American Idol: It’s A Kris!

And we’re down to the final performances. It’s a head-to-head battle between two guys who clearly have already won the hearts of America. (I know one of them has won mine.) Though Kris is clearly the underdog, it’s a close race, and I think it will definitely come down to tonight’s three performances.

DING DING! ROUND 1

Adam attacks  “Mad World.” There a crazy outfit and some crazy fog, and it’s a little over the top for me. I mean, come on. You are not a star yet, but I will say this has been and still is one of my favorite Adam performances. He chooses to reign it in this time, which I really appreciate. His intense stare still creeps me out. And the judges think it rocked.

Kris kicks off his night with “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and I’m totally scared. At first, I don’t think it’s his strongest choice, but hearing the song again with some new embellishments reminds me that he did kill it the first time, and he’s even more soulful this time around. He is also playing the piano which is his second instrument after the guitar, and I’m reminded again of how talented this young kid truly is. All the judges love this one too, and Simon even declares Round 1 to Kris.

DING DING! ROUND 2

Wow! Okay wow. And that’s not a good thing. The judges adored this performance of Adam’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” but I believe he utterly butchered the song. He looks great in a suit, but for me  it was just too much. The song is so beautiful and simple and soulful, and I feel like he just ripped all that right out of it. Yeah, who can hit a high note like the last note of the song that he pulled off, but it is NOT about nailing one note every time. Oye! Is anyone listening to what I’m listening to.

Next up is Kris with ‘What’s Going On?” This is another soulful song, and with Kris on the guitar and an acoustic backup with some bongos, it sounds beautiful and so does he. But I have to agree with the judges that it just wasn’t as powerful as a finale performance should be. And I think acoustic up until this point is perfect, but really having the power of the band behind you helps in making a stamp on the audience’s memories..

DING DING! ROUND 3

I’m still so confused as to why they don’t just let them pick one more cover song instead of forcing them to sing the most horrendous song ever made! This season’s song is “No Boundaries,” written by Kara. This is a plug to Kara and probably something she wanted in her contract before she signed. It’s also a song they don’t have to pay royalties on when they sell it on iTunes, and they can probably charge more since it’s not a cover, so they make more money. But it’s embarrassing for these contestants, especially this season. I feel bad for them!

The song is clearly made for a girl with all it’s talk of mountains and believing. Adam attempted to rock it up but that only made the song sound worse. And it just wasn’t made for his voice. The judges definitely didn’t like it either. It was pitchy for Randy. Simon tried not to diss the song, but try is the key word, but he did still pump Adam up and say they’ve found a star. I think they found someone who can easily step in for a rock band who’s lead singer has left or died, but he will not make anything current or popular or anything that can be played on the radio.

Kris wasn’t much better, but he was better. The song was not made for his vocal range, but at least I can visualize tweens jamming out to this on the radio. The judges don’t fawn over him like they do over Adam, basically telling him he deserves to be there but not saying they’ve found a star, but it’s been this lopsided fairness the whole season.

I think Kris is definitely still in this thing, especially being the one to close it out and make that horrid song sound better that Adam’s heinous version. And I think if he does win, yet again, it’ll be a smack to the judges faces. That’s why it’s called American Idol because no matter how clearly you favor one person the ENTIRE season, WE pick the winner. And you all know who it’d be if I had my way, but we’ll all just have to wait and see.

THE FINALE

I was spoiled. No, seriously. I was in the car, driving home and listening to the radio when a jockey broke the news. Oh, it was great news, but it took me awhile to get over the sheer shock of not getting a spoiler alert before they totally drop the bomb on me.

So I won’t tiptoe around it because unless you live under a rock, you know who won too. KRIS! YAY! KRIS WON! And he clearly looked shocked as all hell. So let’s get to the lead up to this oh-so-awesome result, and there was A LOT of it.

What did we learn in the opening bits? Randy says “for you, for me” a lot. Kara likes to call people honey and sweetie. Paula uses lots of words that require a translator, and Simon can’t understand what people say half the time.

I don’t remember seeing all this white since American Idol’s “Idol Give Back.” Our top twelve came back to butcher Pink’s “So What.” (Hey. Don’t shoot the messenger. Pink said it herself! And she just happened to be SO right.) Next, David Cook returns to sing his new song “Permanent.” He’s still just as scruffy and yummy as I remember. He’s definitely turned out songs that are much less rocky than I expected, but I guess he was never a Chris Daughtry kind of rocker, more Nickelback, if you know what I mean. (The kind of rocker that would have strings in his songs every now and then.)

And then it’s time for The Golden Idol Awards. This one is Outstanding Male Performance. I don’t know why they haven’t gotten rid of this bit. We get enough of it during the auditions. I don’t need to rehash it again. (I will say I do still love me some Norman Gentle. I totally bought it when he said he didn’t have anything prepared. Oh, Idol!)

Queen Latifah and Lil sing a duet, and I’m a little baffled as to where this song “Cue the Rain” came from. I like how Queen Latifah didn’t try to upstage Lil. She let her have her time to shine. So classy.

Anoop and Alexis sing Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours,” and I wonder why aren’t they singing with the man himself. (Oh, wait! I spoke to soon. Everyone gets to sing with the Mraz!)

Kris  and Keith Urban do a duet to “I Wanna Kiss a Girl.” They both jam out with their cute faces, sweet voice and guitars. And Kris could seriously do country if he wanted, but I’ve heard it from the horse’s mouth that he wants to do pop music.

It’s contemporary night because the girls sing Fergie’s “Glamorous,” and the Fergie comes out singing an even older song in “Big Girl’s Don’t Cry.” Maybe she boohooed her way to a solo because it’s just a segue into the actually NOW popular song “Boom Boom Pow” by the Black Eyed Peas featuring Fergie. (They never put on a boring performance that’s for sure.)

And then it’s time for another Golden Idol. And just like the Norman Gentle set up, I know, out of everyone, Bikini Girl will be the winner of the Best Attitude. And surprise! She comes out in a bikini and looking much tanner. She gets the opportunity to butcher my all-time favorite “Vision of Love” by Mariah Carey. I’m not surprised when Kara comes out to battle with her. Kara actually kills it, and I’m impressed, but I heard a snippet of it on the radio. So again, let me reiterate. I’m not surprised. (Can you tell I’m bitter?) The whole ripping open her dress to reveal herself wearing a tiny bikini two wasn’t so surprising either and was kind of a let down because the radio made it seem like she opened it for more than .05 seconds.

Cyndi Lauper and Allison get to do a stripped duet, and I’m a little jealous. “Time After Time,” reminds me of middle school. And then “Hello” comes out of no where! Is that Danny Gokey sitting on the steps? Lionel Ritchie you say?! Oh, wait why aren’t they singing “Hello” anymore? I don’t know this horrible, reggae inspired tune “Just Go.”  But I’m okay with the reggae, I guess, since they stopped singing this random song and quickly segue into “All Night Long.”

Every time they talk about Adam from San Diego tonight, I’m confused as to how the producers messed up so badly the prior night that they said he was from San Francisco. Having lived in California, I bet his hometown homies took much offense.

Adam rocks it out with KISS, and kills it to “Beth,” “Detroit Rock City,” and “Rock & Roll All Night.” I see why people enjoy him. When he’s doing the kind of music that he’s suited for, he actually performs well.

The next star to grace the stage is the fabulous Santana. It kicks of with Matt and “Black Magic Woman.” When he throws it over to “Smooth,” all I want to hear is him playing by himself or Rob Thomas because this whole group thing is killing me. I kind of understand, more is better, and it gives everyone a taste for the tour, but it kind of makes me never want to see an AI tour.

The best thing about the next segment is that it’s the last one! The last Ford video that is, for this season anyway. We can’t be so lucky, but with all that advert dollars Ford has put into this and probably made off of it, they’ve decided to give Kris and Adam new cars, and last years winner David got to give it to them.

Next in line is Steve Martin who plays the banjo! Who knew?! Michael Sarver and Megan Joy got to perform with him and band in tow. I could let this one go, probably because they’re two of my least favorite of the top 12.

The boys perform “If You Want My Body” by Rod Stewart, probably one of the most out of place performances. What is it that made the producers think that this song versus a contemporary song would be better? Oh, wait! Rod Stewart is there singing “Maggie May.” No wonder. Did anyone else see Rod Stewart stumble when he walked up to the mic? Because I was afraid. He’s no young buck anymore. He could have died!

The next Golden Idol for Outstanding Female Performance is basically set up to go to Tatiana del Toro. At first I think it’s a joke that Ryan says he can’t give her the award because they have to go to break, but he’s serious. I notice this when she starts singing and walks over to the band as if to coax them, and they don’t start playing at all. But she keeps singing of course until the commercial break.
But they’ve definitely saved the best for last because our final two get to sing “We Are The Champions” with Queen and a huge choir, and it is true now isn’t it? At least, one of them will be soon.

So that was our night. Simon says he doesn’t usually do this, but he thought they were both brilliant and usually nice people. It’s a nice way to close out the night and the season. Thanks for tuning in with me!

Season 8, Episodes 38 & 39: Top 2: Performances & Top 2: Results (originally aired May 19 and 20, 2009)

For more on the season finale of American Idol, read Every Underdog Has His Day by Amanda Walker here.

For more on American Idol, click here.

Photographs courtesy of Fox Broadcasting Company.