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American Idol 9: Finals Week 11 Performances, Tuesday May 25, 2010
After a long season, we're finally here at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles for the showdown between this season's top 2 contestants: Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox. Obviously, Crystal has been an audience favorite since week 1 of the semi-finals while Lee has been something of a dark horse. Can Lee derail Crystal's momentum and take home the crown? Read on for our complete rundown of tonight's festivities. As usual for the finale, each contestant must sing three songs: their favorite song from this season, a song chosen by American Idol producer, Simon Fuller, and the song they will release as their first single should they win.
ROUND 1: Lee DeWyze sang "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkel from week 6's inspirational song theme. Crystal Bowersox sang "Me and Bobby McGee" by Roger Miller from week 2's Billboard Number One Hits theme.
Round 1 clearly goes to Crystal as she chose a song that was more energetic and crowd pleasing than Lee's more sedate ballad. We weren't crazy about Lee's performance the first time, rating it only a B, and while we might bump it up to a B+ for his second shot, Crystal was an A the first time, and close to it again tonight. Crystal understands that you have to work the crowd in order to get the votes, and she did it in spades.
ROUND 2: Lee DeWyze sang "Everybody Hurts" by REM. Crystal Bowersox sang "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles. Songs chosen by American Idol producer, Simon Fuller.
Round 2 also goes to Crystal. We felt that "Everybody Hurts" was actually a curious choice given that REM frontman, Michael Stipe, sings much of that song in falsetto, which is completely out of the range of Lee's raspy voice. Even with a chorus of background singers backing up Lee, the song never took off and achieved the effect that he was going for. Crystal's selection was a much better fit for her voice, and while she was awkward walking down the stairs in her high heels, she successfully took this much-performed classic to a new level. Not the best we've heard from Crystal, but it was enough to win the round handily.
ROUND 3: Lee DeWyze sang "Beautiful Day" by U2. Crystal Bowersox sang "Up to the Mountain (MLK song)" by Patty Griffin.
Sweeping the night, Crystal Bowrsox brought the house down with her version of "Up to the Mountain (MLK song)." We aren't sure why the producers chose remakes for the contestants to release as their first singles, however. Yes, the Idol single has the deserved reputation of being generically fake-inspirational, but we don't think that releasing a remake is the antidote to that. All that being said, we did feel that Crystal's song was effective and was definitely the highlight of a so-so night of performances. But is it a little too downbeat for a first single from an a new artist? Time will tell. Once again, Lee's voice was an ill-fit for that U2 track, and we think the results, when revealed tomorrow, will show that the voting wasn't even close.
Tomorrow, the finale, the results, and Simon Cowell's goodbye to American Idol.
American Idol 9: Finals Week 11 Results, Wednesday May 26, 2010
Oh, Jesus take the wheel, already.
In a season that kept getting more wrong as it progressed, we shouldn't have been surprised at tonight's results, but we were. Crystal Bowersox was fully expected to win, and based on last night's performances, she should have won.
So, of course, Lee DeWyze won the crown.
Of the guys this season, Lee was actually one of our favorites, but his performances were so scattershot, so hit and miss, that we just couldn't see him winning this thing. He simply did not deserve to. This makes the second year in a row that America got it wrong. Was it a case of America voting for the safe choice once again as it did last year when the country chose Kris Allen over Adam Lambert? Lee certainly had a more mainstream sob story: he was a humble, working class paint salesman with a dream. On the other hand, Crystal Bowersox was a single mom with a decidedly offbeat look. Was America going to reward that with a record contract?
We didn't think that there could be an Idol winner who would go on to sell less than Kris Allen, but we think we got ourselves a real contender for that dubious honor right here. We think that it speaks volumes when the winner of the contest is actually shocked that he won. The same reaction by the winner happened with Kris Allen last year, and he has gone on to underwhelming record sales. Once again, we feel an Idol winner is fated to be overshadowed by the runner up. There's no doubt that Crystal, along with many of the top 12 will end up with record deals, but we think that it will be Crystal's that will be the most highly anticipated by the record buying public. For us, however, we can't wait to see what our personal favorite, Siobhan Magnus comes up with.
Looking back over the season, it shouldn't be too surprising that Crystal and Lee made it to the final 2. They were the only contestants in the top 12 to have never ended up in the bottom 2 or 3 throughout the entire season, but we're still puzzled by what people saw in Lee over the other contestants. He did have some great moments, but had much more just-ok ones. Crystal, on the other hand, was a standout from week 1, and only had a few lackluster performances.
Tonight's results will undoubtedly be speculated on by many across the Internet over the coming weeks, but for us, we're glad that this subpar season is finally over. We really do feel that this will be looked back upon as the season where the show truly jumped the shark and will never be as popular again. Simon Cowell's departure after tonight only seals the fate of this once-unstoppable ratings juggernaut.
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