The Finale - 5/19/09

[The4thJudge]

Plain Black T

This is going to be a difficult review/recap to write. It was clearly one of the most uneventful and to be honest, boring, finale nights I have seen in my eight seasons of watching this show. Randy tried to make it exciting with his "got dressed in the dark" look. And I think Simon might have been in that same dark closet because he couldn't see that there were buttons on his shirt that were supposed to be buttoned. The fact that the judges have already crowned the winner didn't help. (Not so fast you four!) But mostly, it had to do with the performances themselves.

Adam and Kris sang three songs each: a personal pick, Simon Fuller's pick, and the coronation song, co-written by Kara.

Personal Picks

Adam – Mad World – Tears for Fears
The first time he performed this song it was introspective. This time Adam was in full theatrical mode: the stairs, some dry ice and a long coat. His performance was once again beautiful and haunting, but I would have to say not as strong as the first time. It's been a long season and I seriously think his voice is showing some strain. I heard it a little in this song, but much more on the other two. It's to be expected and nobody should hold it against him.

Kris – Ain’t No Sunshine – Bill Withers
I loved this performance the first time, and may have loved it even more last night. It is perfection. I want him to record it and release it. I have a recording of Taylor doing this song and I always comment that his version makes the Bill Withers original sound positively upbeat. This is a good thing in my book! I have to say Kris is right there with Tay and I love it!

Simon Fuller's Picks

Adam – A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke
I love this song. Even before Taylor I loved this song. And I may be a bit of a purist when it comes down to it, but I thought he did a decent job with the beginning of the song, he just lost me later on. I think the lyrics were lost in his performance. And really, that tends to be one of my biggest criticisms of Adam – if I didn't already know the words to the songs he sings, I certainly wouldn't after listening to him. I've been told that Adam has performed this song many times before. Does that make me suspicious? I may love a good conspiracy theory, but not this time. I do think that this song may have been meant for Danny.

Kris – What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
We had some very interesting choices from Mr. Fuller last night. I thought it was a good performance – not great, good. It certainly was not dynamic enough for a finale. It had nothing to do with Kris being a laidback kind of guy – it's the song. It's a great song, but it's not a song with a great deal of drive in the melody.

Coronation Song
No Boundaries – Co-written by Kara

It didn’t take long before I realized that this is the worst coronation song in the history of Idol. Nice job Kara. Let's see if they ask you to do that again.

Adam
I think that Adam did not know what to do with the mess he was handed. The strain of the many weeks on Idol showed in his voice on this one. He did the best he could with what he was handed. But I think he even felt he didn't have a good performance. I don't think I've ever seen him that concerned after a performance before.

Kris
Kris' take on the song was slightly better than Adam's. The song was clearly too high for him and he strained as well. I could understand the words when he sang it. Hmm, maybe Adam's performance was better.

This song proved to me why American Idol winners have a hard time getting radio play or selling CD's. Think about it - you're not an Idol watcher, but you hear the coronation song on the radio (because many stations do play it for a least a week after) and you think, WTF was that? The DJ says, "that was the newly crowned American Idol, xxxxxx, singing [insert any of the 8 trainwrecks here]." Listener: "Well that sucked." Are you going to feel compelled to check out that person? Hell no. They need to get rid of this "tradition" after this season. I say we start a campaign.

So, the big question: who are we going to be hearing sing that abomination at the end of the show tonight? I surfed the Top 40 radio stations this morning looking for Idol news and reactions. Many stations were having people call in their picks – they were predominately for Kris. Was that a function of the type of station? Maybe. Who knows. A number of callers mentioned having switched from Adam to Kris in recent weeks. One caller was asked why. She said that Adam had become a caricature of himself. I can actually see that. It's not Adam's fault, it's the AI machine. I think it happened to Taylor as well, and unfortunately, that caricature drawn by TPTB has stuck with him. I love an underdog and so I'm going to go with Kris for the win. I know it sounds corny, but both boys are really winners no matter who actually takes the crown tonight. As everyone knows, the second place person may be better off. After all, they're not saddled with that damn coronation song!

[The4thJudge]

Seacrest's Hair here! Dragging our ass in late, but at least we're here this week. And we'll keep it brief, since as our colleague said, it was a boring finale.

Adam's "Mad World" reprise was... well, "Mad World". Most of our notes are on his outfit, or really just that awesome leather-sleeved wool coat. Had the whole thing been leather, that would have been even more awesome. Also, we were kind of excited by Simon's reference to Phantom of the Opera -- did he mean to imply that Ryan is Christine to Adam's Phantom? Ooh.

Kris's "Ain't No Sunshine" is one of our favorite of his performances. He really modernized the song, and we enjoyed listening to his impeccable timing on the intro. This one never seems quite long enough. But, again, it was a re-tread, and we were stressed by the wait to see what the Fuller and coronation songs would be.

We are a terrible Adam fan, as we'd forgotten he regularly performed "Change Is Gonna Come" prior to Idol. That Fuller actually assigned it to him, though, was a huge surprise, and we wondered at ulterior motives. And we also listened carefully for the Soul Patrol's collective implosion. (You guys weren't all that loud. Try harder next time.) We felt that Adam's performance could best be summed up as: big black lady soprano sings Sam Cooke. No, seriously. The arrangement wasn't outlandish at all, just his huge voice. Oh, and the shiny silver suit and lovely teal tie that matches his eyes? Mmm.

Then Fuller gave Kris "What's Goin' On" and we wondered if the Other Simon is going through some kind of Taylor Hicks phase. Kris's voice was strong but again, he didn't do much with the arrangement. Considering that these two guys are where they are because of their re-arranging talents as much as their vocal talents, it was a pretty disappointing night.

Then, we were treated to a gigantic turkey of a song, "No Boundaries", written by Kara and a committee of songwriting monkeys. Actually, we probably just insulted monkeys. Sorry, monkeys! Don't fling poo! Anyway, we actually drew a turkey in our notebook, with an arrow pointing to it and the words "Kara's Song".

We never said we were mature.

So Adam tried to deal with the song as a straight inspirational, strings-laden monstrosity; Kris took it acoustic. Neither approach really worked... because the song is bad. Bad, bad song. No hit for you. This is how bad the song was: we think Paula could have written something better. Or at least without mountains and hurricanes. (Speaking of which, we love hearing Simon say "hurricanes". He should do that more often. Can we move the show to the Gulf Coast?)

In summary, we still love Adam, but think Kris had the stronger night and could very well get that Cinderella ending tonight. They'll both do well in the business... Kris here, and Adam in Europe with a small but vicious following here. At this point, it's just seeing who signs with 19 and Arista, and who gets to shop himself around all summer.

[keb]

(05-20-2009 06:20 PM)The5thJudge Wrote:  Seacrest's Hair
In summary, we still love Adam, but think Kris had the stronger night and could very well get that Cinderella ending tonight. They'll both do well in the business... Kris here, and Adam in Europe with a small but vicious following here. At this point, it's just seeing who signs with 19 and Arista, and who gets to shop himself around all summer.

I think that Kris may indeed take the crown but I disagree with the idea tht Adam will only be popular in Europe. Listening to his original pre-Idol music he is right on track with popular music and of course the throw back to rock & roll and glam rock. Kris is current in his own way ...

Personally I think they will both do well .... but Allison might just out shine them both.

[Mac]

(05-20-2009 09:03 PM)keb Wrote:  

(05-20-2009 06:20 PM)The5thJudge Wrote:  Seacrest's Hair
In summary, we still love Adam, but think Kris had the stronger night and could very well get that Cinderella ending tonight. They'll both do well in the business... Kris here, and Adam in Europe with a small but vicious following here. At this point, it's just seeing who signs with 19 and Arista, and who gets to shop himself around all summer.

I think that Kris may indeed take the crown but I disagree with the idea tht Adam will only be popular in Europe. Listening to his original pre-Idol music he is right on track with popular music and of course the throw back to rock & roll and glam rock. Kris is current in his own way ...

Personally I think they will both do well .... but Allison might just out shine them both.

I agree!