American Idol has crowned another winner and for those who watched all season (suffering through Tatiana and other disasters) seeing Kris Allen top frontrunner Adam Lambert was a surprise. All along, Allen had been dubbed the “dark horse.” But like that frisky filly, Rachel Alexandra, the dark horse will often beat out the field.
Of course, winning Idol is no guarantee that the winner will achieve success as a recording artist. Taylor Hicks beat out Chris Daughtry in Season Five, yet Daughtry is selling millions of albums while Hicks is doomed to play bit parts on Broadway. Will Kris prove to be the new Taylor Hicks? Will Adam’s success surpass Kris’s? Too soon to tell. But we came away with some thoughts after the two-hour long finale (the show went on for so long that we were often found daydreaming). No doubt the web will be buzzing with comments today, so we just have to weigh in:
Amateurs write better songs. Kara DioGuardi’s song, “No Boundaries,” should have been called “No Way.” Kris won despite the fact that the song fit Adam’s voice better. Now the poor boy has to record the ditty. Simon Cowell tried very hard during the last round not to criticize the song. When he said it was a bad song choice he couldn’t help but glance at Kara. Next year, let the amateurs compose once again.
Stop promoting the judges. We hear that Idol judge Randy Jackson is designing a line of purses for women. We can just picture next season with each female contestant carrying one of Randy’s bags everywhere. This season the Idol judges just could not resist promoting their shows, jewelry (enough, Paula!), and themselves. This is a singing contest (as Simon keeps reminding everyone) not the Home Shopping Network.
Enough with the aging stars. Idol should not be a vehicle for waning stars to reviltalize their careers. Last season we had Diana Ross who seemed a pale imitation of herself. This season we had Slash from Guns ‘n Roses. And no one wanted to watch all those scenes from Quentin Tarantino films. The guy can’t even sing.
On the other hand….We loved Lady Gaga. (Of course, we’re biased because we knew her when she was Stefani Germanotta). But she was fantastic. Bring her back!
Dump all the losers. The award section of the finale was the low point. Sure it was humorous at times. And who knows why people try out when they can’t sing. They had their five minutes of fame. Please don’t force us to suffer through any more.
Bring back Simon. The show will fall flat without him. Kara did add some thoughtful feedback at times (although she went on too long sometimes and is being blamed for the show often running long and foiling those who had set their DVRs). Randy is unpredictable, while Paula is Paula. If Simon is serious about leaving, the search for his successor should start now and attempt to find a judge who can duplicate his spot-on evaluations.
We will watch again. American Idol is the best reality show on TV today. It sends a message that never gets stale: Dreams can come true.
