By most indications, Phillip Phillips is a strong contender to win American Idol 11 (2012). Although he certainly has his fair share of detractors, most of those whiners are just the ones moaning about another WGWG (white guy with guitar) possibly winning. The whole WGWG claim simply ignores the fact that Scotty, for example, never really relied on his guitar and was a completely different type of artist than Lee, Kris and David Cook.
The truth is, lots of people like Phillip’s style and his musicality. Are all of them young girls? No. Is there any proof that young girls even make someone a winner? No. Is Phillip Phillips even that cute? I’ll let the girls answer that one, but he doesn’t strike me as some kind of hottie.
No, what people like are Phillip’s genuineness and creativity. Like most of his performances so far, Phillip took “In the Air Tonight” and changed it up just enough to make it his own while also keeping at least some of the emotion of the original song.
Phillips should easily get through to the Top 12. The danger with him, though, is that he could start to get too repetitive. If you look at “Thriller” and “Don’t Want to Fall in Love” and “In the Air Tonight,” a theme starts to emerge. Phillip is in danger of becoming a one-trick pony. I’d like to see a bit more versatility in his performances.
His voice is in the middle in terms of power. He is not going to have the power of a Joshua Ledet, but he has decent power to go along with a more unique style than the other contestants. Overall, his Top 24 “In the Air Tonight” was a good first live performance for Phillip’s American Idol 11 journey. If he surprisingly does not make the Top 5 in voting, then Phillips will certainly be put in the Top 12 as a wildcard and vie to become the winner of American Idol.