‘AI’ contest of contrasting styles
By Nadine Kam
Fox photos
Adam Lambert, left, meets his unlikely match, Kris Allen, in a few hours on “American Idol.”
“American Idol” is not just a contest of vocal ability, but also of musical style which this season went hand in hand with dress style as well.
Adam Lambert was a shoo-in from the beginning, winning over screaming adolescents and the judges, which made me think Simon really should retire after this season. After a couple of weeks, I expected the other judges to continue gushing over Adam, while waiting for Simon to provide the voice of reason. I expected him to tell song butcher Adam — like every other contestant who did the same — not to mistake screaming for singing, but he didn’t. It seemed that he had caved to the inevitable, that Adam was going to make it to the finals, no matter how hard he taunted those with pitch-perfect hearing with his over-the-top wailing.
His style — a caricature combo of punk, Goth, glam, rock and Hot Topic chic — likely speaks to those who either missed the ’80s, or want to relive the ’80s.
On the other hand, you have the very laidback troubadour Kris Allen, so low-key in denim and T-shirts, that most viewers regarded him as an invisible man all season.
I thought he was good, but others like Matt Giraud had better stage savvy, and Allison Iraheta, had stronger vocals. It wasn’t until he sang “Falling Slowly” that I really started hoping he made it into the finals. Listen up here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0LISmz8WVc
It was a longshot, but he’s actually there! Fans on YouTube are banking on Danny Gokey fans being so anti-Adam that they’ll give Kris their vote, which got my hopes up again, but they could drop out of voting altogether. Then, you have to remember the battle of the Davids last year. It looked like David Archuleta was the shoo-in there.
So we’ll see, but there could not be two more polar opposites left standing in the end.
