Last night was the season finale of American Idol and the two-hour special definitely had tons of surprises in store for us. Not only was it the season 9 finale, but it was aslo Simon Cowell’s last show. The night was full of suprise performances, farewell video montages for Simon, and lots of great music. At the end of the 2 hours, Lee DeWyze took home the title of the season 9 American Idol.
Lee was definitely the underdog this season. A paint salesmen from Illinois, Lee came pretty far this season and came out of his shell. He ended his night with a cover of U2’s “Beautiful Day,” which will be released as his first single. He rocked it out in his final performance and with nothing left on the line, he gave, what I thought, was his best performance of the season. Tons of viewers were outraged that Crystal Bowersox was a mere runner-up, but I don’t think we’ve heard the last of her yet. Who knows, maybe Idol judge, Ellen DeGeneres, will sign Mama Sox to her new record label, Eleven Eleven.
Aside from the winner of the night, the finale featured tons of surprise guests and performances, including Hall and Oates, Bret Micheals, Michael McDonald, Christina Aguilera and Ms. Nasty herself, Janet Jackson. All the past Idols (minus David Cook) took to the stage in a tribute performance for Simon, and even past contestants like Justin Guarini, Blake Lewis and Elliot Yamin took to the stage to honor him. The cherry on top was an awkward performance from comedian Dane Cook, while Paula Abdul brought back the crazies as she told Simon that the show will definitely go on without him (since she knows well from experience).
While the night was a big farewell to Simon, the finale seemed more like the very end of American Idol. Without Simon around, what would be the point to watch anyway? I’m definitely not sure if I’ll tune in next season.
