Hollywood.com set out to get a little expert insight on Wednesday’s night’s final showdown between bluesy Taylor Hicks and belter Katherine McPhee to determine just who will be the next American Idol, and who better than Idol judge Paula Abdul?
“I think Taylor has the edge in the voting,” Paula told Hollywood.com. “I think it’s going to be one of the best competitions, but we all know who votes in the country over and over again, and it’s the Southern states and the Midwest, and Taylor’s always had the edge. He’s never been in the bottom three.” Why would Taylor make a great Idol? “Taylor’s strengths are…He’s kryptonite. He’s got kryptonite. That’s his strength.”
But Paula also thought Katherine had all the makings of a true Idol champ as well. “I have no doubt in my mind that Katherine is going to be snapped up and signed at the same time that Taylor is,” she said. “They both have millions and millions of votes. She will represent millions of votes, and they will translate into millions of sales.”
In fact, if the notoriously nice judge has her way, in Season Six she, Simon and Randy will be crowning two big winners. “I think they should have a male and a female champion every year, I really do,” she said. “I think it’s really strange to pit one against the other. They’re two completely different artists. I think both of them can sell out arenas, and they will be. They’ll be really great.”
We caught up with Paula as she was out promoting her line of signature jewelry—based in part on the inspirational jewelry she’s had created over the past five seasons for the American Idol semifinalists—during a live one-hour broadcast on QVC on a stage set at Hollywood & Highland’s Babylon Court (Photos).
“It started when I gave everyone—all the semi-finalists from Season One—a leather bracelet with a silver tag that said ‘Reach for the stars. You just might become one’ in a circle with a star pendant,” Paula revealed. “And that turned into the traditional thing that I did for all the semi-finalists every season. I started making more inspirational pieces with the charms. For the dice, I gave them a tag that said ‘Take a chance. Roll with it.’ For the question mark, I had a tag that said ‘Why me?’ and you flip it over and it says ‘Why not?’ And I gave them music notes that said ‘Sing your heart out as if no one is listening.’ And a lightning bolt that said ‘The electric mind. Create a spark out of life.’”
Even the boys got some gender appropriate bling. “I would do it more macho for the guys and more feminine for the girls,” she said, giggling at the eventual price tag that added up. “I was doing real diamonds for the contestants, and I was going ‘This is not good—I’m spending all my own money.’ And because my demographics are from 4-year-olds to 84, I wanted people to be able to afford it and have nice quality. And I created all this stuff and it’s all affordable, but the craftsmanship is really great.”
Paula showed up wearing black leather pants, a sheer electric blue top and was covered head to toe in her own jewelry. She also toted her fluffy little dog Thumbelina, who also decked out in some of Ms. Abdul’s signature jewelry. As she has in the past two seasons, Paula told us she will be presenting the winning Idol with a diamond charm necklace that says “No stone unturned to find the diamond in the rough.”
Hollywood.com also spotted finalist Katherine McPhee herself, just two days before her big night, walking through the Babylon Court. She stopped and chatted with several amazed fans, and even held one’s baby during a photo. Meanwhile, several ex-Idol contestants also popped by to show their support for Paula, including Constantine Maroulis, Jasmine Trias, Patrick Hall and Bobby Bennett.
About 200 surprised and delighted tourists and shoppers gathered around to watch the live broadcast, while an audience of about 30 got to sit up close and personal around the stage. Paula even came into the audience and gave out one of her pins—when two hyper-excited sisters couldn’t tell which one was chosen, one sis graciously gave up her shot of the free loot for her sibling. But fortunately, Paula was impressed with the sisterly devotion and produced a second pin so they both walked away equally excited.
She really IS that nice.
