Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Season 15 Finale: Part 2 (Top 2 Revealed & Perform)


Welcome back. After Part 1 last night, which was basically a retrospective on the series, tonight we are back to the competition. Tonight is the last judge's critiques, last time the contestants will sing for votes, last time America will have a say about the show. Tomorrow will be a lot of pomp & circumstance, a lot of past contestants will be back, past winners, the contestants from this season will be back, old judges, and mentors and much more will happen, plus a new American Idol will be crowned, so tonight really is the last real episode of the show. It's crazy. Let's talk Idol history about the contestant to sing last. In 10 out of the 14 prior season finales the contestant that sang last won the show. Only David Cook (Season 7), Lee DeWyze (Season 9), Ruben Studdard (Season 2) and Scotty McCreery (Season 10) sang first and eventually won. Obviously, it's not impossible to sing first and win, nor could it make any difference at all, but it's part of Idol history and needed to be said.

We predicted that Trent and La'Porsha would be in the finale with Dalton coming up just short. We will see. These are our final weekly rankings. Enjoy our last real post-episode blog:

Weekly Rankings
Each week before the contestants perform we will post our rankings of the contestants. The criteria is based on 1. their success on the show, 2. personality, 3. judges & audience response and 4. belief that they could win. Each week we will do a new weekly ranking and let you know if they have risen, fallen or stayed flat in the rankings:
1. LaPorsha Renae (Same As Last Week)
2. Trent Harmon (Same As Last Week)
3. Dalton Rappatoni (Predicted to Go Home) 

Top 3 Perform (Sorta)
Dalton, La'Porsha and Trent sing part of "Stole The Show" by Kygo. It's interesting to hear their voices together, they each are very distinct and not similar to one another at all. They only sing a few lines but it's pleasant enough.

Round 1: Winner's Song
Each contestant will sing their winning song before the person eliminated will be revealed. This make sense, monetarily, in that it gives the audience more of a chance to like the song they are singing and buy it on ITunes or wherever, rather than not have them sing it and get no money. It is a financial thing 100%. I guarantee all of these songs will be released by Idol, no matter which contestant wins.

 Trent Harmon
(Falling-Trent Harmon)
This song does seem to fit Trent really well. It's jazzy, and smooth and fits his voice perfectly. I like the song a lot, it sounds familiar, given it's a brand new song.
[There is no judging this round]
Grade=B+

Dalton Rapattoni
(Strike A Match-Dalton Rapattoni)
The song starts off pretty low, and that is not Dalton's strong suit, that's why he faltered last week. When the song started to get going and his voice broke out from the low it was good. The lyrics didn't hit me very hard, but it was still nice, just not great.
Grade=B-

La'Porsha Renae
(Battles-La'Porsha Renae)
The song is nice, the lyrics are better than Dalton's, but I probably like Trent's song the best out of the three. Her voice is on point. The song allows her those big notes, those runs, and the lyrics mean something to her. It was very good, it can be on the radio for sure.
Grade=B+

Results
First Safe=La'Porsha Renae 
Second Safe=Trent Harmon
Going Home= Dalton Rapattoni. He had a great run. I think last week might have been the spot he probably should have stopped at, but Third Place is a great job by him.
Finale Order
The contestants picked out of a hat and Trent drew the number one spot, meaning that La'Porsha closes out the show. As mentioned above, 10 out of 14 American Idol winners, including all 5 female winners, sang second and then went on to win the show. The last person to win the show singing first was Scotty McCreery 5 years ago. Interesting. We'll see if this means anything or nothing at all.


Round 2: Simon Fuller's Choice aka Executive Producer/Creator's Choice

Trent 
(If You Don't Know Me By Now-Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes)
This is a nice song for sure and it allows Trent to hit some crazy notes at times. I think it's a little old-school and it didn't make him sound super current, but it did sound nice at most times, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Judge's Comments=Keith-Good song for him.  Been extraordinary to see how far he has come. Gonna give La'Porsha a run for her money. It's gonna be the closest vote in Idol history. Jennifer-Have a battle. La'Porsha is amazing, but he is showing people that he isn't gonna lie down, that performance was proof of that. That was amazing. Harry-Incredible song. Feels like they know him. Incredible job.
Grade=B+

La'Porsha
(A House Is Not A Home-Dionne Warwick)
This is also an old-school song. This song was most famously song on Idol in Season 1 by Tamyra Gray, so it's kind of cool to be all full circle with this song. There were a lot of great moments for La'Porsha to hit in this song. It was just lovely. It didn't want me to get up and cheer, but it was just so pleasant to the ear. When the song starts to hit it's stride and get towards the end it really was so tender and powerful at the same time.That last note was perfect. Nicely done.
Judge's Comments=Jennifer-One of  herTop 5 songs of all time. So beautiful. Harry-Greatest things about her is how she keeps lyrics believable. This was one of the most melodically hard songs and she did unbelievable. Did all one can ask for. Keith-Doesn't smoke but needs a cigarette. Smouldering. 
Grade=A-
 
Jennifer Votes=La'Porsha Won Round 1 

Round 3: Contestant's Choice 

Trent
(Chandelier-Sia)
He sang this a couple weeks ago and Harry gave it a 100 out of 100, so that's tough to top. The song started a little slower, but it was right in Trent's wheelhouse, that falsetto was on point. If people like Trent then this performance made you proud because it was tender and hit all the right notes. I like how he brought up some of the notes little by little with more power and more power. It was a beautifully done rendition. He gave La'Porsha a run for her money for sure. Trent starts tearing up.
Judge's Comments=Harry-He should be very proud of that. Made it the hardest decision in American Idol history. Very very strong. Should be very proud. Keith-His vocal transition from chest, into head, into falsetto was so gorgeous. Jennifer- Knew he would be here. Up to America but he couldn't have sang that more beautifully and better. Deserves to win. 
Grade=A

La'Porsha
(Diamonds-Rihanna)
Ironically, this song was also a Sia song, given that she wrote this song as well as Chandelier that Trent just sang. La'Porsha sang this song during Top 10 week and killed it then, tonight was definitely no different. She just does whatever she wants with her voice, she hits the runs, she has that grit in her voice, and hits the falsettos when she needs to. Beautiful job by her. This whole season she has done a beautiful job. La'Porsha starts tearing up as the crowd cheers her name.
Judge's Comments=Keith-Amazing. Singing it's like it's the final. Beautiful job. Jennifer-Watching her sing that song. Has so much control and composure and handled everything so effortlessly and beautiful. Can't wait to go to a show of hers and see her let loose. Harry-Incredible. She is thinking of her baby when singing that song. Amazing.
Grade=A

Our Predictions
Winner=La'Porsha Renae
Explanation=Based on tonight, based on the entire run of the season, La'Porsha deserves to be the winner. I think Trent is an admirable foe, an admirable contestant and one that has peaked at a great time, and has shown so much growth and vocal ability, but La'Porsha's body of work outweighs Trents. If Trent wins over La'Porsha I will be dissapointed but not mad, he was a very strong contestant. But La'Porsha should win American Idol's last winner's crown.

Final Thoughts
*That was the last American Idol performance show. I know that there are rumors that Idol could come back in some shape, all revamped one day, but in the current form as we have known it for 15 years, that was it.

*For his last words of the night Ryan Seacrest said "Seacrest Out". He hasn't said that in a long time. He tried making that his trademark, signature line, but it didn't work. I always enjoyed it, so it's cool he brought it back for tonight's penultimate episode.

*For the first time in at least 4 years, I am going to vote for who I want to be a winner. I remember calling for Clay Aiken, and Carrie Underwood, and David Cook, but it's been awhile, tonight I am breaking the streak and dialing the phone. 

That's it. One more show left. The winner will be crowned, many many former contestants, past winners, judges and mentors will be back for tomorrow's show. Don't miss it. Don't miss our last blog post, it will be a doozy. So until tomorrow night, see ya!

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