After weeks / months of speculation the American Idol victor was crowned after one of the best finale episodes I have ever seen.
For two hours I was glued to the TV watching this star studded event which included guest performances by many of today's (and yesterday's rock, pop, country and r&b gods). Some of the key performances were KISS with Adam Lambert, Kris Allen with Keith Urban, the top 13 with Queen. Other guest performances were, last year's Idol winner, David Cook, Queen Latifah, Lionel Ritchie and Rod Stewart. In short it was one heck of a night. Almost all of the top 13 were able to share the stage with a superstar at some point of the evening.
In the end the night came down to the big announcement. Who will win American Idol 8? Well after a record breaking vote of just under 100 million votes the American Idol for 2009 is.................
Kris Allen
You could literally hear the jaws dropping across the Kodak Theater in LA when Ryan spoke the words. Even I, who had picked Kris to win since MJ Week, was a little bit surprised that it actually happened.
So what happens now? Well according to Kris he's going to Disney. After that it's time to get to work on arranging his first single, which he performed a bit better at last nights show, and getting the recording started on his debut album.
As for Adam Lambert. No doubt the offers will start coming in for him from labels and such. Already today not quite 24 hours after the show aired word started to circulate that Queen, who is suddenly without a lead singer, has shown interest in Adam. In my opinion a move like this would be a great choice for Adam. Now is Queen the best fit? Maybe, but then again maybe not. Adam should be wanting to start his career so fronting a band like Queen or Led Zeppelin might be something for him to consider. Adam is a rocker, without a doubt and I have no doubt he will be successful. Many say he will be bigger than Kris, it's possible, but one can never tell. People who never watched Idol in their lives will buy albums from both Adam and Kris. Idol season 8 was not the greatest in cast, again in my opinion, but the top 8 at least made for one heck of a show. The coming year(s) should be interesting.
Congratulations to Kris Allen and Adam Lambert for their parts in making American Idol Season 8 worth watching.
To all of my readers, thank you for following over the last few months. I hope you continue to join me in my rambles. You never know what you might find in this blog.
To the rest of you who will not return...enjoy your summer and I hope you will be back in January 2010 as we start again with Idol Season 9.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
American Idol Top 2 - Final Performances
So here we are down to the final two. On a side not the videos will be posted seperately for now as Blogger will not allow me to post the flash object in the blog anymore.
Adam and Kris, who would have guessed (other than me)
To keep it short today, as I am battling the flu, I'm going to cut right to the chase.
Quick review. Each performed 3 songs. One of their picks, one of the producer's picks and the first single co-written by Kara (brutal song BTW).
Adam performed Mad World, A Change is Gonna Come and No Boundaries. The performances weren't bad but Adam has done better so far this season and seems to have plateaued which is good news for my favorite, Kris.
Kris Allen performed Ain't No Sunshine When You're Gone and hit a home run with it. All judges agreed that it was his best performance to date. Simon Fuller chose the song What's Going On by Marvin Gaye as Kris' second song of the night. It was good but not great, in my mind brutal choices to give rock artists. As for the Kara song No Boundries well apparently it appeared as thought the contestants couldn't arrange the song and it was a key too high for Kris and in the end even the judges chose not to judge him on that song but on the success he has had this season. Kara and Randy actually felt that No Boundries would suit Kris' style and voice really well so we'll see how they arange it when Kris wins tonight.
So there you have it.
Kris will win tonight :-)
Full wrap-up with the final results tomorrow.
Adam and Kris, who would have guessed (other than me)
To keep it short today, as I am battling the flu, I'm going to cut right to the chase.
Quick review. Each performed 3 songs. One of their picks, one of the producer's picks and the first single co-written by Kara (brutal song BTW).
Adam performed Mad World, A Change is Gonna Come and No Boundaries. The performances weren't bad but Adam has done better so far this season and seems to have plateaued which is good news for my favorite, Kris.
Kris Allen performed Ain't No Sunshine When You're Gone and hit a home run with it. All judges agreed that it was his best performance to date. Simon Fuller chose the song What's Going On by Marvin Gaye as Kris' second song of the night. It was good but not great, in my mind brutal choices to give rock artists. As for the Kara song No Boundries well apparently it appeared as thought the contestants couldn't arrange the song and it was a key too high for Kris and in the end even the judges chose not to judge him on that song but on the success he has had this season. Kara and Randy actually felt that No Boundries would suit Kris' style and voice really well so we'll see how they arange it when Kris wins tonight.
So there you have it.
Kris will win tonight :-)
Full wrap-up with the final results tomorrow.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
American Idol Top 3 - Wrap Up
So from three we drop down to two. But not before we see some performances from Jordin Sparks and Katy Perry. Both ladies performed their latest singles, Perry performed wearing an "Adam Lambert" cape (can you guess who she is rooting for?) and Las Vegas show girl dress for her performance of Waking up in Las Vegas. Sparks performed "Battleground" which was co-written and accompanied by Ryan Tedder of One Republic.
Apparently the economy is doing well enough again for Idol producers to feel comfortable asking for your hard earned money again. Ok well technically it was Alicia Keys that was doing the asking. It's not like she was asking for much, just $5 from each Idol fan via text message. The money raised goes to the Keep a Child Alive charity, which she co-founded and is acts as global ambassador for. For those of you who were unable to send the text or want to know more about the charity or how you can help check out: http://keepachildalive.org/. For those who still want to give via text message in the USA you can text "alive" to 90999 and $5 will be charged to your next cellphone bill.
One of the charity's benefactors, 15 year old Rwandan rapper Noah, performed on the show.
Ok so on with the results.
We are down to three of the best candidates that Idol has seen in a long time so it's always difficult to chose who should go and who should stay. It goes without saying that all three of these guys have fantastic careers ahead of them but for one it will start a few days sooner than the other two.
So I picked Danny, Adam and Kris as my bottom three and naturally I was right (we can ignore the fact that only three remain (-:)
Kris was declared safe first and Danny Gokey was voted off.
Danny's story was one of a kind, only joining the competition as a promise to his late wife who passed away only weeks before he auditioned. And what a fitting way for him to go, performing You are So Beautiful one last time. For me his final performance was the best of the show. Without a doubt if his wife is watching over him she would have been smiling last night. Danny has nothing to be disappointed about, he had an incredible run and will have a fantastic career.
It all comes to an end next week. With Kris Allen and Adam Lambert squaring off for the coveted title of American Idol.
Apparently the economy is doing well enough again for Idol producers to feel comfortable asking for your hard earned money again. Ok well technically it was Alicia Keys that was doing the asking. It's not like she was asking for much, just $5 from each Idol fan via text message. The money raised goes to the Keep a Child Alive charity, which she co-founded and is acts as global ambassador for. For those of you who were unable to send the text or want to know more about the charity or how you can help check out: http://keepachildalive.org/. For those who still want to give via text message in the USA you can text "alive" to 90999 and $5 will be charged to your next cellphone bill.
One of the charity's benefactors, 15 year old Rwandan rapper Noah, performed on the show.
Ok so on with the results.
We are down to three of the best candidates that Idol has seen in a long time so it's always difficult to chose who should go and who should stay. It goes without saying that all three of these guys have fantastic careers ahead of them but for one it will start a few days sooner than the other two.
So I picked Danny, Adam and Kris as my bottom three and naturally I was right (we can ignore the fact that only three remain (-:)
Kris was declared safe first and Danny Gokey was voted off.
Danny's story was one of a kind, only joining the competition as a promise to his late wife who passed away only weeks before he auditioned. And what a fitting way for him to go, performing You are So Beautiful one last time. For me his final performance was the best of the show. Without a doubt if his wife is watching over him she would have been smiling last night. Danny has nothing to be disappointed about, he had an incredible run and will have a fantastic career.
It all comes to an end next week. With Kris Allen and Adam Lambert squaring off for the coveted title of American Idol.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
American Idol - Top 3
Firstly I need to correct last weeks posting. The grand finale is next week not this week, still one more week of torturing at least two of the contestants.
So here we are. Down to the top three.
Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey and Kris Allen.
This week the top three were given a song by the judges and were told to pick one of their own.
In no particular order here is how it all went down.
Adam Lambert was asked to sing U2's "One" which, apparently, was green lighted by Bono on Saturday. The song started out ok but in the end he added too much of his trademark scream and it just kind of melded into a horrible screeching mess to me by the end.
His second song choice was "Cryin'" by Aerosmith. I figured ok Adam and Steven Tyler both have shrill voices, Tyler knows how to make it work in a rock song and Adam has had some limited success to date so this one could be ok. Boy was I wrong. I'm certain all of the cats in Hollywood gathered outside the Idol studio seeking the source of the horrible sound. I don't even know if I can describe it but if I can bring you back to last week and Danny's finishing note on Dream On....it was kind of like that only for most of the song. Maybe this is a sign neither Danny nor Adam should be granted permission to do Aerosmith covers ever again.
Kris Allen, was given "Apologize" by One Republic by Randy and Kara. His performance on the piano was great, as usual, but he didn't really make it his own. If anything it was an ok version of the original.
Kris' personal pick of the night was "Heartless" by Kanye West. When I heard him say that I hung my head and knew that it was over for Kris. Not only was there no way he could perform an R&B tune there was no way he could succeed with it. It didn't take me long to change my mind on that thought. Kris performed the song with just his guitar on center stage and it was AWESOME, AMAZING and totally hit worthy. The judges loved it as well with Kara and Randy both jumping out of their seats for excitement and even Simon overturned his premature ruling that Kris wouldn't make it into the final and suggested that with that performance anything could happen.
Danny Gokey, his song was picked by everyone's favorite judge Paula (ok I made that up). She picked "Dance Little Sister" by Terrance Trent D'arby. Danny never heard of the song before and it showed in his performance. Once again we saw his cheesy dance number that we have so missed since the early days. Kara called him out on it but for some reason Paula, who always loves everyone, thought it was great dancing.....ok Paula go back to bothering Simon.
Danny's personal choice was "You are so Beautiful" by Joe Cocker. Now this is a wonderful, beautiful song and perfect for Danny. I have no doubt that he sang it to his late wife many times and he performed it well. The question I keep asking myself over and over is where or not America needs another Michael Bolton. That's the type of entertainer Danny is. Idol caters to the 13-30 year old crowd for the most part and Bolton caters to their parents and grandparents. I'm not saying that wouldn't be a success but look at past Idol history that genre hasn't really been a huge hit, Clay what's his name as an example. I like Danny and have liked him since the start but he just isn't unique enough for me and I'm not really into what he's selling. So he's my pick to go home this week.
Before I get into my bottom three etc... I should point out that we were brought up to date on how Idol Gives Back is doing, remember that the actual show portion of Idol Gives Back was put on hold this year due to the economic crisis facing the world. Carrie Underwood recently visited Africa and provided an update on how Idol is helping out by donating mosquito tents to help fight malaria which has stricken the poorer regions of that country.
Ok so now that the public service portion has been covered lets see how the elimination will turn out....
So I predict the bottom three will be.
Kris, Adam and Danny. (I'm at least 90% sure)
This week I pick Danny to go home, if it was my choice it would be Adam but I know that unless hell freezes over that isn't going to happen. Not saying he is going to win but he definitely isn't going home tonight.
Stay tuned.
So here we are. Down to the top three.
Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey and Kris Allen.
This week the top three were given a song by the judges and were told to pick one of their own.
In no particular order here is how it all went down.
Adam Lambert was asked to sing U2's "One" which, apparently, was green lighted by Bono on Saturday. The song started out ok but in the end he added too much of his trademark scream and it just kind of melded into a horrible screeching mess to me by the end.
His second song choice was "Cryin'" by Aerosmith. I figured ok Adam and Steven Tyler both have shrill voices, Tyler knows how to make it work in a rock song and Adam has had some limited success to date so this one could be ok. Boy was I wrong. I'm certain all of the cats in Hollywood gathered outside the Idol studio seeking the source of the horrible sound. I don't even know if I can describe it but if I can bring you back to last week and Danny's finishing note on Dream On....it was kind of like that only for most of the song. Maybe this is a sign neither Danny nor Adam should be granted permission to do Aerosmith covers ever again.
Kris Allen, was given "Apologize" by One Republic by Randy and Kara. His performance on the piano was great, as usual, but he didn't really make it his own. If anything it was an ok version of the original.
Kris' personal pick of the night was "Heartless" by Kanye West. When I heard him say that I hung my head and knew that it was over for Kris. Not only was there no way he could perform an R&B tune there was no way he could succeed with it. It didn't take me long to change my mind on that thought. Kris performed the song with just his guitar on center stage and it was AWESOME, AMAZING and totally hit worthy. The judges loved it as well with Kara and Randy both jumping out of their seats for excitement and even Simon overturned his premature ruling that Kris wouldn't make it into the final and suggested that with that performance anything could happen.
Danny Gokey, his song was picked by everyone's favorite judge Paula (ok I made that up). She picked "Dance Little Sister" by Terrance Trent D'arby. Danny never heard of the song before and it showed in his performance. Once again we saw his cheesy dance number that we have so missed since the early days. Kara called him out on it but for some reason Paula, who always loves everyone, thought it was great dancing.....ok Paula go back to bothering Simon.
Danny's personal choice was "You are so Beautiful" by Joe Cocker. Now this is a wonderful, beautiful song and perfect for Danny. I have no doubt that he sang it to his late wife many times and he performed it well. The question I keep asking myself over and over is where or not America needs another Michael Bolton. That's the type of entertainer Danny is. Idol caters to the 13-30 year old crowd for the most part and Bolton caters to their parents and grandparents. I'm not saying that wouldn't be a success but look at past Idol history that genre hasn't really been a huge hit, Clay what's his name as an example. I like Danny and have liked him since the start but he just isn't unique enough for me and I'm not really into what he's selling. So he's my pick to go home this week.
Before I get into my bottom three etc... I should point out that we were brought up to date on how Idol Gives Back is doing, remember that the actual show portion of Idol Gives Back was put on hold this year due to the economic crisis facing the world. Carrie Underwood recently visited Africa and provided an update on how Idol is helping out by donating mosquito tents to help fight malaria which has stricken the poorer regions of that country.
Ok so now that the public service portion has been covered lets see how the elimination will turn out....
So I predict the bottom three will be.
Kris, Adam and Danny. (I'm at least 90% sure)
This week I pick Danny to go home, if it was my choice it would be Adam but I know that unless hell freezes over that isn't going to happen. Not saying he is going to win but he definitely isn't going home tonight.
Stay tuned.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
American Idol Week 9 - Wrap Up
And then there were three.
The last of the ladies was sent home on American Idol this week as young Allison sang her swan song on the Idol stage. "Cry Baby" was her song this week but she was anything but as she said her good byes to end her incredible 9 week Idol run taking her to the top 4.
The top 3 are Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert and Kris Allen. As they were announced last night, Ryan said in no particular order, Kris was the first to be declared safe followed by Adam. One can only speculate as to who the true bottom three were but I guess at this point it doesn't really matter.
Performances last night were great, with the exception of a horrible group performance of "School's Out" that would have Alice Cooper rolling in his grave (if he were dead that is). Even Idol's own Paula Abdul took to the stage dancing (she wasn't really singing) to her new, soon to be hit, single. Idol alum Chris Daughtry came back to the Idol stage for the first time since he was voted off during the same week as Allison in season 5, he and his band performed the first single off of their upcoming album expected to be released this July. Also performing was the recently reunited No Doubt who was promoting their upcoming tour which is expected to lead to a new No Doubt album sometime in the next few years.
All in all it was a great evening of entertainment.
The Grand Finale is next week with contestants singing two songs, one chosen by themselves and the other chosen by the judges.
But first watch for my reviews of: Star Trek and X-Men Origins - Wolverine over the weekend.
The last of the ladies was sent home on American Idol this week as young Allison sang her swan song on the Idol stage. "Cry Baby" was her song this week but she was anything but as she said her good byes to end her incredible 9 week Idol run taking her to the top 4.
The top 3 are Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert and Kris Allen. As they were announced last night, Ryan said in no particular order, Kris was the first to be declared safe followed by Adam. One can only speculate as to who the true bottom three were but I guess at this point it doesn't really matter.
Performances last night were great, with the exception of a horrible group performance of "School's Out" that would have Alice Cooper rolling in his grave (if he were dead that is). Even Idol's own Paula Abdul took to the stage dancing (she wasn't really singing) to her new, soon to be hit, single. Idol alum Chris Daughtry came back to the Idol stage for the first time since he was voted off during the same week as Allison in season 5, he and his band performed the first single off of their upcoming album expected to be released this July. Also performing was the recently reunited No Doubt who was promoting their upcoming tour which is expected to lead to a new No Doubt album sometime in the next few years.
All in all it was a great evening of entertainment.
The Grand Finale is next week with contestants singing two songs, one chosen by themselves and the other chosen by the judges.
But first watch for my reviews of: Star Trek and X-Men Origins - Wolverine over the weekend.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
American Idol Week 9 - Rock and Roll
Happy Idol Wednesday everyone!!!
So we are down to our final four this week after kissing Matt good bye last week. An admittedly unusual mentor for the four this week in Velvet Revolver, and former GNR, guitarist Slash as he helps them take on Rock and Roll hits.
Earlier in the week Simon Cowell pretty much confirmed that all four judges will be back next season which means that we have at least one more year of having to set our DVRs to record an extra 10-15 mins on Idol night to allow for the judges chatter.
A new addition to Idol this week is duets. What will they sing? and who will be paired up? All that and more coming up.
Adam Lambert, who was in the bottom three last week, took to the stage first. I'm still a bit of skeptic about Adam. To me he has just been a bit too Broadway to be a good candidate for "the" American Idol. This being Rock and Roll week should clearly show if Adam is the real deal of just a good performer. Adam performed "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin:
Ok ok I'll admit it. Combine this performance with his performance of "Ring of Fire" and keep that kind of music coming he might be the edgiest Idol yet. There is still one more week to go but unless something changes dramatically I believe Adam will be it this year.
Next up was Allison Iraheta sporting a new do courtesy of Adam's stylist performing Janis Joplin's "Cry Baby":
Another solid performance by Allison but will it be enough? It's getting down to crunch time here and unless one of the remaining three really flops Allison could be in trouble. I agree with the judges on this one, maybe a different song would have been better for her.
The first duet of the night was Danny and Kris taking on Styx classic "Renegade":
Ok as the judges said the harmonies were awesome but the rest? Well unless you are tone deaf you would have to agree that that was horrible.
Next performer was Kris Allen. It's going to take some doing to overcome the disaster that was his duet with Danny so he chose "Come Together" by The Beatles:
Like Allison earlier, it wasn't bad. The problem here, though, is that it wasn't great either. We are down to the final four. The second last week of the competition it's supposed to be getting better not worse. Kris has been one of my picks since the start but after a performance like that it's going to be tough for him to stay in the game.
The final solo performer of the night was Danny Gokey doing his best take on Aerosmith's "Dream On":
The judges all gave marks for effort and Simon felt the screen was like something out of Friday the 13th but still felt that he would be safe this week. For the first time I disagree with Simon. In my opinion that was so bad Danny should be sent home this week. We'll see what happens.
The final duet of the night was Adam and Allison, aka the resident rockers by Kara. They performed "Slow Ride" by Foghat:
Much better duet. As Simon said this performance could possibly have put Allison into the final three, I agree.
So here is my guess for the elimination:
Bottom three: Allison, Danny and Kris
Going home: Danny!!!!
Stay tuned tomorrow for the results....
So we are down to our final four this week after kissing Matt good bye last week. An admittedly unusual mentor for the four this week in Velvet Revolver, and former GNR, guitarist Slash as he helps them take on Rock and Roll hits.
Earlier in the week Simon Cowell pretty much confirmed that all four judges will be back next season which means that we have at least one more year of having to set our DVRs to record an extra 10-15 mins on Idol night to allow for the judges chatter.
A new addition to Idol this week is duets. What will they sing? and who will be paired up? All that and more coming up.
Adam Lambert, who was in the bottom three last week, took to the stage first. I'm still a bit of skeptic about Adam. To me he has just been a bit too Broadway to be a good candidate for "the" American Idol. This being Rock and Roll week should clearly show if Adam is the real deal of just a good performer. Adam performed "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin:
Ok ok I'll admit it. Combine this performance with his performance of "Ring of Fire" and keep that kind of music coming he might be the edgiest Idol yet. There is still one more week to go but unless something changes dramatically I believe Adam will be it this year.
Next up was Allison Iraheta sporting a new do courtesy of Adam's stylist performing Janis Joplin's "Cry Baby":
Another solid performance by Allison but will it be enough? It's getting down to crunch time here and unless one of the remaining three really flops Allison could be in trouble. I agree with the judges on this one, maybe a different song would have been better for her.
The first duet of the night was Danny and Kris taking on Styx classic "Renegade":
Ok as the judges said the harmonies were awesome but the rest? Well unless you are tone deaf you would have to agree that that was horrible.
Next performer was Kris Allen. It's going to take some doing to overcome the disaster that was his duet with Danny so he chose "Come Together" by The Beatles:
Like Allison earlier, it wasn't bad. The problem here, though, is that it wasn't great either. We are down to the final four. The second last week of the competition it's supposed to be getting better not worse. Kris has been one of my picks since the start but after a performance like that it's going to be tough for him to stay in the game.
The final solo performer of the night was Danny Gokey doing his best take on Aerosmith's "Dream On":
The judges all gave marks for effort and Simon felt the screen was like something out of Friday the 13th but still felt that he would be safe this week. For the first time I disagree with Simon. In my opinion that was so bad Danny should be sent home this week. We'll see what happens.
The final duet of the night was Adam and Allison, aka the resident rockers by Kara. They performed "Slow Ride" by Foghat:
Much better duet. As Simon said this performance could possibly have put Allison into the final three, I agree.
So here is my guess for the elimination:
Bottom three: Allison, Danny and Kris
Going home: Danny!!!!
Stay tuned tomorrow for the results....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)