.. Win AI X ??? I doubt it but I bloody hope so ! What a refreshing change from wailing R 'n' fuffing B singers and Adam Lambert wannabees that would be..... come on America vote Casey Abrams, you gave Hicks the nod,now vote for the real McCoy !!

Wow.. the thread's been up for eight hours and change and nobody's disagreed !

He is in my top half a dozen.

I guess we have had:

1: Kelly (Pop, though quite flexible)
2:Ruben (Gospel/R&B)
3: Fantasia (Gospel/R&B)
4: Carrie (Country)
5: Taylor (Country)
6: Jordin (Pop/R&B)
7: David (Rock)
8: Kris (Pop/rock?)
9: Lee (Pop/rock?)

Few question marks where I'm not sure but definitely due a jazz winner!

I think he's got a good a chance as the others in the 24, and he's being hyped a lot so I think he'll make it into the top 12...

Jazz/Big Band/Rat Pack singer John Stevens was sixth in the third season.

Like Hicks worked out all that well? Maybe he wasn't a good example, but nevertheless he was AN example (of going off the beaten path, not "Jazz", since he was a "soul" singer). So that example is likely to make the producers gun-shy. Most likely to be pimped, I think, is their new Lambert 2.0. Or some girl singer they can try to sell based on sex appeal.

Taylor was Soul, or arguably Blues. Not Country.

Carrie was Country, but with Pop appeal.

Jordin was pop, but she stank.

Lee is Rock, but on the kind of scratchy generic side.

The producers don't eke out what genre hasn't been covered yet though. So what's "due" doesn't really factor. If they go for averages of what works MOST, its been Pop. Even with Kris and Lee as failures, they'll simply try and head towards the more predictable angle--the Diva. Carrie and Jennifer and Kelly all variants of that. Adam is kind of a male equivalent. Note that I'm not talking about the personality cliche of being "difficult" when I say "diva", but more the angle of it being a powerhouse soloist. Nothing too arty, and usually erring to the side of attractive.

It will be Carrie round 2 this year - I have a feeling in me' bones. I'm looking at you Miss Alaina.

Alaina's certainly the most "pimped" so far this season, but I don't get it at all (she can certainly sing, but doesn't strike me as special.)

Casey is getting a lot of sweetheart coverage, and I love his voice, but I'd rather listen to him than watch him - that fuzz and those faces he pulls when he sings really put me off... and he needs to edit himself too, his scatting is going to get really old really fast if he keeps doing it.

Did Fantasia sing any Gospel or R&B on the show or did she sing pop songs that automatically became R&B because she was a black singer ?

Didn't we keep getting shown clips of her in a gospel choir?
She sang a lot of disco which i guess is now known more as R & B?

She gave me goose pimples some weeks but other weeks her voice had too much of a 'sweetness twang' for my liking.

I'm guessing I remember the weeks when she was singing Willie Nelson ,Bonnie Rait , streisand ,Elton and Queen songs

From what I've seen, Alaina is the most pimped at the moment (though I don't get the fuss, she's not in the same league as any of the previous female winners or Jennifer, Katherine, etc). As for "Lambert 2.0", who would that be then? Short of cloning, I don't know how they're ever going to find that.

"Can a jazz singer..." - I don't think so. But he can stay for a while if his "journey" involves a shave and a haircut, and a Ratpack/Buble approach. This would take him further than the "Ginsberg digs Mingus" vibe. Groovy and out.

I hope they don't rat pack him. I am always so bored when X Factor do their usual rat pack songs (glad they missed big band this year!)

It's a shame his look will go against him but I'm looking forward to the live shows. Like when the producers give him some old sh!te to sing in some lame theme week and he turns the song inside out and upside down and hits it right out the park !! All this show will do for Casey is hopefully get him picked up by a credible label to make some tremendous records and make a nice living using his unique talent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQLvYaxHR0c

What Leslie says at the end of this video (her elimination Swan Song) may help give context to your question!

Good point, the voting general pubic (not a typo) only get r 'n' b wannabees but hey, it's decided by joe p and it is what it is. I hope Casey makes a nice living and uses this show for what it is , a shop window and when he goes out week 2 or whatever because not enough people with a musical ear watch it, he can flick 'em all the bird when he picks up his first grammy.

Leslie was one of my favourites that year but to be honest she was pretty poor that week.

She was pretty poor that week but Natural Woman in Week One was very strong. I think this just proves that some artists get given four or five chances after doing a weak performance (Katie, Sanjaya, Casey) yet others are in dire jeapordy if they don't nail every single one of their songs,

I would.

You would ? ...... er... would what ?

I think Casey Abrams is a dead cert to win Idol this year.

Jacob Lusk is the only person with the game to outshine him, but being gay is a vote-loser with middle America and he'll be less solid than Casey.

Jacob's Top 12 performance was consummate but Casey's was outrageous - he made Adam Lambert seem bland.

Hope you're right FX but I doubt he has the shiney-dayglo luminous-light-up-in-the-dark-teeth-image you have to have to win these things, honest to God 24 carat solid gold talent won't get it done sadly. The only thing in his favour is he doesn't have to rely on the dolts that kept voting for Wagner in last years XF or the planks that are voting for the ex squaddie in DOI.At least the American Idol punters vote for the talent most of the time, over here we have too many people who are hell bent on taking the p!ss !

I don't think you need to be dayglo to win American Idol. Taylor Hicks won it. Lee DeWyze and Kris Allen are hardly glamorous.

If you've not seen Casey's Top 12 performance yet, check it out on Youtube. It screamed out winner to me.