Idol Finale - Finally

I was out of town during the week of the American Idol finale and didn't have an opportunity to watch my TIVO recording of it until this weekend. I'm not going to give a blow-by-blow of a show that most people watched almost 2 weeks ago, but I decided I did want to make a few comments.

Some of the blogs I read on the show noted that Kris pretty much sucked on Kara DioGuardi's tune that she wrote for the finale. I have to disagree - while he started a teeny bit shaky, I actually liked his style for the song better than Adams'. Overall, I thought that based on performance, the competition was pretty close to a draw. Adam and Kris are very different artists, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

I thought the criticism of Kris being "too lightweight" was rather unfair too, considering that everyone knew by that time exactly what kind of singer he is and he was merely being true to himself.

At the same time, I thought the judges missed some areas of potential criticism of Adam. He has crazy skills in his falsetto range, but at times I find his sound pinched, overly bright, and downright annoying. That will be fixable on any recording by the way they process his vocals in studio, but his vocals are not as perfect as many have stated during this season.

As to the outcome - it could easily have gone either way and I'm really unsurprised that Kris was the final victor. When looking at the final 3, you had two Christian worship leaders, and one goth bad boy. Did anyone really think that a large number of Danny's fans were going to vote for Adam? Some have interpreted the outcome as a sign of rampant homophobia, and maybe some votes were decided based on that kind of criteria. But personally I think it's more likely that those who like a raw, acoustic sound just preferred the style of Kris over the highly-polished vocals and antics of Adam. It's about musical preference, not moral judgment.

And really, anyone who has watched Idol over the years knows that this is probably the best possible outcome for both of the top finishers. Kris will have the full support and marketing of the Idol contract to help him launch his career. Adam will have the option of a little more artistic freedom than he would have otherwise. So really it's a win-win.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I'm sure there are those who will disagree. You're entitled and it doesn't even hurt my feelings.

Until next season....