The Judges Choice

The Semi-Final show has been traditionally the one I most look forward to because the song choices provide some interesting insight into what is in the minds of the contestants, the judges, and up until this season the producers. Of particular interest is the judge's choices, so in preparation for I thought it would be interesting to look back and see which songs which judges selected for which contestants.

In Season 3:
Simon selected “Fool in Love” by Ike and Tina Turner for Fantasia Barrino
Paula selected “Mr. Melody” by Natalie Cole for Jasmine Trias
Randy selected “Because You Loved Me” by Celine Dion for Diana DeGarmo

In Season 4
Simon selected “On The Radio” by Donna Summer for Vonzell Solomon
Paula selected “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones for Bo Bice
Randy selected “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” by Shania Twain for Carrie Underwood

In Season 5
Simon selected “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz for Katherine McPhee
Paula selected “What You Won’t Do For Love” by Bobby Caldwell for Elliott Yamin
Randy selected “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker for Taylor Hicks

In Season 6
Simon selected “Wishing on a Star” by Rolls Royce for Jordin Sparks
Paula selected “Roxanne” by The Police for Blake Lewis
Randy selected “I Believe in You and Me” by Whitney Houston for Melinda Doolittle

In Season 7:
Simon selected “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack for David Cook
Paula selected “And So It Goes” by Billy Joel for David Archuleta
Randy selected “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys for Syesha Mercado

And, in Season 8 rumor has it that:
Simon selected “One” by U2 for Adam Lambert
Paula selected “Dance Little Sister” by Terence Trent D’Arby for Danny Gokey
Randy & Kara selected “Apologize” by One Republic for Kris Allen

In the few minutes of research that I bothered to do I could not find a similar list of judge's choices for Seasons 1 and 2. I found the song choices but I could not find anything that lists which judge choice which song. So there.

Another of the things that I enjoy about American Idol is the trends that develop over the seasons that may help predict who will win and who will go home this season. Or may not. So looking at this list one cannot help but notice that Paula has never selected the song for the eventual winner. Whether or not this is only a coincidence or an indication that Danny Gokey should be very worried right now is subject to conjecture, though perhaps Elliott Yamin would have cause to say that Danny should in fact be worried. Another thing that I notice is that Randy tends to pick songs that fit within the comfort zone of the his singer while Simon tends to present his singer with more of a challenge. I have never heard the song that he and Kara chose for Kris Allen so I cannot say if this the case again this year, though I could make some inferences since they choice a song that I have never heard before, which is typical for Kris. However, I can say that Adam is facing a tough test with "One" because he won't be able to scream his way through it.

Hopefully it will be interesting. I wonder if there will be a Clive Davis sighting this year?