Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Glorious Confluence of American Idol and the Star Spangled Banner

Somebody has probably compiled a list like this before, but I stumbled upon the idea earlier this week while doing a YouTube search and it's been eating at my brain ever since. The material? National anthem performances by former American Idol stars.

The videos are broken down into three categories: winners, runners-up, and the field.

The Winners

Season 1: Kelly Clarkson




Season 2: Ruben Studdard

If Ruben has ever accepted an offer to sing the anthem at a sporting event, the clip hasn't made it's way to YouTube yet.

Season 3: Fantasia Barrino




Season 4: Carrie Underwood




Season 5: Taylor Hicks




Season 6: Jordin Sparks




The Runners-Up

Season 1: Justin Guarini



Season 2: Clay Aiken



Season 3: Diana DeGarmo



Season 4: Bo Bice



Season 5: Katharine McPhee

Surprisingly, McPhee gets the Studdard treatment.

Season 6: Blake Lewis



The Field

Season 2: Josh Gracin



Season 3: Jennifer Hudson



Season 4: Nikko Smith



Season 5: Chris Daughtry



Season 5: Kellie Pickler



Season 5: Ace Young



Season 6: Melinda Doolittle

11 Comments:

Anonymous said...

well I would say Kellie Pickler hands down. That girl has some pipes!! But I have seen other national anthem performances that she has done.. And she has even sounded better then the one posted here. and this one is great!! she can just nail it..
beautiful voice...

Anonymous said...

Look for one of Kellie singing the national anthem at her homecoming in Albemarle, N.C., in spring 2006 after she got "the boot" from Idol.

That one is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was there, and I don't think I've ever seen a live national anthem performance that had that kind of effect on a crowd.

This one is great, too, of course.

Righty said...
This post has been removed by the author.
Righty said...

I have a more recent videoed version of Ace singing the National Anthem here in Altoona, Pa last month. It was more 'rock' sounding with surprisingly no falsetto. Here's the link

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v11/Weasleygrl83/Al-TUNE-a%20Har%20Har/?action=view¤t=NationalAnthem.flv

Anonymous said...

I'd say it's a tie between Melinda Doolittle and Jordin Sparks. I'm surprised that Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood didn't measure up to them.

Anonymous said...

Fantasia is so AMAZING...WOW! I enjoyed her rendition so much!!

Anonymous said...

Season 5 third-place Elliott Yamin:

Titans-Redskins in August

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAViYWLpAJ4

Love what he does with the word "wave" - and the crowd roars.

Watching the dad teach his son to put his hand over his heart (at about 1:20) always brings tears to my eyes.

Anonymous said...

Carrie and Jordin Sparks were the best! Melinda next. Everybody else blah.

Anonymous said...

You left out Anthony Fedorov (Season 4) whose NA is the best out of all the idols:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDNUi1yR3tU

He's been singing NA for the NBA, MLB and NFL.

Anonymous said...

Carrie blows everyone else out of the water! And she is true to the song without changing around the melody too much:)

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