We've known for a full week now that Kris Allen managed to capture the Season 8 Miss American Idol crown. It was quite the unexpected surprise, but the dust has settled and I finally have some free time to review the fun musical festivities that lead up to his coronation. It was jammed packed with ten big #1 hits!
The season 8 top 13 finalists opened the show with a preview of what they will bringing on tour this summer. They brought an exuberant version of Pink's #1 smash from earlier this year, So What, to the stage to get things started with some energetic fun. Last year at this time, the audience was surprised to hear that the Season 7 Miss American Idol crown was being awarded to David Cook. In the 12 months that have followed David has struggled to make a dent on the Billboard Hot 100. He started out strong with his winning song, The Time Of My Life peaking at 3, but none of his other singles, Light On or Come Back To Me, came close to matching that success. So he is here tonight trying again to see if donating the proceeds to finding a cure for cancer will help make a hit out of his new song, Permanent.
Season 8 finalist, Lil Rounds then took the stage and never sounded better as she belted out like the true R&B diva that she is along with Queen Latifah. If Lil had done more performances like this every week, she might have made it to the finals. This amazing performance was followed by Jason Mraz singing his recent top 10 hit, I'm Yours, with finalists Alexis Grace and Anoop Desai. It just reminded us that Alexis and Anoop never really were that good anyway.
Awesome country music superstar, Keith Urban joined Kris Allen on stage to perform his latest single, Kiss A Girl. While Keith was incredible as always, nothing about this duet indicated that Kris was about to take the title. Kris was drowned out and overshadowed by Keith the whole time. Kris simply doesn't have the voice or the stage presence to hold his own next to a truly accomplished professional.
The string of #1 hits went into high gear when the top 5 girls then had some fun singing the song that Fergie took to #1 for 2 weeks in 2007, Glamorous. They followed it, along with Fergie herself, on her other #1 song from 2007, Big Girls Don't Cry. After such a hot solo album, Fergie has gone back to the Black Eyed Peas and now they are currently in their 7th big week at #1 on the Billboard HOT 100 with party anthem Boom Boom Pow.
The party then went back to 1984 for a some classic #1 hit duets with the original artists! Season 8 Miss American Idol 3rd Runner Up, Alison Iraheta, gave a heartfelt rendition of Cyndi Lauper's #1 song (2 weeks) Time After Time. The time warp continued as Season 8 Miss American Idol 2nd Runner Up Danny Gokey butchered Lionel Richie's classic ballad, Hello (2 weeks). Lionel then joined him on stage to prevent his tropical dance jam All Night Long that spent 4 weeks at the top of the charts from falling victim to Danny's inability to sing.
The crowd then got their money's worth when Adam Lambert took the mic and showed off his vocal skills with the 1976 top 10 hit power ballad from Kiss, Beth. The stage then erupted in an explosion of high energy fire and power as the classic glam rockers themselves showed up in full make-up to back up Adam singing Detroit Rock City and Rock and Roll All Night. Everything that Adam did on stage exclaimed WINNER and hit maker, but we all know how that ended up turning out....
There was then this weird banjo collaboration that put finalists Michael Sarver and Megan Joy along with comedian Steve Martin. Thankfully it was followed by more #1 hits courtesy of guitar legend, Carlos Santana. Finalist Matt Giraud didn't completely destroy Black Magic Woman, but knowing that it was inevitable if he kept singing solo, the rest of the top 13 joined him on the mega huge smash from 1999 that spent 12 weeks at the top, Smooth. The top 8 boys had some fun with the song that Rod Stewart took to #1 for 4 weeks in 1978, Do Ya Think I'm Sexy. Rod then performed his very first chart topper that spent 5 weeks at #1 in 1971, Maggie May.
Kris Allen and Adam Lambert then took the stage together to declare that We Are The Champions. This outstanding song by Queen went all the way up to #4 in 1977 and the band joined the top two finalists for an exceptional rendition. Seriously, though, Adam completely owned this song while Kris almost disappeared into the background. This is a fact that Kris openly admitted just after Ryan read his name as the winner of the Season 8 Miss American Idol crown. Kris stated, "Adam deserves this" while he was in disbelief with the rest of the audience.
Kris then struggled his way with his limited vocal abilities through the winning single, No Boundaries. For the first 5 seasons of American Idol, they were able to generate a #1 chart topper on the Billboard HOT 100, but that changed with seasons 6 and 7. Does Kris or Adam have what it takes to turn things around and have Season 8 hit the top again? We'll know soon....
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