Introducing your season nine "American Idol:" Lee Dewyze. In a battle between two tremendously talented contestants, DeWyze was able win America's votes and be crowned champion. After a tough set of performances last night, DeWyze was able to pull out the victory and what many considered an upset over runner up Crystal Bowersox. DeWyze was consistent throughout the season, giving great performance week after week and really honing his skills. DeWyze grew an incredible amount throughout the season and was able to turn himself into an "American Idol."
Some statistics: each finalist was able to survive 18 different cuts, neither finalist was ever in the bottom two, and, before last night's votes, less than 2% of the votes separated the two contestants. It was likely an extremely close vote, especially considering how last night's performances went for DeWyze, but he was able to pull out the victory and become this season's winner.
A number of performances compounded the emotional night, which not only saw DeWyze crowned "American Idol," but also the farewell to longtime judge and "Idol" staple, Simon Cowell. It was an emotional but entertaining night and a great end to the season.
Each of the two finalists performed tonight, giving America one last look at their abilities before DeWyze was named the winner. Crystal Bowersox performed first, singing Ironic by Alanis Morissette. This is one song that I had hoped Bowersox would perform all season and I was more than satisfied with it tonight. Morissette joined Bowersox onstage for the remainder of the performance, as they sang You Oughta Know. Out of all The Combined performance tonight, this was easily my favorite.
Lee Dewyze took the stage with Chicago, performing a medley of hits. DeWyze's voice fit their soft rock style remarkably well, infusing his gravely vocals into their already classic music. The group is always a hit whenever they perform and it was a nice choice, given DeWyze's personal connection to the band. (He himself is from Chicago.) It was a really nice solo performance from DeWyze before the "Idol" vote was revealed.
Besides learning the winner of "Idol," there were a number of extremely exciting performances throughout tonight's episode:
Reuniting for the last time tonight, the top twelve contestants sang the Alice Cooper hit, School's Out. It was great to see contestants we hadn't seen in a while, including Andrew Garcia, Siobhan Magnus, and Didi Benami. Alice Cooper even joined the group onstage, singing the song with the passion that it couldn't really achieve as a group number. Overall, it was a very energetic and fun performance and a great way to start the "Idol" season finale.
Last season's winner, Kris Allen took the stage, singing his hit The Truth. I much preferred tonight's performance to Allen's performance earlier this season; he was able to perform a song much more suited to his personal style and his voice sounded spot on. I had never heard the song before and, actually, rather enjoyed it. Allen was most impressive when he went up to the higher notes in the bridge and last chorus (despite the crack) and it was clear he was completely immersed in the song. I thought the performance should have had a bit bigger ending, but I enjoyed it, nonetheless.
The show also took a nice look back at Simon Cowell's work throughout all nine seasons of "Idol." It featured several of Simon's best comments, including "That was extraordinary...unfortunately it was extraordinarily bad," "It sounded like a cat being thrown off the Empire State Building," and "If you win this contest, we will have failed." Dane Cook performed a "special song" based off of some of Simon's more favorite quotes, entitlEd Simon Said. I loved his line, "Simon, you have the honesty of Abe Lincoln and the charm of the guy who shot him." Cook was quite cleverly joined by some of the more memorably terrible performers throughout "Idol's" history, though it was unceremoniously interrupted by one of the group, Ian Bernardo, who took Cook's mic in what he called a "Kanye moment." Needless to say, the camera quickly pulled away from the action and went to commercial. Too bad. The song was fairly entertaining.
