Tuesday, May 19, 2009

American Idol - THE FINALE!

Woo hoo! I'm watching tonight with Tarryn, Merrit, Lori, Dana and Carolyn. Coming to you from the Kodak Theater tonight. All the judges are spiffied up. Kris won the coin toss, and chose to go second.

I really should have a video on my friends. They're shouting out to all of you right now. I'm having a difficult time typing all the things they want me to right now. Just know they love you.

Adam Lambert - "Mad World" (Personal pick)
Smart move, dude. Open with your most popular song. (According to Rickey.org, this performance was the most searched for American Idol content on Google. This is due in part to getting cut off by the Tivos, but even if you factor that out, it's still the most popular performance this season.) Fog machine is in full effect, green lights and a Matrix leather coat. I know a lot of you commented that you didn't want to listen to an entire Adam Lambert album - in response, I give you this single. :) That was beautiful. I think I liked the performance better the first time, but this was still beautiful. Merrit is thrilled that Kara's hair finally looks good. Paula hit the tan spray a little too hard. Simon feels it was a little too theatrical with the fog and the long coat.
1-866-IDOLS-01, -03 or -05

Kris Allen - "Ain't No Sunshine" (Personal pick)
A little flat on the first long note at the beginning, but he recovers. Dana is wondering if this was Kris' most Googled song. I'm checking. (It's not - "Apologize" and "Heartless" were his most popular.) A quick aside - Lori is thrilled she's beating me at cards....I'm not playing, but she is beating me. (As usual, Tarryn is kicking everyone's trash.) That was a beautiful performance. He's fantastic.
1-866-IDOLS-02, -04, -06

Simon declares that Round 1 went to Kris. We agree.

Adam Lambert - "A Change is Gonna Come" (Producer's Choice)
Nice choice for Adam. Blues guitarists on each side. That was a great performance. Fantastic. The judges are gushing. Paula - wear a bra!! Ouch. NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT! And you forgot mascara. Simon declares he is back in the game.

Katie Holmes & Suri are in the audience!! We had to rewind it three times so Carolyn could see Suri.

Kris Allen - "What's Goin' On" (Producer's Choice)
Nice arrangement. I like already. This is an awesome song. Can't wait to buy it. Randy - you're wrong. That was awesome. Simon, you're also wrong. I thought he absolutely made it his own. Dana feels Simon is baiting the audience by hacking on Kris' performance and choosing Adam as the winner of Round 2.

All the Idol kids are in the audience. Anoop and Megan are evidently dating. They look a little cozy.

The New Single Round:
Both contestants are going to sing the same inspirational ballad. It's called "No Boundaries" and it was co-written by Kara Dioguardi, naturally.

Adam Lambert
This song is pretty well suited to him. Much more so than past rockers who end up in the top two. (see: Blake Lewis) Kind words from the judges. Not so much for the song. Kara loved it, of course. Adam is very gracious. And I really appreciate that he manages to balance confidence and kindness.

Kris Allen
His voice is tired. Or at least it sounds tired in his low range. And he looks nervous. We're talking about how we like Kris' voice better in terms of a full CD to listen to. His voice is on the verge of crapping out on him. That key was ridiculously bad for him. They should have changed it. They're giving Kris some really nice comments and props for ending up in the finals. Which he deserves.

Here's Carrie! She's singing live! Carrie, you're so pretty.

Here's the consensus in the room tonight -
Carolyn: Kris Allen
Dana: Would vote for Adam, will buy Kris' CD, and would have bought Danny's CD. They all have a place in her music heart.
Tarryn: Kris Allen (based solely on tonight - this is the first episode she's seen)
Lori: Kris Allen (again, based solely on tonight)
Merrit: On talent, Adam Lambert. On "I like him better," Kris Allen

7 comments:

Neal said...

I have to say that as much as I love Adam's second song - the "original" song was not that great of a performance for him. I have to agree with Randy for once....

Jeanne said...

So wait, most seemed to be in favor of Kris but what's your vote? I agree that Kris's version of "What's goin' on" was fantastic and he totally made it his own. Don't know what Simon was thinking on that one. Adam totally owned the last song. Didn't love the song but he sounded great. Pitched much too high for Kris. Why didn't they allow him to sign it a couple of keys lower? Although I love Kris, my vote has been with Adam since day one. He's a brilliant vocalist and performer. He's cool, he's humble, he's grateful...LOVE him! I love reading your commentary. I haven't checked your blog for awhile and I wish I'd been reading this all season.

scooping it up said...

I thought the last round of having them sing the original song was boring and slightly painful. I thought the song was lame and not great for either of their voices and both actually had moments of blatant out of tuneness. I think folks will vote for Kris because of his marketability and my mother who had never seen an episode and said "Oh, he has a nice smile." I about pinched her. I tried voting for Adam but couldn't get through more than twice in an hour so I gave up. Can't wait for tonight so we can move on the the ever superior SYTYCD. ;)

rebecca said...

Great recap! I'm in Kris' corner.

LL said...

so who won? obviously I don't watch--I do love reading your comments on it all. :)

Emily said...

I tried to vote for Kris but never got through, Adam definately won on that last song, but it seems that they should be able to write a better song. Every year it is just a little lame and favors one singer over the other. It's nice to like both singers, this year I won't be dissapointed.

Macy said...

LL - the winner is announced tonight at the end of a two hour extravaganza filled with "special musical guests" and lots and lots of video clips.

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