RCA
2007
Katharine McPhee
About This Album
From the beginning of the series' fifth season, Katharine McPhee seemed like the ideal American Idol: a drop-dead gorgeous brunette, she was certainly telegenic and she also had a powerhouse voice, equally impressive on a slow-burning, show-stopping "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as on a lively cover of KT Tunstall's "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree." Most importantly, Katharine was the first American Idol finalist since the premiere season to seem to appeal directly to the show's core audience of predominantly female pre-teens and adolescents, the first since Kelly Clarkson to possess a crucial blend of young, fresh looks, pop sensibility, and wholesome sexiness. All the pieces seemed to be in place for McPhee to take home the crown, but she got steamrolled by the Soul Patrol, as the world's youngest Baby Boomer, the prematurely gray Taylor Hicks, won the competition by appealing to the other AmIdol core audience -- the adults who grew up on the pop of the '60s, '70s, and '80s and were wondering where all that good music went. Taylor's debut record appealed precisely to that audience, which freed runner-up Katharine to deliver an album that appeals to younger listeners, at least in theory.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,11 and 12)

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