SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW/MY DESTINY - KATHARINE MCPHEE
Last week, “American Idol” Season 5 victor Taylor Hicks became the fourth series champ to top the Billboard Hot 100, with his “Do I Make You Proud” ruling retail. Cross-format radio response for the formulaic song has been tepid, with even his Soul Patrol die-hards admitting that the song is hardly hitworthy. Runner-up Katharine McPhee’s double-A-side launch single appears to be even more clearly intended as little more than a souvenir single: Original radio contender “My Destiny” has been demoted to track No. 2 (perhaps after “American Idol” judges all but deemed it lame) behind a studio cover of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” which she performed multiple times on the show. Her performances? Lovely, but excruciatingly processed. Her potential? Without a particularly entrenched image, she is RCA’s to mold. Which could mean all … or nothing. Billboard
