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Subject: "I Have Nothing"-Which Version is better, Jennifer Hudson or Katharine McPhee
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Username: william
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11/01/2006 5:49 PM Alert 

After seeing Katharine McPhee's performance of "I Have Nothing" at the benefit in Beverly Hills this weekend, with Whitney Houston in attendance, and with Jennifer Hudson performing the same song in season 3 of "American Idol", I am wondering which version of "I Have Nothing" was better?

Katharine or Jennifer?

 

I'll start off with Katharine's version, the infamous "yellow gown" version, Katharine made that song her own, and strutted her stuff there.  And the judges slammed her performance.
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11/01/2006 6:24 PM Alert 
What an odd question. Like there is even a comparison. No offense to Jennifer Hudson, but she ain't no Katharine McPhee.

Simon later apologized for slamming Kat and after all it was David Phoster/Andrea Bocelli week and we all know who THEY preferred singing it.


My question is who sings it better - Kat or Whitney? I play them back to back on my ipod all the time and I dare say - Kat beats Whitney at her own song!!

......that's why the McPhoster is such a McPhan!!!
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11/01/2006 6:34 PM Alert 
Posted By nanhasmcpheever on 11/01/2006 6:24 PM
What an odd question. Like there is even a comparison. No offense to Jennifer Hudson, but she ain't no Katharine McPhee.

Simon later apologized for slamming Kat and after all it was David Phoster/Andrea Bocelli week and we all know who THEY preferred singing it.


My question is who sings it better - Kat or Whitney? I play them back to back on my ipod all the time and I dare say - Kat beats Whitney at her own song!!

......that's why the McPhoster is such a McPhan!!!


I totally agree with you!!!!!!!  Kat has done so much for Idol, I mean she actually got Simon to apologize!  That's a record in itself!
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Kat's Comment to me:

"Lauren,
don't worry about your gift and not getting on time. That is sooo sweet but you didn't have to do that. I really appreciate it. I read your comment and it really touched me. I'm happy you enjoyed your first season of Idol. I mostly thank you for all your support. It means more than anything. I just love that people are enjoying the music. Keep in touch and thanks again. Cute page too!
kat"

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11/01/2006 7:18 PM Alert 
Katharine did herself proud when she sang "I Have Nothing" at that benefit. Here is to you judges...you were oh soooo wrong.
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11/01/2006 7:26 PM Alert 
These's no comparison! No offense to Ms. Hudson, but Kat did sound better to me.
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11/01/2006 7:42 PM Alert 
that mindless sheep randy jackson was in the audience at the carosuel ball Sat. night and you can get when he saw everyone clapping for IHN he went nuts too

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11/01/2006 8:10 PM Alert 
I wish someone had captured his reaction. It would have been hilarious I bet!
Kat Pack #1422

Kat's Comment to me:

"Lauren,
don't worry about your gift and not getting on time. That is sooo sweet but you didn't have to do that. I really appreciate it. I read your comment and it really touched me. I'm happy you enjoyed your first season of Idol. I mostly thank you for all your support. It means more than anything. I just love that people are enjoying the music. Keep in touch and thanks again. Cute page too!
kat"

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11/01/2006 8:12 PM Alert 
he probably had his lips glued to whitney's ass... or maybe clive's

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11/01/2006 8:37 PM Alert 
I wonder how Randy's face when whitney did a standing ovation for kat.. I would be soooo embarassed if i being them three.
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11/01/2006 9:20 PM Alert 
I was over watching Whitney's live version from the American Music Awards show  in 1993  yesterday and some of the comments got me thinking about this "comparison".   I'm not going to get into was Katharine better than Whitney debate and the reason is from what I hear it is an apple and oranges comparison anyway.

Whitney recorded this song in a certain key and then never attempted to sing it live in that key the song was recorded in.   Sort  of  like what Katharine did with My Destiny, albeit, likely for quite different reasons.

I just listened to Whitney's version on Rhapsody, actually both the orginal Bodyguard soundtrack and the remastered mix from the Greatest Hits album(<====much better, BTW), and it has a bit of reverb/echo or something in it but it is a pretty awesome vocal.  She sounds a little more comfortable in the lyric then Kat does adding little pauses and emphases to the song,  making it her own the way a great piano player makes Mozart or Chopin piece that has been played a thousand times before  sound subtly different, special, unique.  Katharine gives a much straighter ....much less stylized...read to the song.  Whitney gets much quieter  at points, Katharine tends to be in a  louder  mode throughout

Ms. Hudson lacks the enunciation faculties to delivery the lyrics coherently.  Her notes are quite good but her delivery is compromised due to troubles in  clearly saying the words in a  word driven song.   Does she belt better than Kat...maybe, but I'm not a big fan of big note belting so it is of little interest to me.

In conclusion, I would say give Katharine and David Foster some studio time to play around with "making it her own" and the freedom to belt without worrying about a bad note slipping out, because it surely would,  and I think she could deliver an awesome studio version of this song.  Much like her Think from the Encore album is a real gem and we know that one was made on the cheap, 19E cheap.
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11/01/2006 10:15 PM Alert 

This is a Katharine forum... if someone said Jennifer, who I like but obviously not as much as Kat, they'd probably be shot haha

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11/01/2006 10:48 PM Alert 
Posted By Spotlighter15 on 11/01/2006 10:15 PM

This is a Katharine forum... if someone said Jennifer, who I like but obviously not as much as Kat, they'd probably be shot haha


Lol! That's probably true..
Jennifer is no Miss McPhee, so it's no comparison I think..
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11/01/2006 10:57 PM Alert 
I can't help but wonder if Whitney knows what the judges (Randy in particular) said about kats performance of IHN on Ai.
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11/02/2006 12:07 AM Alert 
Kats hands down!

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11/02/2006 12:09 AM Alert 
Katharine IHN > Vonzell IHN > Jennifer Hudson IHN
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11/02/2006 12:09 AM Alert 
Posted By Spotlighter15 on 11/01/2006 10:15 PM

This is a Katharine forum... if someone said Jennifer, who I like but obviously not as much as Kat, they'd probably be shot haha



lets see if it worrks............

JENNIFIER!

No I'm not shot, still alive!
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11/02/2006 12:14 AM Alert 
Posted By nanhasmcpheever on 11/01/2006 6:24 PM
What an odd question. Like there is even a comparison. No offense to Jennifer Hudson, but she ain't no Katharine McPhee.

Simon later apologized for slamming Kat and after all it was David Phoster/Andrea Bocelli week and we all know who THEY preferred singing it.


My question is who sings it better - Kat or Whitney? I play them back to back on my ipod all the time and I dare say - Kat beats Whitney at her own song!!

......that's why the McPhoster is such a McPhan!!!



oooh sorry Whitney IS Whitney and like Kat said no one will ever be like Whitney... she sang that song perfectly and I will always like the orginal version the most no matter who sings it.

 
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11/02/2006 1:35 AM Alert 
Posted By sikwitdafever on 11/01/2006 10:57 PM
I can't help but wonder if Whitney knows what the judges (Randy in particular) said about kats performance of IHN on Ai.




I have no doubt that Whitney watched Kat's performance of that 'IHN' back in May. Every singer in the business was probably watching 'AI' then--along with just about everybody else who wasn't already living in a cave. So when Kat was introduced to her at the Carousel Ball, I think Whitney knew exactly who she was meeting and how amazing of a talent Katharine is without having to hear her sing that night. And I'm sure Whitney probably felt like throwing a brick at her TV when the judges criticized Kat's performance that night. Well, maybe Bobby Brown would have been the one more apt to throw a brick at the TV...

These comparisons to Katharine on 'IHN' were quite prominent on the 'AI' board when I was a regular there. After Kat sang it on 'AI'--a lot of us analyzed the differences between Kat's and Whitney's. The basic conclusion a lot of us musicians (and non-musicians) came to was that Kat truly did best Whitney's version by a hair. A lot of the evidence behind that has to do with analyzing music theory down to the core (which I won't bore you with)--though it can be broken down to something much simpler: A special vocal timbre, better phrasing, and a real fierceness to the phrasing never seen before with the song. Kat was a true warrior on that song when conveying its meaning. Nobody will probably be able to touch that song again without it seeming mediocre in comparison. I just played Whitney's version on Rhapsody a few minutes ago--and Whitney held back a little on the studio version. It was more a showcase of technical strengths (the best in the business at the time) and excellent phrasing.

It really comes down to certain phrases in the song and how they hit you between the eyes. And that's truly a subjective thing rather than a technical analysis. Kat's "If you dare..." line seems to still haunt me. Many, many others keep saying the same thing. Her familiar vocal timbre is in full command on some of those phrases--officially making the song identifiable with her. I can still hear echos of those lines in my head whenever I'm reminded of Kat singing 'IHN.' It's just a crime not to be able to hear the one she did at the Carousel Ball in its entirety though. She had a slightly different approach from the sounds of things--yet her vocal quality was instantly recognizable and appealing. Obviously, people saw that on the entertainment mag shows and persuaded them to pre-order the CD on Amazon.

The reason I'm giving comparison to Whitney's is because those are two that are more worthy of an interesting analysis. The Jennifer Hudson one is (to be quite blunt) several steps behind and can't even be given a comparison that can lead to a debate.

One interesting note I discovered on Rhapsody tonight: Lisa Tucker apparently appeared on the ill-fated revival version of Star Search a couple of years back. I remember watching that revival of the show (hosted by Arsenio Hall) but can't remember Lisa being there. She apparently looked different then before we knew her from 'AI.' Anyway, the show put out a CD of the finalists that year (possibly 2004)--and Lisa sang 'I Have Nothing' on that CD. I played the cut of that earlier and found it to be smartly arranged to stay within her range. She didn't sound bad, despite being a fairly generic version that also doesn't compare to Kat's or Whitney's. I'm glad she's decided to stick with songs more within her range now, because she is a good talent.

All told, Kat's giving the final word on a lot of songs that singers will have a hard time topping. But some singers in 'AI' end up singing songs that are the kiss of death for them. They may as well write off all the ones Kat sang...which is a good chunk of popular songs.
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11/02/2006 2:01 AM Alert 

Katharine obviously although I thought Jennifer did a nice job.  The judges...I'd love to hear what they honestly thought of Katharine's performance.  Because why in the world would Clive Davis request Katharine to "surprise" Whitney Freakin' Houston by having KATHARINE sing IHN.  This makes it even more clear that somebody told the judges to slow down the Katharine runaway train before it was unstoppable.

And yes I would love to know what Randy Jackson was thinking when he watched Katharine sing IHN at the Carousel Ball...and I'd really love to know what he was thinking when Whitney jumped to her feet to lead a standing ovation for Katharine.  That was such a ridiculous joke that they tore into Katharine like that.  Granted, they did apologize the next night but...that they didn't see it to begin with is insane.
"I saw Katharine McPhee when there were about 12 contestants left on American Idol. She blew me away. I loved her grace, her style, her poise, her voice and her hair! I wanted her to be the face of Sexy Hair because she represented everything that I had in my head for the brand: youth, beauty, talent, class, a young sophistication, and sexiness." -- Jim Morrison, CEO of Sexy Hair Products.
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11/02/2006 5:13 AM Alert 

Hmm, surprisingly enough I'm going with the majority and saying Katharine's version is the best.
I'll just add that there's no comparison, even though Jennifer Hudson did a pretty good job with the song in season 3. She failed to emote the lyrics the way Katharine does with her rendtion, and let's not get into phrasing and enunciation.
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11/02/2006 5:49 AM Alert 
Kat's version, of course !
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11/02/2006 6:19 AM Alert 
Don't forget that the reason Whitney had the fancy reverbs, etc. was because it was a produced recording, mixed with orchestral sounds. Katharine was accompanied by one piano. For that reason we really should refrain from the comparison.
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