Paul McDonald Odds to Win American Idol

Paul McDonald is the lead singer of a music group called "The Grand Magnolias." According to the band's Facebook page, the guys hail from East Nashville, Tennessee. JoesPlaceBlog recently released a spoiler that Paul has made the Top 40 for the tenth season of American Idol. He is supposedly a rock singer, although the music on Facebook sounds rather soft to be classified as "rock and roll." At any rate, Paul McDonald has one huge benefit if he makes the voting round - the cougar and maybe the tween vote. Although he sounds like a decent singer, that might not even matter anymore on Idol. Just the demographics alone make Paul an early favorite to win the 10th season of American Idol.

Anyone who watched the finals in Season 9 against Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze and has half a brain knows the slaughter that took place. Crystal won every round and still lost in the public voting, making Lee the American Idol champion. In the years before that, Kris Allen won while only one girl even made the Top 6. In Season 7, David Cook won. A strong pattern has emerged in Idol voting patterns. The so-called "white guy with guitar" is dominating American Idol. Even Adam Lambert couldn't upend this trend. And Crystal's dominance over Lee meant nothing in the end.

A certain demographic seems to have taken over the voting. People have different theories. Some says it's the "young girl" text voting. Others blame the cougars for voting for the cute guys. It is probably a combination of these factors that are creating predictable and lopsided results. Whatever the reasons are, Paul McDonald looks to be one of the potential prime beneficiaries of this trend. He's a cute white guy who plays a guitar. That pretty much makes him an early favorite to win American Idol.

Now, that doesn't mean Paul has no talent and doesn't potentially deserve to win Idol. In fact, he seems like a competent singer. Although the "rock and roll" claim seems a bit of a stretch, Paul has some similarities to Rod Stewart in his voice and singing style. He has a much clearer, less raspy voice than Rod Stewart, but the comparison is not unreasonable.

But to be honest, nothing about the performances we can see online makes him look like any kind of powerhouse singer. Conversely, Lee DeWyze and David Cook have strong, clear vocals and a fair amount of versatility (great versatility for Cook). McDonald certainly needs to do something to stand out more, as a fairly high-strung, weak voice will likely not stand out against the other singers (unless they are all weak singers).

So while demographics may make Paul McDonald an early favorite to win Idol, his voice will likely need to show something more unique. Otherwise, he will have problems getting votes from the substantial block of voters that praise creativity, versatility and uniqueness.

Resources:

JoesPlaceBlog Spoilers

The Grand Magnolias (Paul McDonald's Band)