As much as it pains me to admit that I enjoy American Idol, it pains me even more to say that I want Taylor Hicks to win. Taylor was born for this. He was born to be an Idol. It’s in his soul.

Early on, I was not a Taylor fan; I was not a believer in the “soul patrol.” I wasn’t overly impressed with his audition. I didn’t like his cover of Elton John’s “Levon” a few weeks ago, nor did I like his reprise last night. Despite that, Taylor Hicks has grown on me like a lesion - but in a good way - and I now find myself enjoying most of his performances. He has a certain power and emotion in his voice that many of the other contestants simply don’t have, namely Katharine McPhee.

Katharine McPhee is a great singer in that she can hit many notes, but she basically has two modes - quiet and loud. She doesn’t have soul like Taylor has. She’s lacking the range of emotion that Taylor expresses in almost every song. However, Katharine is something that Taylor could never be - hot. Katharine should just be a model for her own line of broad-shouldered clothing. I think she’d be pretty successful at that.

So here’s my prediction for the final four:

• Taylor will continue his singing career,
• Katharine will continue being hot,
• Elliott will help Bilbo find the ring,
• Chris will join Fuel,
• and Ryan Seacrest will continue to be a dork who’s attracted to men. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’m just sayin’.