Y'know, I honestly have no idea which way this is going to go. Last week, all three contestants were separated by only one million votes. This week, by all accounts, all the lines were jammed, suggesting that the winner may be determined by text votes and more random factors. This may be season two all over again.
Personally, I cast a few dozen votes for Adam... but I've gotta hand it to Kris. I counted him out early on, and he really stepped up. Yes, he's benefiting from the "anybody but Adam" vote, but that in itself wouldn't come close to sufficing; he's given people legitimate cause to rally around him.
Over in my pool... whatever happens, kudos to Mo Pie for leading the pack most of the way (she's the only one of us not to go a week without scoring so far) and for sportsmanship; to Pam for sticking to her guns regarding Adam; and to TeKay for almost pulling off the gutsiest strategy of any of us. As for Jesse and I... we didn't suck, and there's always next year.
Finally (before getting to the show), Snark of the Week goes to "American Idol virgin" Ed Masley, a music critic for the Arizona Republic who's watched Idol all this season for the first time. It's been fun getting his take, and I'll be interested in seeing whether he decides to come back next year. Anyway, with regards to the single, he notes that Kris "stripped it of its roots in silly, lighter-waving, '80s power balladry and gave it some substance and soul just by virtue of not being Adam or Kara." Heh.
(All of that said, I still think Adam is way better. So there!)
Anyway. On to the finale!
Missed the first few minutes, because I never remember just how freakin' long a SlingPlayer software update takes. (Answer: really freakin' long.)
We check in with Mikalah and Carly in Kris and Adam's hometowns.
The top 13, clad in white — symbolizing this season's diversity — perform "So What."
David Cook performs "Permanent." Nice.
Proceeds from this performance of the song on iTunes will go to cancer research, in honor of David's late brother.
...ah, the Golden Idol awards. I expect to see Tatiana and Norman Gentle tonight...
Outstanding Male nominees: several entertainingly terrible auditioners — Will Kurick, Michael Gurr, Elijah Scarlett, Dean-Anthony Bradford — and also Nick Mitchell / Norman Gentle.
And the winner is... Nick Mitchell, of course. He walks up from the audience to accept his award, starts a thank-you speech, strips off his outer layer going into Norman mode, and... oh, there are no words.
Camera goes back to Ryan, wearing a red headband and Norman-style glasses.
Lil Rounds and Queen Latifah sing "Cue the Rain."
Anoop, Alexis, and Jason Mraz perform "I'm Yours." (Backed up by the other finalists, who perhaps remember the arrangement from the Ford commercial.) Fun!
Kris Allen montage.
Kris and Keith Urban sing "Kiss a Girl."
The female finalists sing "Glamorous," and introduce Fergie, who warbles "Big Girls Don't Cry." And then they're joined by the Black Eyed Peas, singing "Boom Boom Pow." (I think. I'm using Google for the titles.)
And back to the Golden Idols. Best Attitude nominees: Katrina "Bikini Girl" Darrell, Alexis Cohen, and Tiffany Shedd. And the award goes to... Katrina. Who comes out in a bikini to accept her award. There's a mixture of cheers and boos as she goes to sing to the judges... and she's then joined by Kara, who outsings the heck out of her. Cute. ...oh no. At the end, Kara rips her dress open to reveal a bikini. Apparently this is part of a bet, with the money going to charity. She really shouldn't have. (To clarify, she looks great in a bikini, but that's not the point.)
Allison and Cyndi Lauper perform "Time After Time."
Ryan chats with Kris's parents, then Adam's. They're all gracious.
Danny sings "Hello." (Holy crap. Are they gonna bring out Lionel Richie? ...they are! I love this show...) Danny and Lionel sing "Just Go," and segue into "All Night Long." With the two providing their own echoes on "let the music play on (play on, play on)." Cute.
Adam montage.
Adam, wearing... what the heck IS he wearing? ...sings something and introduces KISS. Okay, that explains the outfit. The first song was "Beth"; they continue the medley with "Detroit Rock City" and "Rock and Roll All Nite."
Carlos Santana plays "Black Magic Woman," is joined by the finalists for "Smooth."
Ford commercial: "I Will Remember You."
And in a pre-taped segment, David Cook gives Adam and Kris the keys to 2010 Ford Fusion hybrids.
Megan Joy, Michael Sarver, and... Steve Martin? Playing the banjo, of course... actually, that's all he's doing. Playing the banjo. This is very strange. And yet kind of awesome.
...ah, he wrote the song, "Pretty Flowers," and it's on his new album, which came out yesterday. All is explained. (And he knows it's a longshot, but he hopes he wins this season.)
The male finalists sing "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and introduce Rod Stewart, who sings "Maggie May" all by his lonesome.
Hmm. We still haven't-- ah, here we go. Golden Idol nominees for Outstanding Female: Chelsea Marquardt, Irene Anguelova, Dana Moreno, and of course, Tatiana Nicole Del Toro. Tatiana is told that they're out of time, but she rushes the stage and sings "Saving All My Love" again while security makes mock attempts at escorting her off. Cute.
Kris and Adam sing "We Are the Champions," joined by Queen. Nice.
And now that DVRs set to stop at 10 PM have cut off, on to the results. They actually have somebody bring out an envelope this year. Almost 100 million votes cast!
The winner... of American Idol... 2009 is...
Kris Allen!
Adam was better, but America loves a good come-from-behind narrative. Way to go, Kris!
Kris is in shock. As is much of the crowd. He gets a trophy for some stupid reason, like that's not anticlimactic. We don't get to see the judges' immediate reaction, but they seem subdued when Ryan thanks them. Anyway, Kris rallies to sing the crappy single.
(Was that Justin Guarini they cut to at the end?)
And over in my pool, Pam edges out Mo by a quarter of a point. Wow.
Final pool standings:
Pam: 25.25
Mo Pie: 25.00
TeKay: 19.75
Jesse: 18.50
Shmuel: 18.50
Thanks for playing, and see you next season!
Shmuel out!
Posted by Shmuel at May 20, 2009 10:10 PMHow the heck did that happen?
Posted by: Pam at May 20, 2009 10:53 PMI stand by "America loves an underdog." I guess this is the flipside of Adam appearing to have no competition for most of the way. We resist foregone conclusions, and we like seeing somebody blossom over the course of the season. Adam and Danny peaked too early for that, while Kris and Allison had upward trajectories. (On the other hand, I still maintain that had Danny made it to the finals, Adam would have creamed him.)
I strongly suspect that the other major factor was that the phone lines were overloaded. If all the lines were at capacity for the entire voting period, the results would be pretty much random. As far as I know, the margin of victory hasn't been reported.... I'm betting it was razor-thin.
Otherwise... Kris did win the coin toss, and he did manage to make this year's vapid generic single sound better than Adam did. I thought the first round was a dead heat; Adam took the second; Kris took the third. Last impressions count. But I think that's a relatively minor factor.
The four top-selling Idol alumni are Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken, and Chris Daughtry. And--
--sorry, I just got my train of thought derailed by the observation that every last one of them has a name starting with a /k/ sound. Maybe Adam is doomed, while Kris is destined to hit it big. :-)
But more likely my intended point stands, which is that only two of the above actually won.
The season is over. For Kris and Adam, the real challenges come next.
Posted by: Shmuel at May 21, 2009 11:06 AMI was actually disgusted with the KISS thing. When he wore that... thing, but sang my favourite KISS song, Beth, which really doesn't go with... that thing... I knew they were bringing them out and it was just bad, in my opinion. The whole thing. Adam was not at all gracious last night, EXCEPT at the end, he did give Kris a little pat on the shoulder or a hug or something- that was okay I guess.
When Adam high-fived or shook hands with Santana DURING THE SONG that was so not cool in my book. Adam and Kris were equidistant from Santana, just sing your song, be on stage, do your thing, no need to touch the legend. Seriously. That made me want to yell at him.
Okay, I did yell at him.
Anyway, I missed Latifah. Had no idea she was there. Rod Stewart doesn't look so hot. :( There are so many songs that could have worked well with others singing with him... I dunno.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Adam isn't talented, he is. But I don't like his attitude and I don't think it is fair that someone with a wealth of training is ALLOWED to be up against the others. (and the training didn't teach him not to be... well, you get the point) ;)
Posted by: Jesse at May 21, 2009 3:19 PMYou may want to remove your tweetstamp thing if you deleted your idol twitter.
The "no such tweet" black box is blocking some text in your actual blog.
Hmm. I haven't touched the Twitter account, and the twitstamp's displaying normally for me... must have been a temporary glitch?
Posted by: Shmuel at May 21, 2009 11:27 PM