Let me be a fangirl for this moment. Taylor Hicks just won American Idol (Season 5), so allow me to say: SOUL PATROL! WOOH!

Around the time that hurricane Katrina was cracking her knuckles to strike New Orleans, gray-haired Taylor was booked for a flight back home to Birmingham, Alabama. I don’t know about what they say about fate, but it seemed like that day was Taylor-made (sorry, I couldn’t resist…). The airline company cancelled the flights, so they gave the passengers a ticket to anywhere else they prefer as an option. Wow, if that happened to me, I would have bawled. But not cool and composed Taylor. His brother’s nagging kept ringing back in his ears: “Go and audition for American Idol”. So he took the ticket and flew to Las Vegas for the audition.

Acid-tongued Simon Cowell acknowledged the voice, but says that Taylor doesn’t have the “package” to make him an American Idol. Well package this now, Cowell — Taylor won, and how! To Cowell’s credit, he admitted he was wrong.

It was on that audition day that Taylor caught my attention. His voice was raw, yet soulful enough to make me look up from the magazine I was browsing.  Judges Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul were impressed, and you know by now what Simon did. Paula and Randy welcomed Taylor to Hollywood. Taylor cried “wooh!”, and I found myself celebrating with the guy. I knew then that I had to watch the rest of the season — the only AI season that I watched from beginning to end. (Sorry Bo Bice, I loved you too, but…).

Taylor’s final song, Do I Make You Proud, could never be more appropriate. I hate to admit this, but I almost teared up as he was singing this particular song. To non-fans, the song may be cheesy. But to Soul Patrollers like me, it was the most meaningful song of the entire season. He was an underdog, and yet he outclassed everyone in the competition. He parried every insult that judge Cowell threw at him all season-long. Now, Taylor and his Soul Patrollers are crying wooh! and lapping it up.

Okay, fan moment over. Oh, not just yet. I’m running to the music store to check if they have Taylor’s pre-AI album, Under the Radar.

Isa na lang. SOUL PATROL!