Live-blogging the American Idol Finale – May 23, 2007
May 24, 2007 by Jeanne
Updates every 10 minutes!
Ryan asks the crowd who is going to win. When he said Jordin Sparks’ name, there was a loud applause. When he said Blake Lewis the audience was audibly louder. What do y’all think?
Blake and Jordin sing the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.” Blake sounds uncomfortable and Jordin is yodelling. Quel surprise! CHEEZY!
Do they look like Sonny and Cher to anyone else?
Ryan talks to Gwen Stefani via satellite. She is singing her song “Four in the Morning.” She used to be so weird and edgy…now she’s mostly weird. I still love her, though.
Ryan says the top 12 will be back with a few surprises after the break.
—commercial break—
Kelly Clarkson performs her new single “Never Again.” She is struggling a teeny tiny bit but she is doing a good job and the band is fantastic. This song is going to be a biatch to sing night after night on tour. Better take some lemon, honey and throat lozenges, Kel!
WTF???
THE GOLDEN IDOLS AWARDS -
Best presentation awards – Margaret Fowler (the one who wore the yellow chicken suit to the audition) won and kissed Ryan until he dropped to the floor. They showed Jennifer Hudson in the audience looking fierce. She said a weird poem and almost refused to leave the stage. Ryan joked that they gave her Simon’s phone number.
Top 6 guys and Take 6 perform – It is so nice to see them again!!! Chris Sligh sounded great (maybe he won’t ruin the Idol tour) and Phil Stacey was amazing. I had almost forgotten about Brandon Rogers and now I remember why.
Smoky Robinson performs. Not sure about his plastic surgery. He kinda reminds me of Battlefield Earth right now but I love his songs!!!! The Top 6 guys sing “Tears of a Clown.” They are doing some snazzy Motown moves there. HOTT!!!
—commercial break—
A spot is shown about the search for the next great American Band.
Blake Lewis performs with Doug E. Fresh and it is OFF THE HOOK!!! I AM SCREAMING!!! I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH!!! THIS BOY IS A SUPA STAR!!!! There is no way that Blake should not win. He’s running all over the place and definitely entertaining. It is a singing competition, however, so I guess entertainment doesn’t really matter.
GOLDEN IDOL AWARDS CONTINUE:
Most Original Vocal - Sholandric Stallworth. He sang “If Ever You’re In My Arms Again” during the auditions and he sounded like the cowardly lion. He’s singing “Silent Night” on request without a microphone. It was still loud.
Top 6 Girls sing “Heard it Through the Grapevine” and it is nice but not as nice as the boys – yet. Here comes Gladys Knight and she looks and sounds good. I still say that the Idol stage is a little cursed for the guests, but whatever. She and the Top 6 girls are singing “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Lakisha and Melinda are singing and the other girls are the “Pips” which is where they belong on this song. The harmonies are great but the boys were better.
—commercial break—
Tony Bennett performs and it is okay but, you know, he’s a legend and you really can’t say much about that.
Golden Idols Awards
Best Buddies: Jonathan and Kenneth won. You’ll remember them as the “big guy” and the one that Simon said looked like a “bush baby.” They showed an actual bush baby and… I can kinda see the resemblance. That’s terrible but I’m being serious. It still was really rude to say!
Bebe and Cece Winans perform with their former back-up singer Melinda Doolittle. Uhh… it sounds like they should be her back-up singers. Those of you who think this is a singing competition – behold! – THIS is a singer.
—commercial break—
Ford Commercial – Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”
. It is a collection of cute moments from the earlier commercials.
Blake and Jordin get brand new Mustangs. Blake makes a Borat joke and says “hi five. I like that!”
Carrie Underwood performs “I’ll Stand By You.” Uhhh… it is interesting. Carrie looks cute, I guess with jeans under a cute dress thingy but her vocals have sounded better. Again, it could be the Idol stage curse that has gotten other people. She is a fantastic artist, though.
Clive Davis shows up to talk about the American Idol album redux. He names Chris Daughtry as the best selling Idol of the past year. He commends Randy, Paula and Simon and then recognizes Jennifer Hudson’s accomplishments. He also talks about showing appreciation for the Idol songwriters (must be a sore spot for Kelly Clarkson) and he talks about Fantasia’s success on Broadway. He talks about the amazing songs and career of Carrie Underwood and presents an award to her for selling over 6 million records for her debut album.
—commercial break—
The African Children’s Choir
sings a rousing and energetic song and their dancing is great! Oh, they are soooo cute!!!
A hilarious montage covering Sanjaya Mania and the announcement that he will be performing with Joe Perry from Aerosmith. They perform “You Really Got Me” and they got the crying girl to come back. Hi-freaking-larious. Sanj’s hair is blowing in the wind. This is ridiculous. Doesn’t Joe Perry look a bit like Criss Angel.
Green Day Performs. THIS FINALE IS JAM-PACKED WITH STARS. Geez, is the charity American Idol tonight? Are the stars out to save this show??? It is starting to feel like a Telethon, lol.
—commercial break—
Taylor Hicks makes an appearance. The beginning sounded a lot like a Ray Charles tune. I still like Taylor. He is a great singer, he might not sing everybody’s favorite style of music but he is talented. I like his charisma too.
Jordin Sparks and Ruben Studdard sing “You’re All I Need” as a duet. It sounds good. It would be nice to have her sing a song mostly on her own like Blake had to with Ruben complimenting her. 80% of that song was them singing together. They also just kinda stood in one place. Oh well. I guess when she wins in 20 minutes, we’ll be hearing a whole lot of her solo work when her album comes out!!!
Did anyone see Jennifer Hudson in the front row? She didn’t seem too enthusiastic but the camera may have caught her at a bad time. You know how cameramen love to do that!
—commercial break—
HOLY CRAP IS BETTE MIDLER DRUNK??? I love her but this is sounding kinda rough. She is a major professional and the Idol Stage Curse should not work against her. This is terrible.
—commercial break—
Kelly Clarkson returns to the stage to pay tribute to Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club. Wow, she’s gained weight. Nothing wrong with it but she could have picked a more flattering outfit. Taylor Hicks returns and sings “A Day in the Life.” Carrie Underwood sings “She” with the top 6 girls providing back-up vocals. This sounds bit rough but that dress is KILLER!!! My gosh Carrie looks amazing. Ruben Studdard sing “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds.” Good grief I need to download some Beatles tunes. Oh I love them!
The group of contestants sing “I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends.” They are having some audio-mixing issues but it’s alright.
—commercial break—
The show is running long so I had to adjust my PVR timer. I know that we are just mere minutes from hearing that Jordin Sparks has won.
Ryan, Jordin and Blake are on stage. 74 million votes came in last night. The winner is JORDIN SPARKS.
HOORAAYYY JORDIN!!!!
The main highlights for me was Blake and Doug E. Fresh…as Randy would say “Yo dog that was hot” and I liked Melinda and the Winans…she looked so happy! I thought the song Jordin and Blake sang was cute. I really could have done without Bette Midler (no offense to anyone) she just didn’t sound good…anyway Tony Bennett bore me too. It was really good to see Stephanie again…wouldn’t it be cool to see Stephanie, Melinda,Lakiesha and Jordin do a song together?? Soul Patrol was another one that didn’t keep my attention…Now Sanjaya…why the heck didn’t he at least rehearse the song and try to sing it better? That was worse than the first time!!!
The show as a whole was ok…it’s a shame Fantasia couldn’t be there.
Jeanne I’m dying to hear your thoughts on the show!
urgent.. i live in panama.. and i would like to know if jordin really won.. or is this a joke?.. and of that 74 million votes, how many were for her=)! bye
Patricia – go to zabasearch.com or dialidol.com for a better breakdown of the voting. She definitely won.
Oh, A’kyra. I thought this was a rough night for some. That performance by Blake and Doug E. Fresh was probably the most amazing performance I have ever seen on American Idol. It was incredible! I thought the same thing when I saw Stephanie. The outcome of this season made me long for the ones that were voted off. Ugh. What did you think of Jordin and Ruben? They pretty much stood there and sang together. That sums it up. I was a bit disappointed by that. I wish Tasia had been able to be there. It wasn’t the same without her. Carrie Underwood seemed to struggle a bit tonight too. Man, though, Kelly can eat cookies but she should spend some serious dough on a new, more flattering wardrobe. That outfit at the end made her look huge!!!
Kelly was frickin HOT tonight. WOW!! So nice to see her doing things her way for a change.
Umm…A’kyra..don’t diss on Bette Midler, ok? She was there for the gay fans. lol
Go Jordin! I’m so glad she won.
Tall Freak, I knew this morning that you would be happy. It’s okay. I still like your site.
Melinda was incredible, by the way, A’kyra. Man, that must have felt really good!
LOL…TallFreak I wasn’t trying to diss her per say…lol…I just don’t think she fit in the show that well…ordinarily she is a great performer to her fans but I just wasn’t feeling it last night…lol
Ok, no one has said anything about Taylor Hicks…LMAO!!! Did he seriously win Idol last year…LOL…that was comedy for me watching him twitch around the stage….I was praying he didn’t fall off that little stage they have behind the judges…he came close a couple times….that would have made the night for sure
Jordin and Ruben’s performance was ok but they did just stand around…but both of them are not big on moving around a lot.
Kelly’s wardrobe…she should have had a plan B and a mirror, but I guess Sanjaya was hogging all the mirrors so we will forgive her this time.
The montage—ummm, Kelly did good despite the “muffin top”, Carrie was ok, then I drifted off. It definitely was NOT the best they have done. It kind of dragged.
I really enjoyed the girls singing with Gladys…that was good EXCEPT…Haley could have stayed home. I still don’t think she was good enough to be in the top anything really. She just didn’t fit right in the whole performance. I think they should create a show called America’s worst Idol and then Sanjay, Haley, Antonella, John P Lewis, Cory Clark, Jasmin Trias and you can even throw in Mikalah Gordon just b/c she’s annoying…oh that girl annoyed the heck out of me that season…UGH!
Anyway, with all the scandal that went down this season, the top 10 really should be the top 8 and it would be a better show. (I’m sure you can figure out the 2 we can do without) And I don’t mean to offend all the Sanjaya and Haley fans but wake up they are a joke to the competition and way out of their league…sorry but it’s true.
OH! No one has said anything about the Big Eye Baby! How funny was that?!! Why they put that picture up of that monkey??? That boy looked just like it…and they sponsored him and named him Simon…too funny! I thought the big kid was going to have a heart attack though….why they exploit those boys like that…lol
The African Childrens Choir was awesome…they were too cute…I loved it!
Anything else we forget to cover???
Dang it! Blake totally should have one. Jordin is good, yeah, but Blake!!! He’s an awesome singer, beat-bocker, and performer. Total package. America made a mistake.
Snowballa…I was entertained by your response truely I was. Blake is a great performer I agree.
However, I don’t think his voice is as strong as Jordin’s. They both are not perfect, who really is, but Jordin does have the stronger voice. Blake is a great entertainer and beat-boxer (not sure what a “bocker” is LMAO) and no one can take that from him but would you honestly buy his album with either 10-15 tracks of beat boxing or 10-15 tracks of him singing???? I just don’t think the majority of America is ready or even hip to the beat boxing. But on a good note, you should be happy for him b/c now he can do what he wants and not worry about being under the American Idol umbrella so to speak.
Both Jordin and Blake really come out winners in all this. They both got a car and recognition…both will have an album it’s just Jordin is now stuck under the AI thing…so Blake can just really move on, which is what he wanted anyway…so don’t be upset that Jordin “one”, oops I mean WON!!!
LOL
The name of the Beatles song Taylor Hicks sang is “A Day in the Life,” not “Turn You On.”
That Beatles “She” song sung by Carrie was terrible I thought. Extremely boring. Not Carrie’s fault though.
THANK YOU, CHRISTINA!!! I could not find the name of it anywhere and I knew it was wrong. They should invent something that you can sing into to get the names of songs since it’s kinda hard to find that info by googling lyrics. I’m fixing it right now!!!
Snowballa, I feel your pain and I understand what you mean but I do have to stay as neutral as possible.
A’kyra – what would this site be without you??? You are hilarious and sometimes border on cranky (lmao). That bush baby thing was hilarious. I actually had to work somewhere else last night (can you believe that?!?!? On the biggest night for my site???) but they let me periodically check-in and update so I wasn’t able to get all the goodies in that I would have liked. You are right, Ruben and Jordin are not big “movers.” I hope that doesn’t mean that they are going to have similar careers
Tall Freak, I love Carrie (the song was pretty boring) but didn’t find her singing a bit rough all night? It’s so uncharacteristic of her since she’s almost always near flawless. She looked hott in that dress at the end, though.
LOL…cranky…I guess I do get a little cranky…but sometimes the comments that people write take me for a loop. But, that was messed up they brought that boy out there like that bugging his eyes out! When they switched to the screen and showed that monkey…I died laughing! That was messed up, but funny.
haha J/K
I have to agree with both you and TallFreak that Carrie’s song was a little boring and she did in fact have a couple rough spots all night but she’s cool…I love Carrie I predicted her to win the first time I saw her during the first auditions.
Ok Jeanne, talk to me about “Soul Patrol”…LMAO! And I see you stayed away from my Bette Midler comment but you have to admit she jumped on the Sanjaya ship with that performance last night….goodness what was that about!!!! Sorry TallFreak I know that’s your girl and al
Ok so now we have to hear Jordin’s song like a million times right??!!! I am already tired of hearing it. They played it on the radio at least 20 times already today…good thing the radio version has no yodelling! But I guess it’s better than hearing Sanjaya butcher songs up!
You know what would have been hilarious though…to see Sanjaya and Blake have a beat box challenge….just for the comedy of it all…ok maybe not.
XOXOX
A’kyra – did you see how many comments were on here today??? It’s after midnight and I am just catching up. It’s great, though!!!
That bush baby thing just about made me pee my pants. I could not believe it.
Taylor…hmmm…yeah… You almost had to feel sorry for him a bit, didn’t you? I actually kinda like Taylor but holy moly that song was terrible!!!
I haven’t heard Taylor’s song, lol. My local station played Blake a few times but not more than 10 seconds of Jordin – at least not this morning. I heard it 3 times from watching tv and I’m tired, lol.
A BEAT BOX CHALLENGE WITH SANJAYA?!?!?!? Okay, seriously. Where do you come up with this stuff? You should have your own show!
HAHAHAHA…Seriously though don’t you think it would be hilarious to hear Sanjaya trying to beat box??!!!
No girl they are killing Jordin’s song down here! I have heard it so many times already. Every channel has her on it singing that song…ugh! She was on Extra last night and sang it…Blake was on Extra too and he did a little beat boxing but that’s it…have you seen any of his interviews from yesterday??? Poor Blake he was ssoooo messed up…you can tell he had a great night out! Haha
*boxer…. opps
A’kyra – It would be awesome to see Sangina (lol) beatboxing. LMAO, poor Blake. I wish I could have seen that!
Snowballa – it’s all good.