Final 2: The Showdown

We have reached the end of the road and what a night it was. It feels like this season flew by and I can honestly say that this season has been full of firsts and some unexpected events. I have a lot to cover so let’s dive in…

Kris won the coin toss and chose to go 2nd which is, obviously, a very smart move. You never want to go first…you want to be the last impression in voter’s minds. Fun fact: In all 7 previous seasons of the show, only 2 winners who went 1st on finale night actually won (Ruben Studdard & David Cook). The other 5 winners all went 2nd in the final round of performances. Now, either Kris will keep tradition and going 2nd will win it for him OR Adam will keep with tradition and will win going first on a Finale with 2 male contestants (Ruben was against Clay Season 2 and David was against…David season 7).

I am going to break this down in 3 sections for each group of performances and look at who I think did better, or “won”, each section of the night.

Round 1: Contestant Pick

Both Adam and Kris chose the songs that have been considered their “turning point” performances in the season. Both chose to change it up a little in this performance.

Adam – The trench coat, the dry ice…all a bit over the top and I think to the casual viewer it will be too much. To me it felt disconnected and a bit robotic.

Kris – Kept it simple yet powerful (in typical Kris fashion) and gave a great performance that definitely connected to the audience.

Round 1 Winner: Kris

Round 2: Simon Fuller (show creator) Pick

First off…why do we need this? It made much more sense to have Clive Davis come in the night of the Final 3 and pick a song. Why the show creator on Finale night?? Anyway…

Adam – Did a good job. He didn’t make the whole thing shrieky and showed a little soul vibe.

Kris – This song plays perfectly into Kris’ deck of cards. Not sure what all you can really do to change this song up, other artists who have done this song have kept it pretty much like the original too.

Round 2 Winner: Adam (but barely)

Round 3: Winner’s Single

I hate when they have the same song for both contestant’s AND this song did not even fit either contestant completely. Both performances struggled. To be quite honest, this could have been the worst Idol winner single ever written. However, I am going to save my judgement on the song until I can hear the studio recorded version and really be able to tell how it sounds, cause the live performances by both guys was bad! Fun fact though…did anyone else notice the teleprompter in the audience behind the judges scrolling the lyrics?

Adam – The song was definitely in Adam’s key but NOT his style. Adam did not connect with this song and it seemed off from start to finish.

Kris – This song was WAY TOO HIGH for poor Kris (why did they not re-arrange it??) but I feel this song is more suited for Kris and could see him recording and performing this song once it has been changed to a key that fits his voice.

Round 3 Winner: Neither, or a tie

I believe this will be the closest race we have ever seen on this show. I believe that both contestants have done what it takes throughout the entire season to deserve to win the crown.

I know most people are, and have been, hailing Adam as the obvious winner, but I think that is a foolish call to make. Yes, Adam is an uber talented vocalist with a range that is reminiscent of Steven Tyler, Steven Perry and Axel Rose all in one. Yes, he came out in the beginning and gave us performances that we never saw coming and kept us guessing, but here is where I feel he slipped up a little bit. After a few weeks of surprising performances, it seemed Adam got in a rut. After his performance of “Mad World” (which was great) it seemed that he got stuck in this cycle of 1 week is Adam in a suite and spotlight seeing a low key song all in falsetto and then the next week he would come out in glam rock fashion and wail through a rock song and honestly, the rotation never changed after that. To me, in this area, Kris began to excel over Adam in bringing variety from week to week. There is also the issue of marketability and I think Adam may struggle here as the winner. Obviously, Adam has to make a rock album, but not a David Cook style rock album…a glam-80’s-old school rock album. The question is, where is the market for this in today’s pop music? Would a song of this nature get airplay on a pop radio station? Would it get played on a rock station?

Now, Kris has been the biggest surprise, I believe, this show has ever had. This is a contestant who we basically never saw on screen until his performance in the Final 36…he was virtually unknown to us. Aside from that, his performance in his round of the Semi Finals was not even that stellar AND he did a Michael Jackson song which is normally the death of a contestant! He defied the odds of making into the Finals. I would never have picked him to be in the Final 12 (or 13). Once he did make it, I was certain he would be gone within a week or 2…but his performance that first week of the Finals showed me I might be wrong and with each week he has continued to impress me and slowly, but surely, turn me into a fan. His original takes on each song he picked made him an exciting contestant to watch each week on the show. He continued strong and steady while Danny (who was my pick to win from day 1) started to coast along. Eventually, I found myself rooting for Kris more than Danny and being way more entertained by Kris as well. In regards to being marketable, I think Kris wins over Adam on this. I can hear Kris on the radio tomorrow; his style is exactly what is hot in the charts right now with the likes of Plain White T’s, Matt Nathanson, Matt Kearney to name a few. Kris would have no issue fitting right in on any pop radio station right now.

So all things considered, with the race being so close and both guys being so deserving of the win, I would say that the journey Kris has taken and the odds he has overcome as the underdog on this show are what gives him the edge in my mind to win this season. Obviously, I will not be surprised by either guy winning and both completely deserve it. Results night should be an interesting one for sure!

I hope everyone has enjoyed another season of my babbling…I mean, blogging, on American Idol. See you next year!

Final 3: The Boy's Club

For the first time in American Idol history, we have an all male final 3 and with the way this season has gone, it is really no surprise. The guys have dominated this season and Kris, Adam and Danny are not going down without a fight. Most people decided a long time ago that the final showdown will be between Danny and Adam, but is that such a sure bet? After tonight’s show, I do not think it is so cut and dry.

Here’s how I think the Final 3 stacked up. I will rank them in 2 sections; one for their first round of songs and one for the other round of songs performed. THIS….is Idol Moments. (it’s not as dramatic in text I guess.)

Round 1: Judges Choice

Danny Gokey – Round 1 goes to Danny. Paula picked an ideal song that had Danny’s name all over it. It kept him in his money spot vocally where he could wail and really give us that gravel-growl and charisma that has endeared him to the world. It was classic Danny. Did he just do the "Church Lady" dance? LOL

Kris Allen – I LOVE this song and was excited when I heard Kris was doing it. He did a great rendition even though he did not steer away from the original composition. If Simon’s comments are any indication, apparently the judges have a say in how the song is performed? If I was Randy/Kara (awww, the new girl did not get to pick a song herself? lol) I would have suggested that at some point during the middle to end of the song that Kris get up from behind the piano in order to connect more with the audience. Either way, his vocals were great and he did a good job. Not a super memorable performance though.

Adam Lambert – Ok, another great pick, thanks to Simon. This song, like Danny’s, was ideal for Adam’s style and voice. However, Adam was my least favorite in this round because of how he strayed from the melody and, to me, lost the whole flow of the song in those moments. I loved the big money note, but did not like the odd melody he took leading up to it or following it. I also think he should have left the wailing parts out of this performance, it did not match up with the overall performance. Not bad vocally, just did not like the interpretation.

Round 2: Contestant Choice

Kris Allen – Heartless? By Kanye? What? Scared at first, but from the moment Kris started I loved it! Brave choice. Kris made it completely his own, which is what we expect from him and love him for. Most original performance of the night. Round 2 is all Kris!

Adam Lambert – This was a less original take on a song by Adam, but like he said, he really didn’t need to do too much to an already great Aerosmith tune. This is where Adam’s trademark wailing fits perfectly. However, at moments the performance came off a little cheesy for some reason to me, anyone else get that? Little bit of overkill at the end, but the dude is working his butt off to secure his already promised spot in the Finale.

Danny - Oh Danny boy…I like his take on the stage setup, but was bored by the whole performance. I think most people will forget about this performance, because…well… there was just nothing special to remember about it. Love ya Danny and I will absolutely buy your CD when it comes out, but didn’t care for this one.

So, as Ryan stated a few times tonight, this will be a very tough decision and will make for an interesting and nail biter of a results show. Paula and many others have already said it will be a Danny vs. Adam Finale BUT I think people are and have in the past, underestimated Kris. I have been saying for weeks that he has the potential to be the upset to one of the promised final 2. I still say that tonight. I think all 3 have strong fan base’s and I think we will see record number vote tally’s for the results show but I am going to go out on a limb and say that Kris will prove me right and bring an upset and the FIRST “shocker moment” of the season by knocking Danny out of the competition. This is also a risky prediction because I am going against one of the statistics I look at in making this decision and that is number of trips someone has made to the Bottom 3. Danny is the only one in the Final 3 who has never been in the bottom 3. Kris and Adam were both in once, together. However, I think Kris’ fan base, which is already strong, will go into overtime to ensure his success and I think Danny’s fans may slack off just enough to give Kris the edge. However, at this point it is anyone’s game and the only REAL shocker to me would be seeing Adam get the boot. We will see!

Final 4: Rock Week

It’s the final 4 and the race could not be tighter. With the final contestants being so evenly matched, each week it becomes more difficult to predict who will get the boot. This season I have correctly predicted which contestant(s) would be eliminated 7 out of the 8 elimination shows so far, so my hope is to keep my percentage up. Let’s break it down…

Seeing as the theme this week of “Rock” is so broad, I have no idea where to begin with what song I might have chosen as a contestant. Also, I am not really a big rock singer, so I am going to leave this one alone this week.

Tonight we also had 2 duet performances as the Final 4 paired up to perform together. This happens a lot on the Idol Tour, so I was not surprised to see it finally happen on the show. However, yikes….Danny and Kris were terrible, EXCEPT when they harmonized. It was obvious the band was too loud and they were not able to hear themselves. Then later we had Adam and Allison…eh, I thought it was a cruddy song choice; too repetitive and just kind of awkward overall. Oh well, nice try AI!

Ok, on to the solo performances…

Adam Lambert – did anyone really expect him to have an issue this week? The one thing I thought I could see him doing was going WAY over the top. It has been a while since we have had a real outrageous Adam-esque performance, so I thought he might overdo it on rock week, but I was wrong. I do think his look might be polarizing to the casual viewer that tuned in this week, but do those people actually vote? No. His voice is made for this music. Tonight I heard a mixture of Axel and Steven Tyler. Simon was right on, nobody would compare to Adam’s performance this week.

This is where the breakdown gets tough…all 3 of the remaining contestants struggled but for completely different reasons. So, the breakdown becomes a little more diffcult.

Kris Allen – The real struggle here for Kris, is that I do not think he could hear himself. It was very obvious to me that he was pushing very hard vocally to be heard. Ryan already alluded to the fact that due to the stage collapse, a proper sound check was not done, and that is VITAL to have as a live performer. As with he and Danny’s duet…I think the band was too loud for him on stage. You could see it all over his face when he finished. He looked exhausted and defeated.

Allison Iraheta – This week, song choice was Allison’s struggle. This was a terrible pick and Allison felt completely disconnected from the song and the audience. The majority of the song was sung at her vocal peak where she just came off as screaming. Add on to this her bold rebuttals to the judges accompanied by the facial expression of disgust for what they had to say…not a good combo for the last standing lady.

Danny Gokey – Wow…just when Danny seemed to be back on track he bombs miserably! Why on earth would he try to pull off that last part of this song. It was obvious in the footage from his rehearsal with Slash that he was not able to do it. Through the whole song I was holding out hope that he would change his mind and not do it…but he did. As he collaped to the floor on stage with his murderous (in more ways than one) scream, I was thinking the same thing Simon later said. It sounded like a horror movie. Flat out, he was just screaming. Terrible.

Who goes home? As always, there are many factors, above and beyond singing talent, that play the role in who goes home. The Final 4 elimination show has, historically, been one that provides some shocker. Favored contestants such as Chris Daughtry, LaToya London and Tamyra Gray were all shockingly eliminated at 4th place. We can also look and see that when the Final 4 consisted of 3 guys and 1 girl, a guy has always been eliminated. Either way a case can be made for any of Final 4 from this season (except Adam who will no doubt be safe this week). Many people have Kris pegged to be in the bottom and even to go home. He was in the bottom for the first time last week and was sent to safety first. Up to that point he had a super strong fan base, so that should be enough to reignite them. Allison has visited the bottom numerous times and out of the 4, her fan base has proved the weakest. Will they rally? Danny is the only remaining contestant to have never been in the bottom. This week he went last in the “pimp spot” and despite a terrible performance, Simon said he will be safe this week (which is never a good omen). At this point in the race and after this week’s performances I would not be surprised by any of these 3 going home. A few different sites that poll the voting public AND even a Twitter poll from American Idol itself shows the majority vote saying Danny is going home tonight. I just can’t bring myself to agree yet. I think Danny’s fans have it in them to get him to at LEAST the Final 3. I can’t find anywhere on the web that shows anyone saying Allison will go home BUT, I am going to go against the grain and stick with my gut that Allison’s fan base will not be strong enough to put her ahead of the 3 guys and she will go home. Am I right? Will I keep my 7 for 8 prediction record?? Only time will tell. Honestly, I believe tonight anything is possible. I mean heck Paula Abdul is performing her new single on tonight’s show! ALSO….Daughtry will be performing their new single!! I am VERY excited about finally getting to hear new Daughtry music!! Should be a great night!