And the end of American Idol is upon us. I’ve been very excited about the epic showdown between Crystal and Lee and a while now. It has been fairly clear for at least a month that these two would be in the finale and it was not a disappointment. Unlike the other weeks I’m writing this after the show so I can reflect on the whole episode at once. Ultimately, I have truly enjoyed American Idol Season 9 and I think it has produced one of the best final two contestants ever (neither were ever in the bottom 3, which I believe is the first time two contestants have had that distinction in the same season). It would rival the level of Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice or David Cook and David Archuleta. After the top 2, the rest where probably weaker than other seasons, but there are a lot of good ensemble singers.
As for the two contestants here is my impression from the show:
Lee DeWyze In some I would agree with the judges comments from the first song, that he didn’t seem to be bringing a very high energy. Granted, his first two songs didn’t really allow for a lot of energy, but I think you could say the same for Crystal’s first song but she had some high energy. Now, I don’t think that Lee isn’t bored or uninterested or giving up, I think Simon hit the nail on the head and said the Lee just nervous. In the last song, it seemed that he got over that a little bit, but he still needs to grow a little as a performer. The three songs he sang were quality and it is clear that he is ready to a recording artist and he will have a pretty decent career.
Crystal Bowersox Ever since my first power rankings I have had Crystal on top of the charts. She has consistently performed at a high level. Tonight the only criticism I have of her is that she didn’t seem to be able sing and walk downstairs during Black Velvet. Out side of that all three of her songs were high energy and passionate. She connected more with the audience tonight than any other night during the season. She definitely is something that we don’t have in the music world right now as Ellen said and it would be interesting to see what she does after the Idol tour is over.
Conclusion Truly I feel that Crystal is the one that should win this competition based on her skills as a performer and her singing ability. Lee seems to have the momentum and he has the potential to be more commercial, so he may win the popular vote. In any event, which ever of these two wins they were both great contestants and will most likely have great careers going forward.
I’ve really enjoyed blogging about this show this season. I don’t know if anyone besides me really ever read these posts, but that was never the point. I just needed a place to work out my thoughts about the contestants and a blog seemed like a cathartic place. American Idol has been a show I have devoted a lot of time to over the past nine years and after this season it will irreparable change. In the near future, I plan to post about that and the man that is Simon Cowell.
So for the Top 11 we have Top 100 hits. I am surprised and a little disappointed that American Idol brought in Miley Cyrus to be the guest mentor. I guess she has some successful records but I wouldn’t have thought of her as someone who could coach someone in how to sing better because she is not a particularly talented singer. I mean you’re going from Rod Stewart to Neil Sadaka to … Miley Cyrus, very odd.
I like the little love fest between Ryan and the judges each week. I like the judge mix right now. They all have a little bit different voice and they are all very lucid.
Before I get to the contestants, I will say that I am surprised at the song choices tonight. Very few of them chose songs from the last 10 years. It was almost like oldies night on Idol, and the contestants are not showing themselves as contemporary. Hopefully they start to step it up soon, but there don’t seem to be as many musicians this season as we have seen in prior seasons. Now, for the contestants:
Lee Dewyze
Singing Letter with some big band love behind him. I like the arrangement, but I don’t know how contemporary it would be for the radio. It was very Sinatra like and I could see it as part of a concert as the opening song, but I don’t see it in the radio. Pretty good though. (Yeah, Simon agreed with me.)
Paige Miles
Sang Against All Odds by Phil Collins which is a song a really like. Started off really too airy and wispy but then she starts into it really strong and ends air and whiny. It’s like she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with it. Not good. (Judges agree, I forgot Mariah Carey did that song, bad choice for Paige.)
Tim Urban
Singing Crazy Little Thing Called Love. It doesn’t surprise me that Miley’s best advice for Tim was just to add riffs, she’s got nothing else. You can tell Tim wants to connect and have energy, it is just not natural for Tim. He looks like he is all up in his head. He slid and then went out into the crowd but it just isn’t working for mew. It reminds a little of early Carrie Underwood, she always looked a little uncomfortable on stage, but she could sing a lot better than Tim.
Aaron Kelly
Sang Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. My inital thought is that he can’t handle this compared to Steven Tyler. Starts off Smokey and brooding doing good. The best thing I can say is that it sounds a 16 year old singing a song he can’t handle. It was okay but not real good, it’ll he much better in two years.
Loving the awkard look between Simon in Miley after he told Aaron to give her a call and she shakes her head no.
Crystal Bowersox
Singing a Janice Joplin song I have heard before but don’t know the name. She has got to be the favorite right now. She has one of strongest voices, confidence, and is a good performer. Really great performance. She needs to maybe have a little more personality, but that will hopefully come. (Ellen agrees with me, Woot!)
Michael Lynche
Singing When a Man Loved a Woman to “all of the lovers out there.” This guy is a performer, he gets how to connect and sell a song’s emotion. Plus, he can sing and has a baby face. He is like a slightly more fit Ruben Studdurd. Sweet Idol love with the falsetto, nice.
Andrew Garcia
Singing I heard It Through the Grapevine. He is not really bringing anything new to the song. I am surprised in general that the performers are not picking more current songs. It was sung well enough but nothing to get me excited. He did a couple of dips but it was safe and boring He is lucky that people earlier did so bad.
Katie Stevens
Singing A Big Girl Now (?) This was okay. I was not blown away or anything. I think it showed that she could sing. I was happy she chose a song from the past decade. She showed she was young and fun. She is not the best vocalist but she could grow as the show goes on and make some noise towards the end. (I think Simon’s comment about her meeting Miley being great is true.)
Casey James
Singing the Power of Love from Back to the Future (love that movie). Casey is a powerful singer and should go far. He did a good job with the song but it sounded just like the original. It will get him through a few rounds, but I would like to see him be a little more original. (Yeah, Simon agrees with me again. I would like to know how Kara thinks he made it current, it was no different.)
Didi Benami
Singing You’re No Good with a lot of sass, I like it. She has a Taylor Swift vibe going on in both appearance and dancing with the bass guy. Very nice arrangement and performance. Probably my favorite of the night. Crystal was probably better, but I thought she great. (I guess I can see where the judges are talking about a musical, but I thought it was good.)
Siobhan Magnus
Singing Superstitious. Pretty good start. She sings with a lot of passion and energy. She moved around the stage very well and has a lot of courage. The end was very good with the big notes at the end.
Overall, not one of the best nights of Idol. I would be surprised if Paige didn’t go home after this, most everyone else was at the same level. Although, I would definitely put Crystal and Casey a step above followed by Siobhan. I guess we will find out tomorrow and get to hear Miley perform!
Tonight I was watching the Bear’s game and went to make a tweet about the game and I occasionally like to scan through the trending topics. Well on Twitter (and on Facebook) there were a lot of posts about Kanye West. So, I followed the link on Twitter to search for the story and it said that Kanye dissed Taylor Swift. I was outraged because, as anyone who knows me knows, I adore Taylor Swift. (Yes I’m a 29 year old man and I’m okay with that.)
So, I read a story about it on Rolling Stone and I couldn’t believe it.
Before I passed judgment, I wanted to see it for myself. So, after several Google and YouTube searches involving people’s personal responses, I finally found the clip, posted below.
So, I watched the clip and it was surreal that anyone, I don’t care how famous you are, would go on stage and do that. It was almost as bad and as when Faith Hill had a tantrum when she lost to Carrie Underwood at the CMAs in 2006.
That maybe wasn’t quite as bad because she was at least off stage, but she had to know the camera was on.
In any event, I am starting to see a disturbing trend of public figures acting out in ways that are clearly inappropriate. Kanye couldn’t have thought that what he did was appropriate. Especially, and maybe this shouldn’t matter, considering that this is a 19 year old girl who has done nothing but be a shining role model in the media. Kanye apparently proceeded to flip the bird to the crowd while Taylor was crying backstage.
Then we have Chris Brown who decided that he could beat his girlfriend Rihana to within an inch of her life.
What these people all have in common is that the apologized about what they did after the fact and that was supposed to make it all better. And it seems like we in a America are all to willing to forgive. Now, this may seem contradictory on my part because I have posted that I think Michael Vick should be allowed to play football again, but that is different. The biggest difference is that Vick not only apologized, but he also spent 18 months in custody. Additionally, I don’t have to forgive Vick for him to keep playing football, no one does.
Here is a picture of Kanye leaving the show. Look at his right hand, maybe we will see what the really cause of the outburst was:
I would almost guarantee that tomorrow Kanye West will apologize to Taylor Swift. I would encourage her not to accept it. It can not be sincere. How can a person walk all the way on to the stage, take the microphone from someone, make that statement, and then walk away and flip off the crowd and actually be sorry. President Obama accepted Congressman Wilson’s, I know that, but that is the problem. We live in a society now where public people can do or say what they want and then apologize and it’s okay.
I am not saying we should never forgive people and I am not saying that we shouldn’t move on when conflict occurs, but we also need to hold people accountable when they act irresponsibly when they should know better. The governor of a state should be allowed to just disappear for a week and then just be embraced back into the fold by his state or by his wife.
So, I say, do not just forgive Mr. West. I say boycott his music and his antics until he can behave like an adult. I was thinking about Jay Leno’s return to TV tomorrow, but I will not watch if Kanye is still going to perform. I have occasionally thought of listening to his music because my good friend Jenny likes his music, but that will never happen now. This act stupid and apologize culture needs to end!
In response to Martigyrl‘s comments about my first Clay Aiken post I would like to expound on my appreciation of Clay Aiken. I was going to reminisce more in the first post, but I was getting sleepy and I didn’t think anyone would notice.
I think it is a shame that he lost to Ruben. I guess Ruben was okay, but it seems to me that Clay was a much better vocalist. Neither could dance, so that didn’t matter and they were both really good people, but I love Clay’s voice. It is so clear and strong, he reminds me a lot of Ronny Dunn. In the end neither has had huge commercial success (compared to Carrie Underwood orKelly Clarkson), but I think part of that is because Clay has focused a lot of energy on other items such as his son and political causes.
One of the reasons I like his singing is that he seems to Continue Reading…
. So, I followed the link on Twitter to search for the story and it said that Kanye dissed 
. I was outraged because, as anyone who knows me knows, I adore Taylor Swift. (Yes I’m a 29 year old man and I’m okay with that.)
