Adam Lambert Vs Kris Allen for American Idol Season 8 Title

In what some may call a shocker, Kris Allen pulls into the American Idol Season 8 finals. Danny Gokey has been the emotional favorite since the beginning, and has never fallen into the bottom three. After last night (and several others), America voted the correct two finalists through.

Kris Allen has been called the 'dark horse' throughout this season of Idol. Every time he has a great week, he slips back into his tentative karaoke style and takes two steps back. Kris Allen does not have the voice for karaoke. Like James Blunt, he will never sound good trying to mimic the style of anyone else. He has to be Kris Allen. If he is, he could actually win.

Adam Lambert on the other hand, has been the leader from the start. AI producers even hid his talent from us until the very last minute. This seems like Adam Lambert's time. There is just one little thing left to deal with, Kris Allen.

I did not think anyone would be able to compete with Adam Lambert this season. The minute I heard "Satisfaction", I knew we had our winner. Then we got to hear "Mad World" and I hummed it for several days. With last week's "Whole Lotta Love", I was sure it was over.

Last night Adam Lambert had a bad night, if you want to call it that. It was still vocally superior to both other AI finalists. For the first time though, Adam seemed boring on the first song. The second song started horrendously and did not improve much (at Adam's level). There was a sound issue that made everything sound sharp, and you could tell Adam knew it.

Kris Allen has now delivered an equal number of hits this season. First with "Ain't No Sunshine", his first complete re-work. Then "She Works Hard for the Money", his second complete re-work (seeing a trend?). Last night's "Heartless" was the best offering from Kris Allen yet. He just knows how to re-interpret a song.

Ryan Seacrest said that over 88 million votes were cast last night after American Idol. Only 1 million votes separated the top two. If Kris Allen has a good week next week, this could be a very close AI final.

I still think that Adam Lambert will win. Actually Adam Lambert should win. He is just more prepared than Kris, I think. Even a second place finish should be enough to force Kris to put out some more great music. Simon Cowell said that next week may wind up being a "big ding dong". He said that was a good thing. Let's hope he's right... oh wait, he's Simon Cowell, he's always right.
To see the videos of last night's performances, check out: TV Review.