The Finale! - Performance Results

Adam Lambert. Kris Allen. The two finalists have sung their final songs. The votes have been cast. The polls have been closed. This years American Idol has been determined, but as of now, we do not know who that winner is. After a thrilling finale, each singer showed America why they deserved to be on that stage vying for the nations best undiscovered talent. Both competitors performed valiantly, giving us exactly the type of finale that we were hoping for- a neck-to-neck, punch for punch, photo-finish ending to a memorable season. From what I could tell, this was one of the closest performance shows that I've witnessed to date. Let's take a look at what our finalists sang and try to sift through the performances to find who might be the MOST deserving winner.

Adam Lambert- His Pick - Tears for Fears "Mad World"

This was the obvious choice for Adam to sing. If Simon Cowell, the world's harshest critic, gives you a standing ovation for a song during the season, it's probably worth bringing back into the finals. Emerging from a vampirish fog in a black trench coat, cutting a figure both slightly menacing and supernatural, Adam made this performance a visual spectacle. The stairs. The fog. The lights. It resembled what a music video for the "Twilight" soundtrack might look like. The combination of elements suits this song perfectly, adding an ethereal feel to an already haunting vocal. Speaking of the vocal, Adam sang this flawlessly. Every note was pitch perfect and he sang it with a confidence that only he has exuded this season. Though no fault of his own, the song was slightly less poignant than his original performance. I think this is because we were prepared for it this time. The first time he performed this song, it came out of left field and knocked us on our heels. It's hard to recreate how the shock of something different affects you the first time you hear it. Overall, I agree with the judges that it was a great vocal, but Simon's comment on the theatrical aspects of the performance, correct as it may be, is moot. It should be expected for a Lambert performance by now. In this performance, we got a glimpse of what to expect from an Adam Lambert concert. If that's the case, then he'll be a great entertainer for a while.

Kris Allen - His Pick - Bill Withers "Ain't No Sunshine"

Kris Allen, our quintessential "dark horse" has not let that label slow him down. All season, he has defied people's expectations by offering Idol listeners exactly what they want to hear. Yet, even at this point, it does not seem like KRIS thinks that he should be there. After a very strong opening by Adam Lambert, it'd be easy for the humble, and ultimately less talented, Kris Allen to cave under the monumental pressure that is on his shoulders tonight. With this song, he showed that he wasn't going to back down. This performance was incredible. Not only was it miles better than the first time we heard the song (which was pretty impressive then), but it showed a confidence that we have not seen from Allen all season. Again, seated at the piano (not his first instrument of choice), Kris soulfully sang this song with perfect pitch and tone. His runs where there, his falsetto was working nicely, and his piano playing was extremely good for a guitar player. What was most impressive, however, was the passion he poured into this performance. I know a lot of people do not like Kara, but she does make good points (she just executes them poorly). When Kris really puts his all into a song, he can drag an entire audience in and connect with each one of them. That is what he did with this song.

Round 1 Winner: Kris Allen

Simon is right. Though both contestants did extremely well on their songs, Kris' was simply better tonight. There is no denying it. Taking the momentum that he gained from the still resounding Kanye cover, he stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the ballpark. His voice has never sounded better than it did on this song and it suits who he is as an artist perfectly. This is exactly the kind of music he should make on his album- soulful, acoustic pop rock. Putting all of his talents and gifts on display, he poured his heart into this performance, and rightfully deserves to have won this round.

Adam Lambert - Producer Pick - Sam Cook "A Change is Gonna Come"

I knew that coming into round 2, Kris would probably have an advantage on Adam. I knew that the songs that Simon Fuller picked would probably play a HUGE factor in each of the contestants overall Finale Performance. When I heard that he had chosen "A Change is Gonna Come" for Adam, I knew that this would be a redeeming rendition (not that he had a TON of redeeming to do after a solid first song). From the very first note I was entranced. He came out with some soaring opening notes and then brought it back down and brought us into this intimate, bluesy atmosphere that dared you to not pay attention to what he was singing. Then, he took us to church. With more soul and swagger than I've ever seen him sing with, he thrived in the climax of the song. His range really is ridiculous. He went from these low mellow tones to the rafters with incredible ease. On SEVERAL songs this season, such as "Born to Be Wild," "Satisfaction," and "Black or White," Adam's upper register has come across as "screaming" or "screechy." Tonight was neither. The notes he was hitting were SUNG. Simon, again, is correct. He is definitely back in the race. This might be my favorite Idol performance of the season- dare I say ever?

Kris Allen - Producer Pick - Marvin Gaye "What's Goin' On?"

When Kris was singing this, I commented to my crowd, "Dang, Kris came to sing tonight." I have not seen him as focused as he has been on this night. His vocals were spot on and he used an Adam Lambert "Tracks of My Tears" instrument set to give it a nice groovy feel. While I liked the song, and I think he did very well with it and adapted it in a very Kris Allen way, I think he could have done something different with it. I agreed with Randy. I felt that the song was too laid back and mellow to be sung at the Finale of the biggest television reality show on TV. While it was true to who he is as an artist, it didn't do him any favors to win the show, and that's what he needed to bring. Sitting in a room with some fairly competent musicians and vocalists, we felt as though we could easily do what Kris did with this song. The way I see it, the contestants should be doing something that average musicians would never be able to pull off. Several people feel like he did all he could do with the song. "How can that song be made any bigger?" I agree that it could not be made much grander, but maybe that's not what it needed. If he stripped it down completely and made it a ballad, it would have created a touching and moving performance. Some might say "THAT IS MELLOW TOO!" but it can be adapted to be impactful and intense, even though it's slow.

Round 2 Winner: Adam Lambert

Adam blew Kris out of the water in this round. Though Kris gave a very noble effort, his latin-infused "What's Goin' On" could not compete with the sheer power and charisma of Adam's "A Change is Gonna Come." Will I download Kris' song? Of course. But will I listen to it more than Adam's? Not a chance. Right now, the competition is in a dead heat! All that's left now is the final song, and my predicted "deciding factor," the Winner's song.

Winner's Song - "No Boundaries"

Let's take a look at the song before we critique the contestants performances of it. Co-written by one of our very own Judges, Kara Dioguardi, I had high hopes for this song. To date, she has had over 46 albums in the Top 10 on Billboard magazine's 200 album chart. Her songs are on various hit albums that have collectively sold over 100 million copies. Working with the likes of Christina Aguilera, Carrie Underwood, Leona Lewis, Kelly Clarkson, and Celine Dion, she has established herself as a very big hit-maker. This song, however, is not one of those hits. The Internet is abuzzed in disbelief that this song was chosen as the Winner's song. I have not heard of one person who has liked it. Since she has worked primarily with female vocalists, I feel as though she may have been out of her element in trying to write and arrange a song that was going to be sung by two men. I have still yet to come to a conclusion on what I think of it, but it sure didn't blow me away. It's cheesy illusions to mountains and hurricanes are stereotypical Idol Winner's song cliches that make every contestant who auditions for Idol hope just a liiiiittle bit that they do not win, therefore not forced to sing a stupid song about triumph and puppys and rainbows. I like the tune of the song just fine, but the words are what I can't really grasp quite yet. I will admit that I was sort of rocking out on the bridge. That part was pretty tight. Maybe it will grow on me, who knows? The benefit of the contestants doing a song like this is that we get to compare them on one ground and one ground alone, their vocal talent. This show is a singing competition. Yes I know that other factors inevitably come into play, I'm not naive. But as a singing competition, it's good to be able to judge the finalists on just that, their vocals

Adam Lambert - "No Boundaries"

While not near as good as the phenomenal song he sang moments earlier, Adam still managed to hold his own on this song. There were SEVERAL pitchy parts, but I would account that to him having to learn an entirely new song on top of perfecting his other two. The song actually fits Adam's voice well, I think. The beginning was very light and piano driven, where he can flip into falsetto and add the softer tone like he did in "Tracks of My Tears" but then it crescendos into a full out rock chorus and bridge, the style that suits his voice the best. It was also in just the right key for his voice. He wasn't able to do anything crazy high or outlandish, but he was still able to serviceably sing the song. This is probably his weakest performance of the season, however.

Kris Allen - "No Boundaries"

I said that Kris would be at a disadvantage coming into this round, seeing as the Winner's song is usually geared toward a big voiced, dramatic singer, something that Kris Allen is not. I was right. His voice did not fit as well with this song as Adam's did. Off pitch for much of the song, the song sat just a tad too high for his tessitura, not giving him a chance to be able to really belt out those high notes. He looked extremely uncomfortable up there, knowing that it wasn't in his style or vocal range at all. He also fumbled through some of the lyrics. It was just, overall, not a good performance. It was not completely horrendous by any means. I have heard plenty worse than what Kris gave us on this song, but it was not good either. I'm interested to hear the studio version of this song to see he would sound on it then. I'm not sure if this song is enough to slow down the forward momentum that Kris had coming into tonight. This, paired with Adam's "Change" might put Kris in the runner-up position.

Round 3 Winner: Adam Lambert

I can't fault either contestant on not singing it 100%, because the Winner's song has always been somewhat of a letdown. Full of cheese that only Danny Gokey could muster, the contestants were at a disadvantage before they even sang the first note. If Danny was singing in the Finals, I think he might have killed that song, but then again, Velveta would be oozing from my TV. I hope that viewers don't take this song into account as much as the first two. But for this song alone, I feel that Adam won it outright. It sounded better with his tone, he has the range for it, and it's more in sync with his style as an artist.

Final Thoughts:

So, there you have it, folks. I think that this was one of the best seasons to date. I think that this finale has been one of the closest fought ever, rivaling the showdown that the David's put on last season. Adam with his glam rock and Kris with his acoustic rock have given us one of the most unique and somehow harmonious pairings that we've seen in a Finale. I think that this years vote will be closer than last years, where only 1 million votes separated the two finalists. When it's all said and done, though, I think that Adam should be singing us out one last time surrounded in confetti. He was my pick to win it from day one and I'm not going to change that now. This prediction is not discounting Kris in any way, because he was able to rise to the challenge in a way that I did not think he was capable of. If he pulls out the win, it should not be considered the "biggest upset in Idol history." He would have won it fair and square with his general mass appeal, but personally, I don't think that will happen. The buzz is on Kris right now, but Adam has dominated the spotlight this season. I think that both contestants deserved to be on that finale stage, but Lambert deserves to win it all, if not for his superior talent, then for how he has shaken up Idol. How he's made it interesting again. How he's come out like a professional week in and week out, always entertaining us and always keeping us on our toes. We've never seen a contestant like him and likely never will again. There will be another Kris Allen next year, mark my words, but never another Adam Lambert.

Your American Idol Junkie,

Billy

PS. Here are a couple of funny pictures to leave you all with.