An Idol Is Chosen

This year's PC Idol was, surprisingly, really entertaining. Never having attended any previous shows, I went into the event with pretty low expectations, but by the end I was rooting singers on and waiting for the crowning of the winner. The one thing that did not excite me was the work of the judges, but the night was about the performers and their tremendous work.

Four students had made it into this finale after a long semester of work and nervous nights seeing if they would go on or not. The four selected were Catie Vincent '10, Maggie Ciarcia `09, Liz Cotrupi '08 and my favorite, Paul Coyne '08. This final night consisted of every contestant going through one performance, with entertaining clips of each in between, and the two that had the most votes after the last night of Idol would go on to sing one last song in an effort to secure the title. The winner did not only receive a plaque and the reign as PC Idol of 2008; The biggest prize was a trip for two to New York with four hours of professional studio time.

The night started with, soccer player, Catie Vincent singing Leann Rimes' "Can't Fight the Moonlight." Other than how great her voice is, all the judges noted how great her stage presence is and how she always seemed to bring the most friends to the events. The judges weren't too happy with this performance, saying it was not her best, but Catie still did a great job. Second up was Maggie Ciarcia, with the song "Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin. Other than her small case of stage fright, her voice was amazing and from those three minutes I thought she would be the winner, but I was corrected when Paul Coyne came out next.

Paul's show was remarkable. He drew the crowd in and hit every note when he sang his first of the night "In the Still of the Night." He showed me what the winner would look like and a judge even said "I could see you as the winner." There was no question that he had to move on and be on top, but yet again there was another competitor. Liz Cotrupi came out last, but not least, with "Unbreak My Heart." She also seemed to have trouble with working the crowd, but it was stated by the judging panel that she had the best voice in the competition. She put so much emotion into her performance and hit every note she had to. Even performing this hard Toni Braxton song, she did a marvelous job and impressed every judge.

After an hour of singing, video clips, goofy jokes from the hosts, and the judges' responses, the result for the finalists were given. With no surprise to me, Paul Coyne and Liz Cotrupi moved on to fight for the crown; and it was going to be a great brawl.

Paul's second song, Josh Groban's "Raise Me Up," not to sound cliché, did in fact raise me up. The way he works with the crowd and his range in singing can only be explained by one word a judge used: "bombastic." He knows what he is doing with the crowd to the point where he won over the girls next to me even though they went to support another contestant whom I will not name.

Liz matched Paul really well in the final song. Fixing her crowd-pleasing problem from the first performance of the night, she did the best she could even if it might not have been the best song choice. Most judges agreed that "Think," by Aretha Franklin was not a great song for Liz and her range, but she still did fabulous.

So finally, the winner was crowned, and Paul Coyne came out victorious. This was a great experience to go through for everyone involved, including myself. Nedzer Erilus, who was the director of this event, was "left speechless." Ned never expected PC Idol to get as big as it did. With Gabrielle Occhiogrosso, Ned, the 20 members of the Office of Residence Life running the show, the contestants who were brave enough to compete, and the 286 fans there that night made it all worth it.