American Idol - Final Two

Kris Allen vs. Adam Lambert
Well, It's down to the final two. In the midst of the LOST season finale, I completely blanked and forgot that Idol was on! I've been doing my research throughout the week reading online, and think that I am sufficiently caught up with all that went down. Seacrest opened, some sweet kid from Rwanda sang, Jordin Sparks came back, Kris was safe, Katy Perry stunk up the stage, and Danny was ultimately sent home. Sounds about right doesn't it? Danny humbly said his goodbyes and sang his song on stage for the last time, then there were two...Kris and Adam. One of those seems like a bit of a surprise while the other should not surprise anybody who has been paying any attention to the season. It has began to sicken me how much the judges, the show, and the media world are promoting and pushing for Adam Lambert.

This may all stem from me not liking Adam one bit, but the way that this competition has been handled by those with influence is shameful. Without American Idol disclosing the actually results of voting, there is no way for us to tell if it is legit and completely fair. But the competition aspect of the show should be fair, and when you have people who get regular air time plugging you, it undoubtedly gives you an edge that the others do not receive. It started about mid-season when the Adam Lambert Fan Club had graduated from its infant stages and Adam became a full blown threat. The judges began openly referring to Adam as the front runner and as a true "American Idol." More recently this all culminated with Idol's producers placing Adam in the last performing slot on Tuesday night for three weeks running. Last weeks Entertainment Weekly Magazine featured Adam Lambert on the cover. This was the first time that the magazine had featured a single contestant, alone, on its cover before the competition had been decided. The article that accompanied his cover was all about how Adam Lambert is changing the face of American Idol. They are basically praising this kid who, for whatever reason was not able to get discovered on his own in San Diego. Last Wednesday Katy Perry hit the stage with Adam's name displayed on the back of her cape, clearly announcing her support of Mr. Lambert. All of this I can over look but Simon's "Daughtry Proofing" speech after Adam's performance on Tuesday is what pushed me over the edge.

If you remember back to American Idol's fifth season, Chris Daughtry was the front runner and by all accounts had the competition all wrapped up. This was common knowledge to the world and to Daughtry. A level of arrogance began to grow within Chris and America got lazy, not a good combination on this show. Chris's fans decided that Chris would be fine without their vote and left the voting up to all of his "other fans." Unfortunately his "other fans" did the same thing and Chris Daughtry was sent home packing, with a 4th place trophy and stuck in an unfortunate record deal with Idol's 19 Entertainment music group. This last Tuesday, Simon did his best to keep this from happening to another promising contestant and gave a preventative, and I think biased speech to the world, basically pleading for people to vote for Adam because he "deserves" it. Now, I agree that this speech needed to be made but the timing of it was what got me. Simon could have delivered this speech at the beginning of the show, earlier in the season, or three years ago after it originally happened. But the world is watching and I was not the only person that noticed this.



I would like to start by saying that I don't have anything against Adam Lambert and realize that he is immensely talented. It's just that he has started to bore me with similar performances every week. That coupled with my desire for a fair competition is why I raise my concern. Many are speculating that Adam Lambert will be the unfortunate victim of a backlash that will be caused by the judges pleas and the shows speculated favoritism that has been shown towards Adam. Matt Giraud was recently quoted on the radio saying, "The judges have their favorites and they're going to make sure they do well. ... There were times I felt, like, invisible in the competition." Now Matt doesn't have much to talk about since he was clearly a favorite of the judges and the show as he was saved from elimination not once but twice this season. Other contestants are noticing this too however. When asked a question regarding this issue by a reporter Danny Gokey responded saying, "It doesn't make me mad or disappoint me. That's who he believes is going to make money. I didn't get into this thing for the money. I didn't get into it for the glamorous lifestyle. But I feel like my goal is so different and it didn't line up with what they see as a pop star. But it's OK. It can't be what I'm about. People can get annoyed by it." It will be interesting to see where people's loyalties will fall now that Simon has spoken and Danny is gone.


Brian Mansfield, of Idol Chatter USA Today's Idol blog, was on KFAN radio today with Paul Charchian and he made light of a poll that he had seen asking Danny Gokey fans where their allegiance will fall now that his journey has ended. Roughly 50% of Gokey followers said that their votes would now fall with Kris Allen. Another 45% were planning on jumping aboard the Adam Lambert bandwagon, while the remaining 5% claimed that they were going to wait for the performances on Tuesday to decide on their vote. One other interesting idea that the two discussed was the fact that Idol popularity in the South, particularly Southeast is much higher than of that in the North. Remember, Kris Allen is from Arkansas and is representing the heart of American Idol fans. With Idol's main focus being on surpassing the 100 million vote mark, there is one thing that I am sure of for the finals. No matter what way the vote goes next week, it will be close. After Kris' rendition of Heartless last week, my vote lies with him. But that is only 1, of a possible 100 million total votes! Good luck to both contestants and may the best man win!