I've been a little bit busy these last few weeks and I haven't posted on American Idol thoughts. Well, today is the day for the final thoughts of the year.
Let's talk about TOP 3 week. I did miss Alison's voice this week, but the guys were good. Gokey started off the night with "Dance Little Sister" by Terence Trent D'Arby. I thought he acquitted himself nicely and I enjoyed the night. I don't see him singing a song like that on his album though. Kris Allen was next with "Apologize". I thought he did great with that one. I felt like he was unfairly criticized for singing the song as the song and not trying to re-arrange it. I thought he did great. This guy was growing on me I thought. Adam Lambert was next with U2's "One". He did good. I didn't love it, but it was fine. Danny next did "You Are So Beautiful" by Joe Cocker. Probably one of his best of the season. Brilliant. Finals here we come I thought. Kris did a stripped down version of "Heartless". He blew me away. I didn't think he had a chance of making the finals and the judges basically say the same thing. Brilliant and powerful performance. Adam finished up the night with "Cryin'" by Aerosmith. I thought he did a great job and I'm assuming it's Danny and Adam in the finals. I was very surprised that Kris made it, but I was really happy for the guy. He seemed to get better and better and I think I'll really enjoy listening to his record when it comes out.
Finale. A battle between Glambert and Allen. What surprised me the most with the finale was that the contestants couldn't sing what they wanted. Very strange to me. They did such a great job all season that I thought they deserved to pick their own songs all the way. Whatever though. Every year they seem to do something different format wise for the finale and this year I just didn't care for the approach. Adam did a big theater performance of "Mad World" which was really good. He seemed to love it. Kris followed it up with "Ain't No Sunshine" which I thought was again fantastic. Maybe even better than the first time he did it. I downloaded the iTunes version and that recording is even better than both performances. Next up was Lambert with "A Change is Gonna Come" which even though he didn't pick it, I thought he was really great on that one. Allen was next with "What's Going On". I thought it was really nice stripped down piece. Judges tore him apart for being too small and too intimate. This is who the guy is. Dumb comments. Anyway, on to the final performances where each guy needs to perform the same song written for the finale. I thought it was a stupid decision. I didn't think the song suited either performer. The finale Idol songs are always schmaltzy and this one was one of the worst. I didn't like either performance. To be fair, I've listened to them back and downloaded the iTunes recordings of each performer. They're not that bad, but I think both singers will have better tracks on their albums when they come out.
Finale and Results. Floored that Kris won. Really was. So happy for the guy. He needed the win more than Adam. Adam is being groomed as a superstar, so not winning isn't gonna hurt him at all. The performances were really fun. I loved the guys singing with Queen. I really loved Adam with KISS. Who knew I'd like that. Even though I said all season that I hated Adam, he's not that bad. Overall, the show was good. They focused on performances and let lots of people shine. Not sure how some people get more exposure than others. I mean Anoop gets to sing a few lines and Michael Sarver and Megan get a duet? I was happy to see Alison shine with Cyndi Lauper. Really good performance. David Cook's heartfelt performance of "Permanent" was amazing. All in all, a good year for Idol.
To close out my Idol thoughts on the season, I thought it was a year filled with lots of good performances and some people that didn't live up to expectations. It will be interesting to see how this group does after the idol bubble ends. Alison, Adam and Kris all have record deals already and will be bringing out albums in the fall. We'll see what happens.
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