Idol 8: We have a winner!

Rousing opening number with the top 13? Check.
Plugging good social causes? Check.
Mock awards ceremony? Check.
Performances from popular artists and Idol also-rans? Check.
Big, surprise result? Check!

Wait, what?

Yes, to practically everyone’s surprise, it was a come-from-behind win for Kris. I can say with confidence that the judges must have been surprised when they found out, since they’d practically crowned Adam last week. Simon’s even made predictions about Adam weeks previous to that, culminating in last night’s pronouncement that the purpose of a show like American Idol was to discover talent like Adam.

Which begs the question: did Kris deserve the win? Was it just a case of underdog votes, and complacency on the side of Adam’s fans? Did the majority of Danny’s fans move over to Kris? Maybe America just didn’t like the “screaming”? Was there a (gasp!) homophobia element to the voting?

Just shy of 100 million votes for the final show. Let’s take a moment to absorb that number shall we? [Waits a moment.] Ok, moving on.

I think most people agree that Kris represented the dark-horse of the top three, and then the final two. There’s no denying Adam’s vocal skill, and he is quite a performer. The judges summarized it nicely last night though. Kris has grown tremendously over the period of the competition, and has revealed a confident ability to put an original spin to different types of songs. And throughout, he hasn’t strayed far from his soft-rock vocal sound. His popularity has been steadily increasing, coming from behind and quietly overtaking other popular choices.

Yes, he deserved the win. Congratulations to Kris Allen on winning the eighth season of American Idol!

And before we say good night, how ’bout some highlights from the finale (all with a grin – just different kinds): encore performance from Norman Gentle; Black Eyed Peas!; the new and “improved” Bikini Girl; Kara’s wardrobe malfunction; Danny Gokey and Lionel Ritchie!; the masterful stylings of Carlos Santana; Kris’ surprise and humility.

Ok. It was a good show. Good night! :-)