Favourite American Idol Contestants: Introduction

In order to counter the holiday boredom, I have yet came up with another list.

American Idol might be the nation’s biggest karaoke contest with little attempts at moulding contestants into legitimate stars in accordance to their artistic vision (see what happened to Bo Bice and Taylor Hicks). Yet some of the smarter contestants have successfuly earned their shots at superstardom or niche cult followings – much more than the regular fifteen minutes of fame the show could offer.

But cheap reality television gimmicks or not, I eat up what the show has to offer – although I am much interested with the singing (instead of the drama) part of the show. Usually, I skip all the contestants’ background stories or judges’ opinions – not that the judges are that much credible, by the way.

When I judge these contestants, of course I am occasionally influenced by other external factors. In fact, this list is as much subjective as it can be. There is no criteria for my ranking, everything goes into my own personal taste.

The list consists of 50 contestants (out of 230 – 95 finalists and 135 semi-finalists), and I will reveal five at each entries. In the meantime, here is some breakdown of those making the list:

Season 1: 4 finalists, 1 semi-finalist
Season 2: 2 finalists, 1 semi-finalist
Season 3: 4 finalists, 2 semi-finalists
Season 4: 5 finalists
Season 5: 5 finalists
Season 6: 6 finalists, 1 semi-finalist
Season 7: 8 finalists, 3 semi-finalists
Season 8: 5 finalists, 3 semi-finalist