The ninth season of American Idol comes to a close Wednesday night in a two-hour finale. Contestants Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox engaged in a three-song performance Tuesday night that demonstrated why they made it this far.
In round one, each performed their favorite song of the season. I have no idea why Lee chose the song – “The Boxer” – he did: just as before, it was about as boring as watching paint dry. Crystal, who won the coin toss and elected to go last, showed her singer/songwriter side by singing Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGhee.” Easily Crystal won the round.
Simon Fuller, the show’s producer, chose the songs for round two. I have no idea why he picked “Everybody Hurts” for Lee. While the song had its moments, overall it was just a bad choice. “Black Velvet” was the choice for Crystal. Although not her best performance, it was heads and shoulders above Lee’s.
The final round had the two contestants singing original covers of songs that will be released as a single should they win the competition. Lee’s song, “Beautiful Day,” was probably his best performance of the night, which isn’t saying much. While I appreciated Crystal’s vocals on “Up to the Mountain,” I found the song itself a bit weird: I had a hard time finding the rhythm in it. Truthfully, I wouldn’t buy either of these.
The voting was open for four hours Tuesday night so expect host Ryan Seascrest to announce that the record for the number of votes cast was broken. I have no idea how they intend to fill two hours tonight. I do expect that there will be some kind of retrospective on judge Simon Cowell, who is leaving the show.
Like last year, there is a difference of opinion over who will win AI versus who should win. Personally, I think Crystal represents exactly what AI tries to uncover: an artist with tremendous talent who just needs a break. Others think Lee has grown so much that he deserves the win. Make your choices known in the two polls below.
Polls close at 7:50pm.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Lee should win, I do not like Crystals style music, didn’t like it in the 60’s don’t like it now, Lee is a class act and very marketable, he will be a STAR no matter what.
Let me make the opposite argument. Crystal clearly has much more talent and range, Lee tends to sing the same style over and over. The judges up until last night seemed to be pushing Lee, but even they acknowledged his performances were subpar last night.
Let me play the conspiracy theorist. Crystal will win because the judges want her to win. This is the first year I’ve watched the show, so I have nothing but one year’s perception on this.
Clearly, she got much better judge comments than Lee last night, leading me to believe they’re pitching her as the winner. She is the better of the two, though she resorted to some screaming last night. Still, she’s blossomed as a singer and has gain confidence over the course of the competition.
I’d buy her CD, not his.
A national study conducted by Mediacurves.com among 3,901 American Idol viewers found that Crystal Bowersox was selected as the contestant who should win American Idol Season 9 during the show finale tonight. Crystal received nearly twice as many votes as Lee (66.2% vs. 33.8%, respectively). More results can be seen at http://www.mediacurves.com/Entertainment/J7767-AmericanIdol-5-25-10/Index.cfm
Heh. How’d that poll work for you?
Well, he did say “should” 😉