American Idol Season 8 Finale – And The Winner Is…
Written by: GG
I’m going to be live blogging this show for SonicClash tonight. I know you East Coasters have already seen the show. You’ll just have to pretend you’re watching it again if you want to following with me.
Just refresh every five minutes or so.
Randy is wearing a red bow tie.
They just showed Kris’ wife in the audience and she has that, “I hope he loses so I don’t have to take half from him in three years,” look on her face.
Mikalah Gordon drew the short straw and had to go to Arkansas to watch the show with Kris’ hometown fan.
Carly was able to hang out in her hometown of San Diego to sit with Adam’s hometown fans.
The top 13 performed some wacky song together and Jasmine Murray nearly puked on stage from struggling to try and hit her high note. Whose idea was it for her to get a solo? Michael Sarver did some good eating while he was away.
David Cook is singing Permanent. His brother recently passed away. It was a nice performance and they’re putting it on iTunes and giving proceeds to charity.
They just showed Carrie Underwood’s skeleton in the crowd.
The Golden Idol Awards are back. I know I was looking forward to this part of the show.
Nick Mitchell won for Best Male Performance and to give us a treat, he performed And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going.
Lil’ Rounds and Queen Latifah are performing together. I hope it’s U.N.I.T.Y. You have to give it to the Queen. She can rap, act a bit, and sing a little bit. It’s too bad that she doesn’t quite wear a unitard all that well. Latifah’s had it up to here.
Anoop Doggy Dog and Alexis Grace are singing with Jason Mraz and showing exactly why they got kicked off the show. Way to show us that America wasn’t wrong.
Kris Allen is singing with Keith Urban. Michael Sarver has to be kicking himself. This is probably a dream of his. I think I just saw him shrug his shoulders and go back to the catering table.
The girls (Jasmine, Megan, Allison, Alexis, Lil) are doing Fergie’s Glamorous, which was just in introduction to the real Fergie performing Big Girls Don’t Cry.
Boom, Boom, Pow
No matter what you say about The Black Eyed Peas, you have to give them credit for this one. This song absolutely makes zero sense, but it hits like no one’s business.
Yay! It’s time for another Golden Idol. I’m not sure what the category was, but Bikini Girl is the winner. Boom, boom, pow.
They had her perform Vision Of Love for all of about 10 seconds before my wife, Kara DioGuardi Gonzales came out and one upped her. And then she flashed her own bikini. Boom, boom, pow.
Allison is singing Time After Time with Cyndi Lauper. Isn’t Cyndi old enough to be her grandmother? But I have mad respect for Cyndi. She’s realer than a two dollar bill. She’s got that boom, boom, pow. Ok, that’s enough.
Danny is singing Hello. Lionel Richie must have an album out. What would’ve been really wrong is if they tried to duplicate the video and had Scott McIntyre mold Danny’s face out of clay. Ok, that was so terrible. If I was Arsenio Hall, I’d have slapped my hand and said, “bad host”.
There’s Lionel. I knew he had something to sell. I don’t blame Danny for not really knowing the lyrics to Just Go either. Lionel barely knew them. They could’ve given him some classic Lionel to sing, like you know, All Night Long. Hey, that’s just what they did. And Scott McIntyre is on the stage with them dancing his ass off! Ok, that last thing didn’t happen. But everything else did.
By the way, Lionel was pretty outrageous.
Adam is wearing some contraption on his shoulders that looks like something out of Michael Jackson’s closet. Or Janet’s. Or Latoya’s. He introduced KISS. Man, even their face paint looks old. I didn’t know face paint could have wrinkles.
Carlos Santana is on stage and Matt Giraud is singing with him. They started with Black Magic Woman and segued into Smooth. The rest of the top 13 came out and sang for Carlos. Yep, even Jorge. They let him back on stage, but I think he was wearing a media credential around his neck.
For some reason, Steve Martin is on stage. I think I heard somewhere that he has a band. He’s playing the banjo. Michael Sarver pulled himself away from catering to get on stage with Megan Joy and perform with Steve. Can he still be wild and crazy while playing a banjo and wearing glasses?
That performance was reminiscent of those Grammy performances where they basically tell you to go use the restroom so you don’t miss the good stuff.
Oh no, I might have to switch from HD back to regular definition. Rod Stewart just pranced on the stage. Thankfully, the camera director is avoiding the close-ups and sticking to the wider shots. I’m not even going to pretend that I understand this. I’d even settle for Fergie coming back out to frighten my children.
Rod ended by saying, “Thank you kindly.” Sheesh.
The infamous Tatiana won which I think is the last (hopefully) Golden Idol and then she came on stage to sing Whitney. I think it was supposed to be a joke. Or maybe the joke was on her?
Kris and Adam came out to sing We Are The Champions with Queen. I could make that whole joke about Adam being the next Freddie Mercury, but I won’t even do it. It’d rather make more jokes about how Fergie’s face looks like it was stung by 10 mosquitoes.
You know, as my punishment for these jokes, one day, I know I’m going to run into Fergie at the airport and then have to lie to her about how much I like her music. Let’s just hope she’s wearing sun glasses on that day. Large ones. That cover her face entirely. Like she was Darth Vader.
Simon just gave Adam and Kris both props.
It’s now time for the results. They’re claiming 100 million votes were cast last night. That means every person who watched had to vote at least 3 or 4 times. I’m not sure I buy that, but oh well.
And the winner is…
Um, Kris Allen?
Does Conway, Arkansas really have that many people?
Kris has to sing the terrible No Boundaries, which he absolutely screwed up last night, again. He gave the front row of females his hand to touch and they nearly pulled his jacket off. He’s going to have to start making deals with that poor wife of his starting tonight.
You’ll never guess what was one of the last shots before the show went off stage. It was a shot of Justin Guarini clapping like he really meant it, with debris in his hair. That’s your final shot? Did Carrie Underwood’s skeleton leave already?
Well, he was the underdog. He pulled it off. Kris Allen is your season 8 American Idol.
Until next year, Seacrest out! Boom, boom, pow.
Photo of Fergie by paddynapper and shared via creative commons
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GG, you’re in rare form tonight. Too funny!
Thanks! And your comment is proof that I have at least one reader tonight. That was one more than I thought I’d have.
I suspect every 13 year old girl in our country was up late last night voting.
This was by far AI’s most entertaining show I have ever seen. Even State Farm’s commercial featuring The Jackson’s “I’ll be There” was good.
GG, your coverage was spot on and funny as heck.
Thanks for including me this season. It was great fun.
Aw, thanks. If I’m back next year, you’re back.
I’m actually not that surprised for some reason. Since Kris ended up in the finals, I’ve thought it could go either way. I’m thinking that Danny’s fans voted for Kris, and that probably helped push him over.
The show was mostly entertaining, though I don’t understand why they insisted on those stupid awards.
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YES! THERE IS AN AMERICAN IDOL GOD! LOL It takes alot to get me on my feet when it comes to TV (unless it’s a Celtics game) but I was on ‘em tonight! WHOO HOO! Thank you Kris and Danny fans for the win!
oh and GG I totally thought of you when Lionel came out
omg I could’ve done without another subjection to bikini girl, norman gentle and tatiana…. UGHHHHHHHHH
Hahaha. I know that people don’t like Adam, but I truly think he was probably one of the top 5 Idol performers ever and would’ve won at least two or three other seasons if he wasn’t so flamboyant.
Kris is likable so how can you hate him?
Tonight was the first and only night I watched this season, but I call you spot-on that if Adam was less flamboyant, he would have won not only this season but several other seasons as well. Just judging from what I say, his voice and stage presence was leagues above Kris.
I think this will be one issue where the 19 Records folks realize America made a mistake and put more promo muscle behind Adam’s release than they do Kris’s.
Institutional (presumed) homophobia is alive and well, boys and girls!!
Here’s your 2009 Safe, Heterosexual Idol!!
I honestly don’t think most people voted for him based on presumed homosexuality, but rather the flamboyance and simply goth style that he showed.
If he’s gay (he hasn’t said so himself yet so I’ll leave that up to him), he didn’t play it up. He simply played up the “theater kid” style.
I’d compare him to someone like Prince who is very flamboyant, but you could never put your finger on what his sexuality was. You could make presumptions, but his style was just ambiguous.
He probably beats Ruben (though Ruben was immensely popular), Taylor, and Jordin at the very least. Most definitely loses to Kelly, Carrie, and Fantasia. And he and David Cook probably go toe to toe last year.
I agree with you that they’re going to put as much (or possibly more) muscle behind Adam’s release.
However, even though you only saw Kris for a couple of hours, don’t underestimate him. He’s going to sell a ton to teenage girls. I don’t know what that means in 2009, but he’s a much better second place winner when it comes to a better package that a company can sell than Archuleta is. He’s just more well rounded and likable overall.
I think Adam lost for 2 reasons:
1) the theatrics and signature scream won’t appeal to some of us who buy CD’s… only HEARING someone is very different than seeing them perform on TV.
2) Danny’s fans probably united with Kris’ fans to push him to the top
I agree that it has nothing to do with homophobes, etc. I don’t deny Adam’s talent one bit. But when it comes to selling pop-albums I think Kris is more appealing to the viewers. Which is also why I think David Cook beat Archie last year. And it has held true so far. I still enjoy Cook’s CD WAY more than Archie’s.
Oh and David Cook proved perfectly tonight that you can belt out some serious power notes without all the screeching. I found it impressive in the beginning but after about week 3 I was over it. Now it’s just flat out annoying.
Boom boom pow. Too funny. Well done, Double G. I too thought of you and everyone’s favorite ex-Commodore last night.
Money Mike, this had nothing to do with Adam’s orientation. The lovely Shantel and several others can tell you that Adam polarized the fans from day 1. The presumed “showdown” was Danny Gokey, the church music widower with glasses, and that wild Hollywood child Lambert.
But Gokey’s attitude ticked everyone off, and they needed to go to someone salable.
So put on your A&R hat for a minute. I’ve got a kid who can sell in Wal-Mart like no one’s business in Kris Allen. I’ve got another guy who is going multi-platinum no matter what in Lambert. Don’t I give Allen the push the Idol winner gets and let Lambert explode like Yamin or Daughtry or Hudson (well, the last was just a travesty)
But I will say that after months of beating people down and saying that Lambert was The Best Idolette Ever, he was horrible on the final show with 3 songs.
Go YouTube Allen doing Kanye with an acoustic guitar or a little jazzy style Donna Summer. He’s not that bad. He just wasn’t as good a singer as Lambert on a show Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell insist is a singing competition.
In a lot of small-minded people’s worlds, flamboyance=homosexuality. They’re one and the same. Middle America saw that and was like “whoops, don’t want that”, and there’s no way you can convince me otherwise.
And GG, theatre kid=gay (or at least perceived gay) 99% of the time in a lot of peoples’ eyes.
GB, no one goes multi-platinum anymore. It’s going to be a struggle for Eminem to go double platinum (if he even does). The last Idol to go multi-platinum on a first record was Daughtry, and that was three years ago now. David Cook just recently cracked a million sold. I think for Kris’s record to even sell that much, he’s gonna need to prove that he’s different from Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz or John Mayer, which will be a pretty tall order.
And Lambert was the clear favorite from day one. The guy got most of the press , they even gave him an Entertainment Weekly cover. From this non-watcher’s point of view, the race was his to lose. Anyone who had anything to say to me about “Idol” was talking about Adam.
Not that Lambert will be easier to market (actually, I wouldn’t even put out a record on him, I’d just shove him onto Broadway), but if I were an A&R guy, I’d have watched the results show and gone “wow…this is why no one buys records anymore”, and it wouldn’t just have to do with the result, either. The performances were uniformly horrid, and one would think that they’d have snuck someone under the age of 30 in to perform (Mraz may have been the only one).
Interestingly enough, I just read an article on theexaminer.com that suggests that “Idol” may have thrown the competition because Lambert’s questionable sexuality would be difficult to market…I wouldn’t put that past them either.
“You have to wonder if Adam Lambert lost American Idol tonight because he is gay, or at least presumed gay.
It’s a fair question. Many careers and opportunities have been cut short once word got out that someone was a ‘known homosexual’. That still happens in the 21st Century, though to a lesser degree than it did in the 20th Century. Still, you have to wonder if being who he is – guy-liner and all – cost Adam Lambert his crown.
Not that Kris Allen did not deserve to win. He too is an incredible talent – and he looks amazingly enough like the boy next door that you can almost see him as the boy next door, even in the Castro in San Francisco. The producers of American Idol will tell you that Kris won fair and square, and short any proof, we really have no credible reason to doubt that. But when a favorite like Adam Lambert had millions of fans on his side, you have to wonder what happened – and if it was homophobic if not hateful in nature.
American Idol, like every other business entity in the world, has to protect their ‘brand’. Could they really afford to see it stray so far from the wholesome images of David Cook and Carrie Underwood, images that they tried so hard to build up and preserve, lending a pseudo-credence to the “American” in their name? Again, all involved will tell you the competition was on the up-and-up, and again, we have no reason to doubt that. What’s sad is that if everything really was on the straight and narrow, then it seems, unfortunately, that America cannot handle anything that doesn’t fit into the straight and narrow. Like it or not, Kris Allen clearly fits into that tight, manufactured range. Adam Lambert does not. “
Homophobia had a lot to do with this, if not everything. I read the posts by Melinda Dolittle on Facebook and on her own blog, and her screeching band of peasants carrying pitchforks kept declaring that Adam was going to be defeated in Jesus’ name for being immoral and other bullshit like that. Melinda never openly said this, but hinted at it so strongly that her fans easily caught the idea. Many were spreading the word about church BYOC (bring your own cell phone) parties to make sure that Adam didn’t win, and were constantly posting about him being a drag queen and making pr0n movies. It made me sick- I no longer have any interest in Melinda as an artist, and the Christian right bragging about bringing down an incredible talent like Adam just makes me cranky.
Hey guys! I enjoyed reading not just this article but many on here. I can’t speak for the world but I personally didn’t not like Adam for his sexuality. I always thought he was kind of fake. The only time I truly felt emotionally connected to him is when he did “Track of My Tears” and “Mad Mad World”. Kris Allen connected with me many times. His performance of “Heartless” was so amazing and while I’m not sure I would be bold enough to say it was better than Kanye’s it was amazing nonetheless. Adam, in my ears, butchered a Change is Gonna Come. With that god awful scream it just was so inappropriate for the song. I think he’s a phenomenal singer but a crappy interpreter most of the time. I loved Kris’s folked out version of “What’s Going On?” Honestly looking over you tube I can’t really find anything of his I didn’t like. For example, early in the season he did a phenomenal job with Garth Brooks “To Feel My Love”
I’m happy he won based on singing. Sometimes you can have the best voice but not necessarily be the most enjoyable performer.
Anyway great write up Garrett. My DVR completely messed up so after a whole season of watching I didn’t get to see the end. I was not happy. I got to see up to the end of the Keith Urban performance (which again proved jsut how worthy K.A. is) but then it messed up when Fergie came on. Of course, maybe it was Fergie who screwed up the recording LOL.
Wow, my comment section exploded overnight. I’ll answer them one by one here.
Shantel – Adam isn’t a one trick pony who just has a signature squeal. Like you said, he’s talented. And I’d buy his record over Allen’s any day of the week. To me, it’s about talent and vocals, not necessarily about how aw shucks a guy is. But I’ve been giving Kris props from day one about being likable. It’s not all act, but it’s definitely part act.
GB – I don’t think we can say it had nothing to do with homophobia. We don’t know the reason why people didn’t pick him. Some might’ve simply just thought he was too feminine and didn’t vote for him. I’m sure there was some of that. I know I’m kind of going back on what I said to Mike, but I just didn’t say it well enough at midnight when I was on my way to bed.
Biases are everywhere. People will give certain reasons when the real reason is a prejudice. I’m sure there was some of that. But it wasn’t all of it. And it’s hard to measure. I actually think Adam did better than Kris on Tuesday. It turned into a singing competition and by song three, Kris was way out of his league.
Mikey – I agree somewhat. But hey, I dated a theatre kid and I never thought she was gay. Ok, I know it’s not the same thing. Ha! I just think that whenever we say 99% this or 99% that, or, “There’s no way…” we’re just as caught up in the hyperbole as everyone else.
I also think it was Adam’s competition to lose, but don’t sell Allen’s personality out the window. This show is marketed to teenage girls and their mothers. If it comes down to style, those teenage girls and their mothers are more than likely to love Kris because of his modesty, rather than he theatre kid. Look at Shantel (she too young to have a teenager). She didn’t like the theatrics and the whiny squeal. For the most part, I didn’t either, but I was sold on his talent as a performer. But go back to Tuesday and Kris looked like a human while Adam looked like he was on stage acting.
Cindy – It’s sad that they go there, but oh well. However, I don’t think it had “a lot” to do with this. I do think it probably had some, but there’s no way to really measure it, other than what you see and hear. And for the most part, people around me didn’t even know he was gay. They just thought he was a theatre kid.
One thing we can all agree on-Fergie’s been run into repeatedly by the ugly truck.
Hey Monica,
Thanks for reading!
I think you’re definitely onto something with the Adam being fake thing. I wrote about this after Tuesday’s show. I thought Adam’s Mad World performance was so staged and rehearsed, while Kris’ seemed personable. You saw a lot of that last night too.
But I liked Adam’s version of Sam Cooke, save for that last wail. And I didn’t like Kris’ Marvin because it was way too simplistic. That song is way too important to be given the aw shucks treatment.
Fergie messes up everything.
I didn’t see Marie’s comment earlier.
It was definitely an entertaining show, in a car crash type of way. They threw so much at us, and they were nearly right on time. How can they be right on time for that kind of show, and screw up in the 1 hour shows?
Awww, come on Mike. Fergie is a recovering hard core drug addict. She rose from the depths of darkness and made it to where she is today. Besides, she landed the hottest husband.
I think Kris an Adam have a huge career ahead of them with a completely opposite fan base. If this contest were all about searching for a great Broadway performer and we musical fans were doing the voting, then Adam would have won hands down. Kris just has more of a mass appeal with Idol watchers and voters. He will probably be very successful as a pop artist.
Adam on the other hand is more of an acquired taste. I loved seeing him perform, but not so much just listening. HIS SEXUALITY HAD/HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH MY OPINION. My teenage boys, who call themselves Rockers, became Adam fans when he did Led Zepplin. They actually stayed up late last night to vote for Adam. Whether he is gay or not never occurred to us.
“My teenage boys, who call themselves Rockers, became Adam fans when he did Led Zepplin. They actually stayed up late last night to vote for Adam. Whether he is gay or not never occurred to us.”
My kids kept asking me if he was gay and I continued to tell them that I didn’t know, but that it also didn’t matter.
They go to a Christian school, so I am a bit worried as to how judgmental they will be with certain things like this, but then again, they are my kids, so I’m not too worried.
By the way, one wanted Kris and one wanted Adam.
“Awww, come on Mike. Fergie is a recovering hard core drug addict. She rose from the depths of darkness and made it to where she is today. Besides, she landed the hottest husband.”
She must throw the ass real good because if I was Josh Duhamel and I had to look at THAT face every morning, I’d cry myself to sleep every night.
Maybe he’s a fan of puffy faces? Either that or he needs glasses badly.
When we lived in Pleasanton they went to a private Christian school, but that was almost 4 years ago. My very best friend for over 25 years now, who I lovingly call my Soul Brother, is gay, so “gay” is not so taboo to my kids. They do get conflicting messages among their peers in school. I’m told it’s the worst label.
I know that it’s confusing and there are mixed messages during the younger years. This is obvious when you consider that the #1 insult a bully will use is “you’re gay”. In some cases the victims have actually taken their own lives at ages too young to define a sexual orientation. Clearly there is a ways to go to breakdown this stereotype. I think the best way to begin is by helping them realize that gay people are not scary and weird. They’re simply God’s children too.
My kids do not think that gay people are scary or weird. But I imagine when they see a guy kissing a guy or a girl kissing a girl, that looks weird, like it did to all of us when we were young. It’s more about the actions being different from what they are used to, or how they’re taught.
It’s a confusing message though, and I’m not about to turn this into a religious discussion, but in the church, it’s clear (at least to me) that gays are accepted as long as they’re willing to change. If not, I’m not sure that’s the case.
So I’m not sure if your last statement is taken that way by everyone. Doesn’t seem like it is by Melinda Dolittle.
Ok, back to the music. Sorry about the tangent.
That’s the point! We’re really all the same, bones, flesh and a spirit.
Gay is scary and weird when you’re young and not sure yet who you are. Especially when you’re given mixed messages about what is right and wrong. Then you learn from your peers that you’ll be outcast and ridiculed. Parent’s views heavily weigh in here too. It isn’t until you look beyond it (being gay) that it’s not so weird. It’s just different. I don’t feel all warm and fuzzy when I see two guys or girls make out, but I can certainly be understanding and respectful.
As for Melinda Doolittle, her mission only serves herself. If it were serving God and the Christian faith then she wouldn’t divide people in God’s name.
Agrrr, I forgot to copy and paste again. Sorry.
So, what’d you think of Danny and Lionel …? Outrageous?
Just kidding. But we should probably lay off the religious stuff on the music blog. I don’t want to divide the commenters based on it.
More Fergie jokes? Someone hit her with the ugly stick and it sounded like boom, boom, pow?
Oh leave Fregie alone already. At least she can sing, contrary to Megan Joy who looks good but, every time she opened her mouth last night something strange squawked out.
Was that Megan Joy or did Mary Kate Olsen get some nasty tattoos? I couldn’t figure that one out.
Well all of a sudden my DVR recording did work. I found this out 30 minutes before I had to go to work and I was scared to stop it in case it stopped working again.
LMAO at Kara and her bikini girl stunt! That’s enough for me to say bring her back next year. Anyone who can give that bimbo a smack down of massive proportions like that gets my respect. She out sang her and while the girl obviously had the better stereotypical figure Kara proved to be prettier anyway.
I’ll let you know what I thought of everything else when I see the rest.
Thanks
My wife did look good, but she’s awfully skinny.
Hey, hopefully you guys don’t see this as spam but I would love an opinion if you get the chance. I did a recording of Jon B’s “Pretty Girl” and was hoping to get some feedback on it.
Anyway…I can’t think of a better pairing than Adam and Kiss…..it beats Peanut Butter and Jelly! I liked his work with Kiss and Queen better than anything he did all season.
What the hell was that with Steve Martin? It was great until Megan No-Joy opened her mouth and then it went downhill.
A lot of people did a good job reminding us why they got voted off that’s for sure. I like Anoop though….he isn’t the best singer of the group but he has charisma.
I forgot to put the link….oops.
I had no clue that Steve Martin even played an instrument. I swear I thought he was gonna come out and it was gonna be a spoof or parody or something like that.
Next thing you know, Eddie Murphy will be making rec…aw, shit.
Queen doesn’t have a lead singer. I think they fired Paul Rodgers. So this might be a good opportunity for Adam to join the band. Might be a good match.
Nadine, the world needs a LOT more people like you.
Hey Monica, why don’t you just shoot GG and I the link via e-mail? That would probably work better.
She did link it. Check out the link in her name.
http://ksolo.myspace.com/actions/showSongProfile.do?rid=1276205&sid=26277&uid=5644054
Wasn’t trying to be totally naive. I do think Adam Lambert belongs on Broadway. Have said that for months. But he could also front a band.
And like quick-turn artists who appeal to young female demographic — thinking Taylor Swift, Rihanna, HS Musical, Twilight, etc — I think Adam can sell 2 million units of a debut.
The Steve Martin bit was for old guys like me. He used to play a banjo during his routine, but he’s really good. I know he’s been playing it on stage since the 70s, and I know he has a legit release on Rounder. That’s an eclectic label endorsement good enough for me.
If Adam’s album has more Mad World and Tracks Of My Tears sprinkled in with some of his more rock stuff, I’d probably buy it.
The only way I’m buying Kris is if he works with some really good folks. I don’t really like his voice all that much.
There’s not enough in here to write a new post, but Clay Aiken has a point. The show has changed and they forced Adam on us. However, they also forced Archuletta on us the year before too. And I’m not so sure they didn’t force Ruben and Clay on us.
Anyway, it’s an interesting read.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1612015/20090522/aiken_clay.jhtml
I picked up where GG left off here in the forum…click on over there and let us know what you think of Clay’s comments.