Welcome back Idol fans. We’re finally at the end of this ride and the best public news I heard on the entire show, Randy is leaving. No More Yo Dawg, In it to win it, or Sing the phonebook. Does anyone even get a phonebook anymore? I thought that’s what Google and Bing were for. But I digress. Okay.. The show opens and for a change, the judges are seated and we don’t have to witness their stagger across the stage. This is a good thing IMO, I’ve said all along these shows should be about the contestants, not the judges.

In case you have been living under a rock or simply don’t watch the show and somehow just stumbled across this site and recap (welcome, if that’s the case), the two finalists are Kree Harrison and Candice Glover. They are at the Nokia Theater for this finale (as usual) with 7000 in attendance. Ryan polls the audience for who the favorite is and it seemed those cheering for Kree were the loudest but it’s probably a 50/50 split. He calls the show, Country vs Soul and I’m sure you know which is which. They will each do three songs. First will be one chose by Simon Fuller (American Idol creator), second will be the single to be released by whomever wins, and third, contestant favorite from the season. The last girl – girl finale? Season 3. The last girl winner? Season 6.

Either of these two ladies could take it and I doubt the other will just fade away. There was a coin toss after last week’s show to determine who would go first this week. Kree won that toss and chose to go first. Personally, I think this may have been a strategic mistake. She gave up the pimp spot on the show by doing that. I say that because regardless of how great next to last performance is, the Last one always makes the most lasting impression in my opinion. That’s why I call it the pimp spot. By now, people have chosen their favorite and that is who they are likely voting for no matter what so in this case, it may not matter who sings when.

I’m not going to bother with judge’s comments. Thankfully they were few and if you’ve been reading, mean very little to me anyway (except when I think they are attempting to push one singer ahead of the others). I’ll touch briefly on each of the ladies and then we’ll get to the results show (which at this point, hasn’t aired yet).

Kree Harrison. Simon’s choice for her, I thought was a good one, Sarah McLachlin’s “Angel”. You all know the song.. It’s the tear jerker that the ASPCA uses for their commercials showing all the sad abused and abandoned animals. Without the animals though, this song doesn’t hit me the same way. Next song, “All Cried Out”. This is the one that will be released as a single if she wins. Last song, her favorite from the season, “Up To The Mountain” by Patty Griffen. This is a staple song for Kree. If you’ve checked her out on YouTube you will see it quite a bit. It’s the song that cinched her spot on the show when they were in Las Vegas. When I heard they would be rehashing their favorite performance, I hoped, that it would be this song because I think, it’s when I really fell in love with her singing. I don’t know what genre I would place the song in but it’s a go to for singing contestants when they want to church it up a bit. The song was written about Martin Luther King Jr’s “I’ve Been To The Mountain” speech given the day before he got shot in Memphis. The song has also been covered on Idol by Kelly Clarkston and Crystal Bowersox. I love my Kree but, for my money, Crystal’s version really blew me away and in fact, I think she’s released her own version. Overall, I think Kree did what she was there to do with all three songs. She didn’t go over the top with any of them, she just gave them that Kree tone, and sang the songs. Something that I really appreciate.  Now it’s in the fingers of the voters.

Now for all you Candice Glover fans… Simon’s choice for Candice was “Chasing Pavements” by Adele. The song is new to me. I will say this, if anyone can pull off an Adele song, it’s Candice. No denying that. I’ve seen some singing contestants attempt it with painful results. Like Kree, I thought the song choices fit their style so, thumbs up to Simon for getting it right. Her winner’s song was called “I Am Beautiful”. Again, good fit (for both of them).. I can’t really say however, that I cared for either (winner’s single) song. Maybe it’s I who has no taste in music. Candice is an R&B singer and this one seemed a bit poppy. Last song, “I Who Have Nothing”. Apparently this song is older than dirt. Or at least as old as I am and it has been covered by everyone and their grandparents. Including, Ben E. King. Kind of a surprise to me. I thought it was a more modern song but until writing this recap, never looked it up. Doesn’t matter I guess, You Candice fans know she did her thing with it. Watchers of the show would expect nothing less from her.

At this point, I would say it’s anybody’s game and it will come down to preference of genre. That is, do the voters want a country blues type singer to win (Kree) or do they want a R&B-Soul type singer to win (Candice). You already know my choice. Unless you have a strong preference for one or the other, there is no clear cut winner here. That wraps the show and the competition. A question raised by my YT recapper, Janet at Madrosed, is an interesting one. What happens to the single from the runner up? Actually I don’t think they’ve been recorded yet but if they have, what happens? I know there are miles and miles of tape on a shelf somewhere with (good) music that we’ll never hear. There are billions of bytes and bits of digital recordings, that we’ll never hear for one reason or another. But, with those, likely we don’t know the ‘artists’. Personally, I think both should be released, though the winner gets the Interscope contract. Let’s see who that will be, Shall we?

Results Show

Here we go… Disclaimer: I don’t know the names of any of the songs done on the show and this is going to be a little bit out of order. They’re back. All 10 of them and the show opens with that never die a deserving death kidsbop song. It went on forever and for me, wasn’t fun to watch. In fact, just about every performance went on forever and just about every one was pushing some artist’s new stuff. Just about…

The opening number wasn’t the only group sing there was to endure. Both the top 5 guys did one and the top 5 girls. Both of these went on forever. The songs (yes, plural) the guys were doing sounded a bit familiar and then it happened.. They staggered out Frankie Vali. Why? I get that he was once some sort of heart throb and I also get he’s still working (I think) but the guy looks like death warmed over. Later in the show, the girls did a thing with Aretha Franklin, via satellite from New York. Seems she won’t or cannot fly. I didn’t catch which. The girls were her backup singers and we really didn’t get to hear much of them. Normally I would have been excited about this performance but Aretha is getting on and she isn’t sounding very good. Maybe it was an impromptu thing and she wasn’t fully prepared. They did the Aretha classics but she clearly can’t hit the notes anymore. She seemed to drop out (sound) whenever there was to be one. Those of us listening to Aretha all these years, know where they should be. The whole thing was just a little bit sad to me. It reminded me of watching Elvis Presley’s last concert film. If you saw it you’ll know what I mean. Instead of Elvis the pelvis, we got a knee wiggle as he walked around passing out sweaty scarves and I’m not so sure that isn’t because his knees weren’t about to collapse from under him. Enough about the dead man and back to Aretha.. It was just sad to me to see the ‘queen of soul’ losing her stuff. I think her years of weighing 400+ pounds have taken their serious toll on her. As I said, we didn’t hear anything from the girls except backup and I could barely hear that. Enough about the Geritol squad part of the show.

Other performances were done by Janelle Arthur with The Band Perry. Amber Holcumb got her chance to shine again as did Angie Miller. Angie did a duet with Adam Lambert for one song and then they were joined by Angie’s idol. Jessie Jane (?). I guess this woman is doing a new album and will be touring the UK to release it and invited Angie to do her winner single (if she had won) with her at one of her shows. That or do a youtube video or something. Angie chose the show. Candice Miller did a duet with Jennifer Hudson. Again, don’t know the song but for space filler, it was a good job.

There was a bit from the guys about why there were none of them in the final 5 (because they didn’t deserve to be). Sabotage. Kree talked Curtis Finch into wearing that ridiculous jacket and he got eliminated. Hint from Curtis… Anytime Randy Jackson likes your jacket, Change it. Janelle changed the notes on Lazaro’s sheet music so that’s why he couldn’t sing in key. Devin’s drink got dosed with sleepy time meds. One of the girls told Paul Jolly to make jokes on stage. Boom, gone. The one behind this conspiracy against the guys, Jordan Sparks… Why? None of them play guitar (as the last 5 winning guys do).

There was also a bit about the judges from the contestants. They nailed all of the judges quirks. Randy’s sayings, Mariah’s sleepiness and over use of the word, Dahling, Keith’s over zealous enjoyment of the songs, and Nicki’s, style. Their spoofing Nicki was the funniest part. The wigs and outfits. It ended with Devin in the interview chair wearing a blue wig and then when he got up to walk away, wearing leopard stretch pants with a huge butt implant. This part of the show was worth watching for that part alone.

Both Kree and Candice got to ‘invite’ their mentors to the final show. Candice brought her grandmother and Kree brought her friend who performs with her quite often. Both were given Ford Fiestas. Last week, voters were invited to decide what cars, Kree and Candice would get. Each got a Ford Escape (later in the show).

I don’t remember what point of the show it happened and it doesn’t matter. For some strange reason, they wheeled out Jennifer Lopez and Pit Bull to do some number. Why? Of all the performances of the night (Including Aretha’s satellite, and Frankie Vali drooling all over the stage), this is the only one that had me going, OMG, Did That Ever Suck. Hell, Give me Lazaro instead (and you know how I feel about that guy).. At least he was a contestant on the show.

Three of the judges took the stage. One did not. Guess which one? Mariah stood on top of a platform doing a medley of some of her songs with Randy playing guitar with the band (at least he doesn’t try to sing I’m not even sure this was live. The dress she had on, I’m certain she had to be carried out and placed on top of that platform. Complete with her bedazzled microphone and mic stand. I guess we were supposed to see how a pop diva does it. If you like Mariah’s music, you may have enjoyed it. I didn’t. Keith and his band did one of his newer songs and I gotta say, it didn’t suck. Later, Kree got to perform with Keith (guitar), Randy (bass), and Travis Barker (drummer from Blink-182) as her backup band. She looked like she had fun with it and was the only one singing so I won’t trash the idea. Nicki, remained seated at the judge’s table during the entire show. I wonder why (yes, that’s me being sarcastic)? For all of the performances from everybody during the night, I have to say that Keith’s were the only ones I actually enjoyed.

It’s official folks. After 12 years, the last holdout from the original set of judges, Randy Jackson, is leaving the show. I’ve heard all of them are as well as Nigel Lithgo (sp) but Randy is the only one who got a sendoff montage. Maybe no one gives a shit about the other three. I know I don’t. I’ve busted Randy’s chops for years for holding on too long but I guess you could say he’s had a good run and milked it for all it was worth. I hate to admit it but, the panel won’t be the same without The Dawg. Who am I going to slam? I’m sure Idol’s producers will provide me with someone worthy of my weekly venom. For now, I’ll just say, Goodbye Randy.

I think that’s about it and if I missed anyone or anything, Oh well. Click the AI Banner to watch the shows. Let’s get to the reason we are here. Kirin, for the last time this season, Dim the lights, Here we go….. The winner is? Candice Glover. I’m not shocked or even a bit surprised. I don’t think Kree was either. I said above I think this vote would come down to genre preference and though I cannot verify that it did, one won out over the other. Both of them deserved to win but only one can. At least this wasn’t an Adam Lambert – Kris Allen moment. Congratulations, Candice. After 3 years (she’s been there twice before), you’ve finally made the show and won.

There you go kids. Another season of Idol in the can. Thanks for reading along. See you next time.

Peace, MTH.