I'm Down off the Ledge (and giving love to Kris)

OK. Kris won. It’s been a week and I will learn, in time, to forgive. Now to restore order to the cosmos, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and President Obama need to give Adam a Grammy and a Presidential Medal of Honor, respectively, for making Kiss sound good.

Seriously, here’s what great about Kris. The last seasons prior to this one Jordin Sparks, and then David Cook, came from back in the pack to win. They each beat out the early, presumptive favorite (Melinda Doolittle and David Archuleta) by getting better each week and gaining momentum until they created a buzz. Kris followed in their footsteps. It became enjoyable watching Kris grow into his stardom as it was with Jordin, and David C.

Listen to Matchbox Twenty/Rob Thomas or The Fray and you can hear Kris and understand that he can be a credible artist. With the right songs, he can be a star beyond his first CD. Forget his looks – certainly to his advantage and a large part of his success – because he does also have an exceptional ability to create an emotional bond with his listeners in the way that the above bands have (as the Kris Lovin' Ladies have insisted). He really can sing, too, when the song is right for him and the fun of Kris is that the right songs can be quite unexpected – She Works Hard for the Money and Heartless were pure magic. And Ain’t No Sunshine? In the Finals, that was just plain one of the best Idol performances I’ve ever seen.

The challenge for Kris will be to get good enough material that establishes him as more than a pretty boy with a built-in following from idol as opposed to a real artist who will be around for the long haul. The other challenge will be for him to grow even faster now into stardom. The “Adam is way better than me” thing works best if he believes - and acts like he believes – that he’s good, too.

Adam, as runner-up is more than fine. He already is a star and winning or losing Idol will mean nothing to his success. He is far and away the most captivating performer ever on Idol. Even if you didn’t like his singing, he commanded your attention. I believe that “losing” has already enhanced his career as the shock of his finishing second has generated even more media and public attention than he had before. I know I cited stats in my last entry but here’s another one: YouTube videos for Kris – 2,930; for Adam – 8,640.
Speaking of video, here is an amazing one that recently surfaced and, speaking of star power, the song was just made into a single for iTunes! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvwcJUhIa0U

A story about the video (one of many) can be found here: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1608947/20090409/story.jhtml

This was a typically fun, funny and frustrating Idol Season. My competitiveness, criticality and passion for music always get the best of my objectivity. My favorites NEVER win and probably never will. Next year, my heart will be broken by another Alexis just as it was Asia’h the year before and Sabrina the year before that. I stay more upset about good singers that leave too soon rather than good singers who don’t win.

I look forward to the careers of Kris and Adam. I hope that we hear from Allison and Danny, too. And I promise to keep up the banter throughout the off-season. Expect to see me comment soon on the Elliott Yamin concert I went to Sunday as well as his new CD (I LOVE it!).