Go, Go Glambert - Mad World Meets Ain't No Sunshine

It will not even be possible to talk about the American Idol finale without making one glaringly obvious point: The concluding song, No Boundaries, is arguably the worst piece of music (and I use the word loosely) ever written. And I am in no way exaggerating. The recycled climb every mountain, ford every stream (rip-off) lyrics gave new meaning to the word "trite," with the sound of music (pun intended) definitely missing. Even Adam couldn't make that clunker into a Cadillac (or even an old Ford), though he gave it a valiant effort. 

I felt actively sorry for Kris, whose less glossy presentation of No Boundaries made its fatal flaws all the more obvious. (He had to be wishing Idol had shown *some* boundaries and chosen just about anything else.) No wonder he sang flat for much of that performance. He was simply trying to match the topography of the song he was dealt. And it wasn't a pretty ride. (Neither was Adam's, for that matter, but at least he stayed on the road.) By all rights, Kara DioGuardi should be thoroughly ashamed of herself, but the amazing truth is that she actually seemed proud of her efforts. In fact, she appeared to be...thrilled. Which puzzled me to no end, by the way.

Equally puzzling was Simon's criticism of Mad World, which was pretty much flawless in my book. I also enjoyed Kris's piano-man rendition of Ain't No Sunshine, a Bill Withers tune that suited his voice and style perfectly. Cowell gave that round to Kris, but I'm calling it a near draw, with a super-slight tilt towards Adam.

Next came the producer's choice numbers, which are always a bit of a crap shoot. In the past, these choices have been less than predictable, and they ran true to form last night. When Seacrest said Lambert would be singing Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come, I seriously thought Adam's goose was cooked. It was hard to imagine him going there, to tell the truth, but he surprised me. Not only did he go there, but the dude arrived in style. In fact, he could have been singing at the Harlem Square Club on "go a little glam" night. And the judges agreed.

Kris was given What's Goin' On, a song by Marvin Gaye that DioGuardi called "socially conscious." Kris probably called it "my worst nightmare." Okay, maybe it wasn't his worst nightmare, but I did kind of groan in his behalf. I love Marvin, but the whole thing came off as "Sam Cooke light," and I think the selection put Allen at a disadvantage. While he did a pretty good job performing it, you can only do so much with a one (or maaaybe two)-trick pony of a song. This time, I think all the judges agreed that the round went to Adam.

Of course, we've already discussed round three but that went to Adam too, not because it sounded good but because he could sing it. Such as it was. Geez. Crikey. It's been four hours now, and I'm still shuddering with distaste for the whole No Boundaries exercise. What was Idol thinking? Was it in Kara's contract that she would get to write the finale? I sure hope so. At least that would make some sense of the horror and give us all a bit of closure.

I really like Kris Allen a lot, and I won't be surprised if he gets a career out of this, but my American Idol pick is Adam Lambert. Do I think he'll win? Maybe.

If enough of his fans voted for two hours straight, like I did. 

(I can't believe I just admitted that...)

=)

PS. If you haven't already, don't forget to check out my giveaway post (the one just before this one). Simply make a comment there, and you'll be included in the drawing.

PPS. Quick note on Shawn Johnson taking Dancing with the Stars:  No way!!! I'm completely surprised by this one, and I attribute it entirely to her fantastic freestyle and Gilles' fairly lackluster one. Flashdance?! (Say what??)