Paula Abdul Get's It Right about Taylor Hicks

We have been hearing Simon say things about Taylor Hicks ever since he won American Idol, like America got it wrong and he didn't like Taylor Hicks and so on. We also read a quote from Randy a few weeks back blaming the American Idol's and contestants and not putting any blame on the way they are handled and the music they are told to make.

Now Paula Abdul has weighed in on the subject of Taylor Hicks. Paula's response is one of the best responses with the truth being told. Here is the part about Taylor Hicks.

Is there something we can learn from Taylor Hicks' huge popularity on American Idol and subsequent lack of sales successes?

Well you know, it doesn't, I would say this. Nothing takes away from the talent that these kids have. The talent doesn't go away. It's sometimes mishandled and sometimes misguided. And there are very specific reasons why people like Kelly Clarkson sell a lot of albums, and Carrie Underwood and you have the unbelievable talent of Fantasia Barrino and Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks, that don't get to have the same amount of sales…. However I do believe that maybe the album was not… filled with the right materials that suited them. I think that you have to take the right time and the right producer and the right rollout and the right support. It's not just based on they're not talented--there's a lot of factors that go into it that people fail to realize. The right team, the right marketing strategy. That is 90% of it. You have the talent: the talent is now a given. It's the other factors that go into it that predicate the success. Not predicate: but really, that's the success. If you don't have the right strategy, the right production, the right song material. It's all of that that goes into it. It's not to say their albums were bad at all, quote honestly I found good tracks on every single Idols' albums. It's who picks what and who allows them to shine true. A lot of times they don't have a lot of faith in the artistic direction. The second go around you can impart your vision. That's why the call it the sophomore slump. For these kids it's already the sophomore slump when they put their first album out, because they're being compared with being the winner!

According to Simon, he'd say it different: Taylor should never have won. He wasn't a fan. To read the rest of Paula Abdul's interview click here.