Watching Sitcoms

Finally, here we are at the end of American Idol Season 8. Because I still can’t blog as I watch without my laptop, like I’ve been doing all season, I won’t do an actual recap this week, but just share my thoughts about the show tonight.

Both Adam Lambert and Kris Allen had to sing three songs tonight. The first was their choice from what they had already sung, the second was chosen for them by Simon Fuller and the last was the champion’s song co-written by Kara DioGuardi. So clearly it sucked.

For his choice, Adam went with Mad World, which I thought was perfect, since it’s my favorite of his. Kris chose Ain’t No Sunshine, and he accompanied himself on the piano.

Keep in mind that I was watching the show tonight with one person who likes Kris and hates Adam, one person who liked Danny, tolerates Kris and doesn’t really care about Adam and a third person (myself), who thinks Kris is boring and Adam is amazing. So it was an interesting time.

Simon Fuller chose Change is Gonna Come for Adam (we all thought this would have been a better choice for Kris) and What’s Going On for Kris, who played guitar.

Personally, although he wasn’t as over the top as he might have been, I thought Adam did a great job with both his first two songs. On his songs, Kris proved he’s a musican as well as a singer, and that he’s probably the more contemporary artist. But I still think he’s boring.

Its interesting really, because the two could not be more different. Even their outfits tonight showed the vast gulf between them, with Kris in jeans and t-shirts for his first two songs and then an unconstructed cotton suit for his last. Adam meanwhile rocked the stage with a long great coat, a lovely tailored silver suit and his final rocker look.

The nasty Kara song, No Boundaries finished up the show. Adam did a good job with a yucky song, and sounded even better in the replay. To me it seemed like Kris’ more mellow sound went better with the song itself, although it was pretty high for him. But, look, mountains and fairies and rainbows and candy corn are just not my thing. So I maybe I’m not being fair. Even the judges had a hard time praising either guy, saying stuff like “I’m not going to judge the song, just you as an artist.”

Listening to the judges critique at that point, it was almost like they were saying, goodbye, Kris, thanks for playing. Cause honestly, I thought he sounded much better than they apparently did. It seems fairly obvious that the judges want Adam to win, but I’m still leaning towards Kris as the winner. I think I’ll be sadder than I thought I would be if Adam loses, but Kris just has the more contemporary sound and I think that will be better for whatever album they will want him to put out. Especially if it has more of those awful Kara songs on it.