AI8 – 5/20 Finale Recap: The Day American Idol Really Died

[Marleybone]

Spot on recap, MsFroggy. Thanks to both you and MotherSister for a great season!

[Google]

 

[waywyrd]

Bizarre sights follow extreme weirdness in this AI funeral procession party.

You got that right.

Even though our guy didn't win, he'll do just fine. Better than fine, because there are plenty of us awaiting his first release. Thanks for a great season of snarky, hilarious recaps, Froggy.

[AsIs]

Great, spot on recap MsFroggy!

Congrats to Kris and ROCK ON Adam!

[LuvThisStuf!]

Originally Posted by [B

MsFroggy;[/b]3462053;]A superstar was born on American Idol once upon a time in an audition room in San Francisco in front of four jaded Idol judges. The rest, as they say, is history. ........

.....Then, like a miracle cure, AI received that life-affirming “something”: a blood transfusion in the form of one incredible human and artist with a one in a hundred million voice and a rabid worldwide following. I bet everyone at Fox and 19E was thanking every available deity they could on a daily basis for that amazing gift of life and for their paychecks. Then how exactly did the aging patient still die on the operating table? I don't know, really. No, that's not right, because I do know. And so do you.

But enough with the gloom and doom!

David Cook is up first with a very emotional performance of Permanent, in memory of his brother. He sounds great and I'm liking this song enough to buy it off iTunes especially since the proceeds go to cancer research. Nice, David. He says both finalists are great and he doesn't know how America can get this wrong. More irony! It will be the death of me before this thing's over, I swear.

Kris starts mumbling the lyrics instead of singing them while Adam looks and sounds just like Queen's new frontman, never mind about Kiss. The contrast between these two is glaringly obvious. On the last note, they both sing together but Adam holds way back because, well... let's just say he's a very kind man. A very kind man.

Peace.[/i]

Outstanding recap, MsF! I couldn't have said it better myself. Those were just a few of my favorite bits.

I like Kris and look forward to hearing his CD, but Adam is the real superstar. What impressed me the most about your recap is the part about the final note of the Queen song. You put into words exactly what I was thinking -- Adam could have really gone to town on that number, but he knows he's singing a duet, and he also knows he can't leave his partner in the dust. What a class act. Kudos to Adam. He's going to have an amazing career.

[guide54]

I enjoyed Micheal Sarver singing with Steve Martin (playing a banjo I believe). He had a good voice.

I really like both Kris and Adam and have downloaded lots of their songs from iTunes.

[BobDobolina]

The result could be a plus for American Idol. You couldn't design a better test case to highlight why they need to change the voting mechanism. IMO, most AI finale matchups are usually pretty balanced. I think only seasons 1 and 6 had fairly unbalanced matchups. In contrast, this season's matchup was so lopsided it was almost comical, no disrespect to Kris or any of the other contestants who would have been similarly outmatched in the finale. The fact that a person with an order of magnitude less talent won, from some indications by a landslide in terms of pure number of votes, is probably as strong an indicator that something is very wrong with the voting mechanism as you can get. The regional voters, fanatical ideologues and creepy, obsessive, adolescent girls have way too much influence on the results in this setup.

They need to either limit the votes or attach a cost to each vote, like they do in the foreign version of Idol. I prefer the former option.

(For the record, I have 5 adolescent nieces, and I find their obsessive atttitude towards people like Kris Allen or those terrible Twilight books equally creepy. )

[TeacherLady]

Originally Posted by BobDobolina

IMO, most AI finale matchups are usually pretty balanced. I think only seasons 1 and 6 had fairly unbalanced matchups. In contrast, this season's matchup was so lopsided it was almost comical, no disrespect to Kris or any of the other contestants who would have been similarly outmatched in the finale. The fact that a person with an order of magnitude less talent won, from some indications by a landslide in terms of pure number of votes, is probably as strong an indicator that something is very wrong with the voting mechanism as you can get. The regional voters, fanatical ideologues and creepy, obsessive, adolescent girls have way too much influence on the results in this setup.

I have never heard (or read) it analyzed quite this way before. I totally agree. Maybe that's why I still feel stunned about the way it turned out. And I also mean no disrespect to Kris. Any other year, I would've been all about Kris.

But the "order of magnitude" difference in pure vocal and performance talent is like the difference between a Hershey bar and Godiva chocolate. No disrespect to Hershey bars -- I like 'em -- but they don't compare to Godiva!

[MsDiva2007]

Originally Posted by TeacherLady

I have never heard (or read) it analyzed quite this way before. I totally agree. Maybe that's why I still feel stunned about the way it turned out. And I also mean no disrespect to Kris. Any other year, I would've been all about Kris.

But the "order of magnitude" difference in pure vocal and performance talent is like the difference between a Hershey bar and Godiva chocolate. No disrespect to Hershey bars -- I like 'em -- but they don't compare to Godiva!

I think what gets me is that Idol had the theme weeks for a reason. The theme weeks are in place to gauge the contestants ability to be versatile in the style of music that they can sing and make their own. Adam excelled the entire season in every genre of music they threw at him and found ways not to repeat the original.

Kris struggled at times and has a clear weakness when he is asked to extend his vocals into the higher ranges. Yes he had some successes however they never tended to be consistent.

Yes the judges praised Adam but the praised others as well. did we expect them to lie to Adam to save the feeling of the others from being hurt? As far as pimping this is the contestants big shot at fame pimp yourself. Adam and Allision, Danny and some others managed to by being open and out there for people to see. I didn't know anything about Kris because he stayed in the background.

[ZulaMay]

LOL. In terms of talent, it was like Adam was in the stratosphere while all of the others were earthbound. He defies gravity.

I also would have been happy with Kris in any other season but this one. The final moment of the Finale was the weirdest, most awkward, most anticlimactic thing ever. It was like the air went out of the room.

Kris, IMO, did a really brilliant job of reworking certain songs and doing it to suit his voice. But he has such a limited vocal range and eventually all of his songs sound the same. Some people like that. I look forward to hearing all of the boundless things Adam can and will do with his talent. Talk about No Boundaries.

[greenearthteam]

I thought Adam was/is amazing...and he will have a spectacular career. That said, I'm not a teeny-bopper girl (what people say is the only reason Kris won) but I voted all season long for Kris. I just liked his performances better and loved his personality and humility. Adam was always my second fave followed by Allison.

This was the best season ever and I wish all of them every success they deserve! By the way, I hated "No Boundries" on the voting night...but after downloading Kris' single from iTunes, I have come to love his studio version!