I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed in the outcome of last week’s finale. In fact, I was more disappointed that Adam Lambert didn’t take the crown than I thought I’d be.
I didn’t always love what Adam brought to the Idol stage, but I looked forward to his performances nonetheless. I couldn’t wait to see what he’d do next, and even when it wasn’t my cuppa, I admired his creativity, fearlessness and pure showmanship.
He was the most exciting thing about American Idol this year, for me. So yeah, I voted for him. And I wanted him to win.
But he didn’t, and ya know, that’s just how the Idol cookie crumbles.
To borrow one of Randy Jackson’s more coherent observations, he said, “America always gets it right.” In other words, American Idol is a voting contest. And the contestant with the most votes is the contestant who deserves to win. Period, end of story.
Still, I’m a little sad that America and I didn’t see eye to eye in 2009. But I’ll get over it.
I’m not gonna do a big dissection on why Kris won. I think it’s fairly simple–by final time, viewers preferred Kris over Adam. I’m not buying the convoluted reasoning I’ve been reading around the blogosphere. For instance, to say that Kris Allen’s win is America saying FU to the judges and the media and their pimping is a huge diss to Kris, who I believe kept advancing in the competition on performances that were solid and often stellar.
Not to say there wasn’t some backlash. The anger in the Idol online community over the judges pimping of and media fawning over Adam was palpable, but seemed to come from peeps who were never gonna vote for him anyway. I don’t think the casual Idol viewer–a bigger slice of the pie especially at final time–notices producer machinations the way we uber-fans do. Nah, I think America, by the end of the competition, simply said YES to Kris ’cause they dug him.
The judges aren’t going to control my dialing finger in any case. Voting against someone as a reaction to the judges’ pimping is just as sheep-like as voting for someone because the judges tell ya to. I voted for the contestant I liked best. The End.
Did the media coverage of Adam’s ambiguous sexuality affect the voting? Probably to a degree. But I think it was Adam’s polarizing performances that ultimately kept the crown out of reach. America loved ballad Adam–his highest Dial Idol scores came the weeks of “Track of My Tears” and “Mad World”. But, his upbeat rock-wailing tunes weren’t as popular, as the huge hit his DI score took the week he middle-easternized the country classic, “Ring of Fire” illustrates.
While Kris had a few meh performances (“All She Wants to Do is Dance”) his vibe was never a turn-off. Most importantly, Kris’s biggest moment, “Heartless” happened at exactly the right time. By Top 3, Adam’s very best moments were already behind him. “Heartless” functioned like a burst of energy at the end of a long marathon, allowing him to sprint past Adam and that other presumed front runner, Danny Gokey.
By the end Kris became a complete package and the only contestant with the talent and the appeal to topple Adam the Juggernaut–Allison Iraheta didn’t have the fanbase, Danny Gokey was also polarizing and had some vocal and song choice issues. In the end Kris Allen, the cool boy-next-door with the beautiful vocal phrasing and awesome arranging skills appealed to a broader cross-section of America.
That Adam didn’t play it safer by toning his act down is one reason I dug him. He always aimed to please America, but only while staying true to himself. If “Ring of Fire”, “Born to Be Wild” or “Feeling Good” didn’t appeal across the board, I hope Adam doesn’t regret them. He might have had a few tongues wagging, but he brought a unique energy to Season 8–it wouldn’t have been the same without him or his audacious performances.
And I mean that in the best sense. If his over-the-top fabulousness cost him the crown, then it was meant to be.
Like Adam, Kris also stayed true to himself. Half the battle is knowing who you are as an artist. And indeed, Kris chose songs he could arrange to his unique style. Week after week he brought it, quietly amassing a strong fan base. He wasn’t my favorite, but I certainly was a fan. I wasn’t sold on “Man in the Mirror, but he got me later with “Ain’t No Sunshine”, “To Make You Feel My Love, ” and “Falling Slowly” (many called it boring and pitchy–I loved it).
Both will release records this fall. I can already hear Kris Allen’s album in my head. Hopefully, it’ll be a mix of alt-singer/songwriter tunes arranged perfectly for Kris’s cool vibe. Please don’t screw it up, Sony! Kris will hopefully have input on the album.
Adam is a little trickier. While Kris sang current music during the competition, Adam stuck to classic rock and dance music. His MySpace has an eclectic mix of his pre-Idol music here. I can see Adam maybe doing the male Lady Gaga thing, or dance music with a rock edge. Just like the competition, I guess I’ll be waiting to see what Adam does next.
The finale itself was pretty entertaining. All my favorite moments had an Idol taking the stage: Allison Iraheta and Cyndi Lauper harmonizing on the lovely “Time after Time”, Kris Allen and Keith Urban duetting as if they were twin sons from different mothers on “Kiss the Girl”, The retro-pyro fun of the Adam Lambert/Kiss pairing, and of course, Kris and Adam’s surprise performance with Queen. Adam, especially rocked the house. David Cook’s powerful and moving return to the Idol stage was also a major, major highlight of the night.
The actual crowning was a bit odd. In the moments after Ryan called Kris the winner, his inability to react kinda sucked the energy out of the moment. It was choreographed really oddly too, with Adam taking a step back, then being ushered back to center stage–perhaps to help snap Kris out of his shock. And what was up with freaking Jorge Nunez standing next to Kris during the last moments? It shoulda been Adam, Allison and Danny.
But that long, intense hug between Kris and his wife as the credits rolled sure was a beautiful thing. Finally, the emotions were flowing–they shoulda got the family up there sooner. It was a lovely, perfect image with which to end Season 8.
As Seacrest says to close every finale…until January, peeps, when we do it all over again…
One last note: A huge kudos to Adam and Kris for creating the awesomest bromance evah. The Christian Midwest straight arrow and the Jewish Hollywood gay dude forged an on-air friendship that foiled at least some of the cultural war nonsense the media tried to drum up. Their message that respect and love CAN prevail, despite great differences moved me. Beyond reason.
