Thoughts and Impressions from American Idol, the Final Week

It’s all over and voters have confirmed what the judges and many of us in the reviewing business have said for weeks – Kelly Clarkson is the American Idol.

The vote was closer than I would have expected – 58% to 42%. Outside polls showed a much wider gap. But the overall result is what matters.

In the final Tuesday night show, we finally saw the combined effects of nerves and strain on both singers. Yes, they gave powerful performances – especially given the fairly weak original songs they had to sing and the shortened single song choice they could do.

Because of this, I actually was not convinced that Kelly sang all of her songs better than Justin on Tuesday. This thought was erased Wednesday when they reperformed several, but that may be why the vote was closer than expected – people did not necessarily go by my recommendation that they vote according to the entire process rather than just the final night. (I know, it’s hard to believe that people wouldn’t just do whatever I say!)

Kelly definitely outdid Justin in singing “Before Your Love” – I didn’t feel his voice filled it in properly. But I think Kelly did not do as well on “A Moment Like This,” especially early in the song. I liked Justin’s version better on Tuesday, though, as I said above, by Wednesday that problem cleared up and I was back solidly on Kelly ground again. Neither song, in and of itself, is particularly thrilling, and we can only hope that both of them (and any of the others who get contracts from this) will be given some choice in what they sing.

When Will Young, the British Pop Idol winner, performed on Tuesday, many people thought, “This is the guy who won?!” As Laurie in Chicago wrote to ask me, “Was it me or did Will Young suck?” I wrote back to say that no, it wasn’t her. This guy would have been voted out weeks ago had he been on the U.S. show. At least Justin and Kelly didn’t have to worry about being upstaged.

Incidentally, I should note that a few people wrote to say that this guy represents exactly what Simon has criticized in several American Idol participants. Indeed, he does – and Simon is on record as saying that he didn’t think Will should have won.

On Wednesday’s show, we got a lot of filler. Two hours to get to a one-minute result? Come on… But, hey, Fox needed to milk this cash cow.

They performed several group songs and these, along with some other things forced me to ask several questions:

• Can somebody explain to me again how it was that Christina was voted out when she was?
• Does EJay think that by copying Justin’s hair he will magically gain his talent?
• Does Ryan still think she is a tomboy in those outfits?
• When Nikki danced near the audience, did she expect anybody to be waving dollar bills?
• Has Randy Jackson decided to leave record producing and become a pimp?
• Just how many dollar signs was Simon thinking of as he smiled throughout the evening?
• Did the producers already know Kelly had won when they paired her with Will Young while they paired Justin with Tamyra?
• Will Will Young last more than a week if producers go through with the “Global Idol” idea of putting up various country’s Idols against each other?

So Kelly finally won and everything is right with the world. Did she deserve it? Hell yes! Now we can look forward to a special two-hour “reunion” of the top thirty later this month, and concerts featuring the final 10 coming soon to a city near you. Plus, of course, Kelly’s single will be out within weeks (I’ve heard that some radio stations are already playing it). Keep watching RealityNewsOnline and Foxes On Idol and we’ll keep you up to date on all the latest!

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline, and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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