And The Next Singer to be destroyed by 19-entertainment will be...

Go ahead and crown Mr. Hicks as your next American Idol. Simon hand picked him to be the winner last night and that ALWAYS leads to a victory. The fact of the matter is: Katharine didn't pull it off last night. Frankly, neither did Taylor, but he had enough momentum coming in and a big enough fanbase already in place, that he should walk away with the title tonight.

The evening came across pretty anti-climatic to me. Taylor was flat-out boring during his two redux songs. Katharine was solid in her two (I'm really starting to dig Black Horse and a Cherry Tree), but she sang both of them a lot better the first time around.

After those performances, I was still up in the air with who I would vote for. Katharine sang a hunk of pre-made pop crap called "my destiny". Your destiny? to finish second, sweetheart, sorry. It was a TERRIBLE song, and Cat was completely uninspired. I think she sounded a ton worse on TV than in person, because the judges liked HER, but she did absolutely nothing interesting with the song and in a matter of 2 minutes, turned herself directly into a cheap knock-off of Kelly Clarkson, who has emerged from the Idol shadow to be a legitimate pop star.

Taylor's song sucked equally as bad. Taylor himself, however, made it work for him. The first half of the song was miserable, and I thought that he was also being victimized by the crappy-song-that-he-shouldn't-have-ever-had-to-sing-in-the-first-place. About halfway through, however, it all of a sudden became a Taylor Hicks song and a solid Taylor Hicks performance.

My American Idol: Taylor Hicks.

One interesting note: I have always wanted the person that goes on to win. I wanted Kelly, Ruben, Fantasia and Carrie (although last year was the toughest call). I think I'm going to be right once again. According to Dial Idol, I am right, and it won't even be close.