lee vs cyrstal

i havent always been a fan of the show, but i've watched 6 of out 9 seasons (i missed seasons 1, 2 and 6).. and while my choices didnt always end up as winners, i have enjoyed watching it.

changes:

a) new judge. as a result of paula's leaving, american idol season 9 brought with it a new judge in the person of ellen degeneres. while it's true that there were people who didnt believe that she'd be able to contribute any sound critique as part of the panel, i think that one-liner quips aside, she gave out a lot of good advice and sound judgement.

b) farewell simon. while a new judge came, an old judge is going, who is, in my opinion, the one judge that really drew people to watch the show. yep, this was simon's last stint as american idol judge.. the tribute to him was quite touching.. but i didnt understand why they felt they had to give paula a few minutes up on stage doing a one-woman comedy-of-sorts act.. i think it would have been better if she just expressed herself in a song or songs rather than doing a semi-roast on simon that, in my opinion, fell flat.

c) from memory, i havent seen a finale where no new song was sung as the 'song of the season' to which the winner claims as his or her first single, or something like that. i actually felt bad that lee and crystal didnt get the chance to sing a same song to better show whose version is better.. oh well.. 

anyway, it was, after all, the american idol finale and so focus should be given to the finalists..

 cyrstal was, indeed, an early favorite, but sometimes, it's not always good to be thought of as a front-runner from the onset. look at adam lambert or even danny gokey from last year. i dunno, sometimes it just backfires.. 


lee, well, he flew not quite off the radar, but he wasnt considered a really serious contender til around the last few weeks where he seemed to just blossom and gain confidence and really show that he can he's a worthy challenger to what simon told crystal was hers to lose..


between the two, it wouldnt have been that hard to predict who the winner will be.. if we forget the past weeks and just base who the winner could be on the performances on the finale itself, i felt that crystal nailed it (although i did have a nagging suspicion that lee would take it from her)..

results night: lee does win.

i do feel bad for crystal because she's always been tagged as the front-runner, but she still didnt win (kinda like how i felt when adam lost to kris - i was rooting for an adam-allison or adam-danny showdown last year). i even noticed that on her family's side in the audience that her boyfriend wasnt around and thought that the pressure of the finale probably was too much for him so he opted to watch the finale from anywhere but the nokia theatre, only to find out that they've broken up before the finale.. it might have been a mutual decision, but that doesnt mean it didnt affect her in some way.. but dont worry crystal, every cloud has a silver lining, im sure you'd do just fine..


admittedly, i found this season to be, well, a bit boring.. i always told jep, week after week, that it seemed unfair that crystal didnt seem to have any competition at all.. i once rooted for siobhan when she sang paint it black, but knew that she wouldnt make the cut when she just started to yell (to prove that she can hit high notes?? she didnt have to because we already knew she could, but that didnt stop her from doing it. play to your strengths, yeah, but well, a different tactic would have also worked.. like, say, show other variations to what your voice can do, something like that..). all the other contestants were, i dunno, there was talent, yes, but compared to the previous seasons that i saw, this season ranks the lowest (sorry!).


if there ever would still be a 10th season, i wish that simon's replacement is a good judge and that it wouldnt be as, boring(?), uneventful (?), as season 9.

but to end this post on a good note, i wish both crystal and lee the best and hopefully they'd end up like kelly clarkson and carrie underwood (my fave winners) and chris daughtry (my fave non-winner).