[nytsch]

I need to revisit S12 more, Candice was obviously great but the season as a whole was messy and even of the women, I don't think I could really get into Amber or Janelle. I liked Kree though and probably a few Angie performances (can't quite remember)

 

Lovesong is indeed one of the best performances I've seen in any singing competition and I Who Have Nothing was top tier too. Her getting cut in S11 was truly a head scratcher but it turned out for the best.

[MalwareDie]

4 minutes ago, nytsch said:

I need to revisit S12 more, Candice was obviously great but the season as a whole was messy and even of the women, I don't think I could really get into Amber or Janelle. I liked Kree though and probably a few Angie performances (can't quite remember)

 

Lovesong is indeed one of the best performances I've seen in any singing competition and I Who Have Nothing was top tier too. Her getting cut in S11 was truly a head scratcher but it turned out for the best.

 

Candice was cut that season 'cause the producers intended for Phillip to win from the beginning. Candice was saved to be the winner of the next season.

 

If Jimmy Iovine had his way, Johnny Keyser would have won that season since he was the most commercial of the contestants that made it to the Top 40 and even had the most post-show success.

 

Nigel was ordered by Fox to give them a girl winner, so Johnny was obviously going to get cut before the voting rounds, which indeed happened, and that probably soured Jimmy Iovine on American Idol.

Edited June 12 by MalwareDie

[StarWalker1]

Candice at #1 oh exactly! Her run was pretty stellar and she was able to give some of the best performances the show ever had, especially with "Lovesong", "I Who Have Nothing", "Somewhere", "Don't Make Me Over" and "You've Changed"

 

Literally chefs kisses