Final American Idol Rant
I promise this is my last rant about this season of American Idol. It’s just I’ve had this building for a few days and I need to put it all down somewhere.
Let me preface this rant by saying that I am a fan of BOTH Adam Lambert and Kris Allen.
Over the past couple of days while I’ve been reading analysis and commentary on this season (I highly recommend whatnottosing.com), I’ve been seeing links to polls that ask “Did Kris Allen deserve to win” or “Was Adam Lambert robbed”? Then answersbut are yes and no.Let me explain why (Again What Not to Sing does it much better than me).
Starting out, Kris was obviously canon fodder. It was also obvious that the show was NOT looking for the best singers, note all the times that Simon said he was “Casting” the show. The producers gave him almost no screen time and did not pimp him at all. But he was savvy in his song choices (as he was all season) and got a berth to what would become the top 13. I liked him from the start but my personal favorite was Anoop. I knew logically that Anoop wouldn’t win, but I had high aspirations for him, I thought top five would have been the best I could have hoped for. (Honestly, I think if there hadn’t been a judge’s save, Anoop could have made it to top five. Matt would have gone in seventh place, Lil in sixth and Anoop probably would have bowed out in fifth. But those are just dreams. I’m somewhat content with his sixth place finish. Yes sixth, Ryan announced Lil was gone first so I’m taking that as her finishing seventh. So there.)
I was not an Adam fan at first. It took “Tracks of My Tears” to turn me into one. But he peaked early. His big moments were Motown week, “Ring of Fire” and “Mad World”. Everything after that was only so so. By this time you either loved him or hated him and there wasn’t much middle ground. Meanwhile, Kris was slowly and steadily winning over viewers.
“Ain’t No Sunshine” won him about the only straight praise he ever got from the judges. All other praise came as backhanded comments (It was good, but….). He chose a more recent (OSCAR WINNING) song for movie night instead of the usual treacle. He took an overworked Donna Summer tune and stripped it down turning it into something that would/could be played on the radio today. He had more of the middle ground people that Adam didn’t. Then came top three night. He pulled out Kanye’s “Heartless” the most contemporary song Idol had featured that year and in god knows how long. He was up there with just his guitar and had just about the best moment ever.
So for me, and from what I’ve read, many other Idol bloggers, Kris had the momentum. If we discount the “Winner’s Song”, he had a better night in the finale. His reprise of “Ain’t No Sunshine” was better than his original performance. “What’s Going On” was again, turned into something that could be heard on today’s radio. Simon and Randy’s assurances that it “wasn’t big enough for the room” was a slap in the face of performers like James Taylor, Carly Simon, and all those others who do exactly what Kris did, stand on stage with his guitar and a few other players and sing.
Most of all, Idol viewers stood up to the producers, just like they did last year, and said “No, we are not going to choose the person you think we should. Enough is enough.” Nothing against Adam, I love him to death and there is no denying he’s got a great voice. But he was pushed by the producers from Day 1. Idol viewers have, for two years in a row, shown the Idol producers (which includes Simon) that they’ve had enough of the manipulation.
Both Kris and Adam, in EVERY SINGLE post interview have said that it didn’t matter to them who won, it was all about the music. And that’s how it should be. Idol is broken. It needs to return to what it once was, being all about the music.
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