Well, this is it, my friends. It’s been a long journey from those first auditions to the finale, but here we are with two of the best performers in this season’s competition still standing. One will be named American Idol. Both will go on to successful music careers.
Tonight’s two hour finale show will feature performances from Rod Stewart, Steve Martin, Cyndi Lauper, Queen Latifah, Black Eyed Peas, Lionel Richie, Carlos Santana, Jason Mraz and Keith Urban. David Cook will perform “Permanent” in honor of his late brother Adam and proceeds from the download of the song will benefit cancer charity.
MJ’s Big Blog reports that Idol duets will feature Allison Iraheta with Cyndi Lauper, Kris Allen with Keith Urban, Danny Gokey with Lionel Richie and Carlos Santana will perform with the Top 13. Anoop Desai and Megan Joy will sing Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” tonight. And rumor has it Tatiana Del Toro will perform. Oh joy.
USA Today reports that CKX, the entertainment marketing firm that controls the rights to most Idol business ventures, will exercise its option to sign record deals with Allen and Lambert. CKX chief Robert F.X. Sillerman says, “I would not be surprised if … we signed more than two.” Errr … let me guess? Danny Gokey? Matt Giraud? Allison Iraheta? All of the above?
Either way, this was a winning season of Idol. And yet, the ratings were down; in fact, last night’s final performance show was apparently the lowest rated in Idol history.
7:51 pm – I’m excited to find out who wins, but part of me would like to go to bed right now and get back up at 8:50 for the results. Not sure I want to sit through two hours of blah blah blah and music I don’t feel like listening to. If it wasn’t for you, my dear readers, I’d be in my jammies right now, curled up with a good book!
7:56 pm – All I’m saying is that Norman Gentle better show up tonight or this evening of entertainment will be a waste of two hours. Although, I am excited to see Steve Martin.
OK, here we go! Recaps from last night, judges comments and there are the two contestants, all dressed in white tonight. Scan the audience, see the stars, ooh, it’s all so twinkly.
Ryan says that just under a million votes were cast last night, bringing the season total to 624 million.

Here’s a little video recap of the judges. How many times did Randy say, “For me, for you”? About 100. Kara said “sweetie” a thousand times. Paula’s recap runs down the list of big words that she used – or made up – all season. Sometimes she didn’t even know what she was saying. And Simon? His recap is “What? What did you say?” Does he need a hearing aid?
But we’re really here to see Kris and Adam. As we greet them, we see some live video from their hometowns. Lots of support back home!
The Top 13 are going to perform “So What.” Wow, I forgot about Jorge. Was he in the Top 13? Listen, this song reminds me of Jazzercise and I can’t take it seriously. It was fun, but that’s about it.
Oooo, next up is David Cook, singing “Permanent”. I love David Cook. This song will be for sale on iTunes, and the proceeds will go to cancer reseach in honor of his brother Adam. You know what? I think as an Idol, David Cook was the perfect marriage of Adam Lambert’s stage presence and Kris Allen’s artistry. He really is without match as an Idol. His prediction for tonight’s winner? They’re both great guys, “And I don’t think America can get this wrong.”
Ryan is going to give out some “awards,” the Golden Idol. These recap the goofy, crazy, oddball and truly bizarre auditions. I can’t possibly to this justice in print. You’re going to have to hope someone posts the video tomorrow. Yeah!! Here’s Norman Gentle’s audition – that can only mean one thing: he’s back! Norman – aka Nick Mitchell – is in the audience dressed in normal clothes. He’s so funny – under his clothes he’s got on the Norman Gentle outift and he reprises “You’re Gonna Love Me.” My night is complete.
Our first duet? Lil Rounds and Queen Latifah with “Cue The Rain.” OK, does anyone else think that Queen Latifah is beautiful? What a great example of beauty without the media ideal underweight model image. This is fun, couldn’t watch more than one song. Lil looks great, sounds better than I remember her.
Up next, Anoop is singing with Alexis Grace, singing with Jason Mraz, “I’m Yours.” (Another Jazzercise song; I feel like I should be doing ab crunches.) Backing them up, the rest of the Top 13.
Ryan asks for the Kris Allen fans to cheer, then we see the journey of Kris Allen video. yeesh, we didn’t even see him early on the show, did we? Even then he was humble and sweet. And he’s singing a duet with Keith Urban, “Kiss A Girl.” Could you have a cuter duet on the show? What a sweet love song, what a sweet performance, what a perfect American Idol.
We’re back, with the girls – Jasmine, Megan, Allison, Alexis and Lil. You think they’ve got backing tracks? Err, yes. And here’s Fergie, to sing with them, and then out comes the rest of the Black Eyed Peas. Shot of Megan in the aisle dancing … hope she didn’t quit her day job. Uh oh, the feed cut out. Was that someone on the edit button? I’m sorry. After that lovely Urban/Allen duet do we really need this garbage? They hand out Grammys for this crap?
Another Idol award … here comes Bikini Girl, to get the award for bad attitude. Out she comes in her string bikini, and Ryan says, “I was going to ask what’s new but I think I know.” She got a boob job. She’s going to sing. The dogs in my neighborhood are going nuts. Out comes Kara to sing with her to reprise their little feud, Hey, Kara can sing a lot better than she can write crappy Idol songs. Whoa! Kara rips open her dress to reveal a string bikini! The judges bet she wouldn’t flash her undies and since she did, they’re going to donate money to her favorite charity. Does that redeem the un-family friendly performances so far?
Allison is singing a duet with Cindi Lauper, “Time After Time.” Allison is so good. She’s got a long career ahead of her. This duet makes up for the junk we’ve just watched.
Ryan takes a minute to talk to Kris’ parents and his mom says she’s not nervous because they’re enjoying the show. His dad says their there to see two fantastic artists.
Over at “team Lambert”; we can see where Adam gets his height from. His dad is tall.
Up next, Danny Gokey singing “Hello”. He should have done this song during the competition. And now he’s singing a medley with Lionel Richie; what a great pairing. Danny’s even dancing a little, and he doesn’t look dorky. I think his wife would be so proud of him.
This is funny: over on twitter, people are actually saying “Don’t post the results and spoil it for people who can’t watch live.” Riiiiight.
We’re back, and Ryan reminds viewers about the Idol tour. Adam Lambert’s up now, and we see his Idol journey video. He said in Hollywood that he wanted to take a song everyone knows and twist it. He sure did that, didn’t he? Adam’s wearing some really weird costume, wingish things. He’s singing … can’t remember the name of this song. Whoa, he’s singing with KISS. That explains the costume. So are these the real guys from Kiss? This is exactly where Adam should be, singing this kind of wild rock music with all sorts of costumes and lights and stage effects. He’s a show performer kind of musician. There aren’t many of those left, at least not ones who don’t sing canned pop music ala Britney Spears. I hate that kind of music, but that was fun to watch. Thankfully it was only a few minutes.
Next, it’s guitar legend Carlos Santana with a medley and the Top 13 contestants. Very nice on the individual vocals from Matt, Adam, Kris and Danny; the group sounds a little off, like a crowd singing along.
So if we watch tonight do we need to see the Idol tour? Will it be the same songs, just without the stars? The final Ford commercial video ends up a duet with Adam and Kris, and they sound great together. And Ford has given them both a hybrid Fusion.
Yeah, Steve Martin! Oh, the irony, the comic singer with a singer who can’t sing? (Im talking about Megan). Ryan asks Steve who he thinks is going to win, and Steve says, “Well, I know it’s a long shot but I hope I do.”
Up next, Rod Stewart, with the Idols.Huh, the Idol guys singing “If You Think I’m Sexy.” Can’t believe Adam didn’t sing a Rod Stewart song this season. Ahh, “Maggie May,” classic. Danny could have pulled off this song. David says, “He’s the only guy in America still wearing a mullet.”
Think about this for a minute: 10 months ago, these Idol contestants were just starry eye hopefuls. Today, they’re sharing the stage with some of music’s legends. What an opportunity.
Last award: Ok, now we’re going to see Tatiana. Can I stand even 5 minutes of her without the help of tranqualizers? Ryan tells her to stay in her seat, she runs and is chased by the guards, hahaha, Gee it almost looks spontaneous. Not. (As long as we’re pulling out the classic references.) Look at Reuben’s face! How much of that was fake and how much was her actually going into the break? Really, who cares? She had a good voice but she was such a flake.
Before the results, we got a Lambert/Allen duet on”We Are The Champions” … and is that Queen?! Wow, that’s crazy. Both Adam and Kris are fantastic, just in different ways. Two winners tonight; there’s no losers here. That was terrific.
So who wins? We’ll find out next. I kind of sense from Kris’ attitude that if he doesn’t win his life isn’t going to be over. He’s calm, humble and along for the ride, however long it lasts. He’s going to be a star no matter what. Wonder if his wife was ready for this when she agreed to marry him, LOL. Married to a rock star can be tough.
Well, here we go! Last word from Simon: “And I don’t normally mean this. To both, I thought you were both brilliant, unusually nice people”, he’s proud, blah blah.
And here we go. AFter the nationwide vote of nearly 100 illion, th ewinner of American idol 2009 is KRIS ALLEN!!!!! He says, “Adam deserves this. I don’t even know what to feel right now.” He’s tongue tied, keeps poinjting to the other contestants. he’s clearly shocked and stunned and wow. Amazing. Now he has to sing that crappy song again. No matter, he’s a star, personally and musically.
The song is less crappy the second time around, but it’s a cheesy radio song.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see someone win this stupid show as I am tonight. Sure, I’m happy that I was right in my prediction; back in April, I was really going out on a limb to predict Kris to win when most people didn’t expect him to be in the final 3. But I’m happier that a talented, humble, sweet guy is held up as a role model for American music lovers. And let’s face it, Adam has a long, long, successful career ahead of him. Idol win or not, he’s the next music legend; your kids’ kids are going to be listening to Adam Lambert.
Well, my friends, that’s it. It’s over. For five months we’ve met twice a week to chat about this show, and I have to tell you that it’s been an honor to hang with you guys, to talk about the show, faith, and music. I hope you’ll take some time to surf around the blog and maybe chime in on some other topics. I’d hate to think we won’t meet until next January, when Idol returns!
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