Taylor Hicks - Taylor Hicks [2006]

Out of all the millions of words that have been written about American Idol, one topic that’s never fully addressed is how the show winds up finding and filling America’s forgotten pop music needs. Genres that have been banished from the airwaves for one reason or another — usually because they didn’t fit within the strictly regimented confines of corporate radio — have resurfaced on the show, whether it’s unabashedly square middle of the road pop, old-fashioned deep soul, Southern rock or blue-eyed soul. This may not have been true of the show’s first season when the two finalists, Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini pretty much fit the bill for TV-produced pop stars — clean and cute, singing dance-pop designed for the teenagers everyone assumed were AmIdol’s core audience — but things started to veer off track in the show’s second season when squeaky-clean Clay Aiken and soul crooner Ruben Studdard constituted the top two. Instead of being a fluke, this was the beginning of American Idol’s celebration of neglected styles, leading to the barnstorming soul of Fantasia Barrino in season three, the Southern rock of Bo Bice in season four, and then the white-haired, blue-eyed soul belter Taylor Hicks, who unexpectedly took the top honors in season five. Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine @ allmusic.com