Adam Lambert made the most recent cover of Entertainment Weekly - alone - and last night the judges confirmed his superiority, stopping just short of coronating him.
Simon Cowell chose the U2 song "One" for Adam, making a point to mention that Bono is a close personal friend of his. Even with Simon's honor on the line, Adam didn't disappoint. Paula Abdul trembled. "One brilliant song, one superb performance, one American Idol that I'm staring at right now," she said.
For himself, Adam chose Aerosmith's operatic "Cryin'" and hit every high note he could, even the ones that didn't deserve it.
"I'm not going to suck up quite as much as the other three," said Simon, who nonetheless reminded voters that Adam deserves the title based on, well, talent.
But Danny Gokey and Kris Allen aren't going down without a fight. Initially, Danny underwhelmed with Paula's pick, Terence Trent D'arby's "Dance Little Sister." Kara DioGuardi and Simon were distracted by his "desperate" dancing. (Paula played the choreographer card to say that Danny's dancing was just fine.)
He made up for it with a "You Are So Beautiful To Me" that amped up the gospel, rhythm and blues. The judges were breathless. "I would call that a vocal master class," said Simon.
Kara and Randy Jackson chose One Republic's "Apologize" for Kris Allen. (If you didn't recognize the song, you should feel bad about yourself. Wikipedia says that "Apologize" was the most legally downloaded song in U.S. digital history in 2008.) The highest compliment Kris got from the panel was "competent."
Simon admitted he had written Kris off - until Kris sang his own choice, Kanye West's "Heartless." In short, Kris brought it.
"I like that version better than Kanye's version," said Randy.
Simon mused that Kris just may have turned it around.
On "Dancing With the Stars": Melissa Rycroft and Ty Murray landed in the bottom two, and tears welled up in Melissa's eyes, who clearly expected to be going home. But it was cowboy Ty and Chelsea Hightower who got the boot, leaving a final three couples who are far more evenly matched.
The judges called fan favorite Ty "most improved," which, while true, is vaguely insulting. "Where others have climbed hills, you climbed mountains," said Len Goodman.
Ty took it all in good humor. "Teaching me how to dance is like teaching a blind guy how to paint," he said. "I just tried to remember the steps."
Wow what a shocker!!! I was absolutely blown away with Gilles as I am sure many people who watched were. Not taking anything away from Shawn but Gille was far and above. It was hard to tell who was the pro and who was the Student. I believe he was robbed of the trophy. People should call for a Danceoff as they did with John O'Hurley.
GO KRIS!! Kris's voice is so much better than Adam's, and Kris can sing most anything whereas Adam is stuck on hard rock and screetching. I'll be giving all of my votes for Kris and hope you do, too!
i luv adam lambert and he deserves to win so Vote for him next week
You dont have to copy and paste your comment on every single american idol blog on the internet. we got the point. your obsessed with adam
Adam is AMAZING@! He is so talented and has entertained us all season. He has earned the Idol crown. Vote Adam@! I am also proud of Adam because I work for the VA and while Adam was home he went to Miramar to sing for the troops and their families. He also visited the kids at his high school drama and signing departments and went back to the performing arts center where he started performing. He is truly the most talented and should win American Idol Vote Adam!