This isn’t today’s lowest score…

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[3.29]

Martin Skidmore: I’m a big fan of American Idol, but I don’t get the voters’ love for MOR AOR singers like this year’s winner — or, indeed, Chris Daughtry. This power ballad represents everything uninteresting about mainstream American rock. I’m mystified by the scale of his success, and this does nothing to change that.
[2]

Katherine St Asaph: Remember how good Daughtry was on American Idol? I don’t blame you if you can’t; what parsed as “moderately exciting guy rocker” on the show translates to “limpid soft-rocker” off it. At any given point in “September” you could substitute “take your cat and leave my sweater” and lose little in either melody or meaning.
[4]

Edward Okulicz: Though a lot of people — and I sympathise — hate this type of rock music, a quick A to B between “It’s Not Over” (which I like!) and this gives some idea as to why some people buy some of it; where that earlier hit was sludgy but had hooks sung with conviction, this seems to be as washily sung as it is written, abounding in cliches — both lyrical and structural, I mean, dig the build! — and gasps of generic emoting. It’s not completely artless, but it is completely aimless.
[3]

Chuck Eddy: In the constipation-rock realm, Daughtry’s diet seems less averse to fiber than most (well, maybe he and Chad Kroeger are neck and neck). And the melodic swoop here pulls off its autumnal leaves-changing-color mood better than I’d’ve predicted.
[5]

Alfred Soto: “In the middle of September we still played out in the rain,” he avers. You don’t want to do this in Florida. A vengeful god may strike you down.
[2]

Erick Bieritz: So they had “nothing to lose but everything to gain,” but “reflecting on how things could have been” he decides “it was worth it in the end”? Well of course, they had nothing to lose, how couldn’t it be worth it?
[4]

Jonathan Bogart: Thanks for reminding me that I need to listen to more Earth, Wind & Fire.
[3]