American Idol 11: Finale

US Air Date:
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 (8-10:07pm)

UK Air Date:
Friday, May 25, 2012 (9-11pm, ITV2)

The 2 hour and 7 minute finale starts right off with the Top 12 performing “Runaway Baby.” I have to say, I absolutely love this song! But I’m surprised they did it tonight because as far as I can recall, I don’t remember the group ever performing a song that one of them already did individually in a previous week–Joshua provided one of my favorites of his with this song way back when.

A world record has been set, people! 132 million votes were cast this week. Now, why are they saying “world” record and not just a record? Isn’t this American Idol? And aren’t only Americans allowed to vote? Unless they mean out of all the singing competition shows around the world, this is a world record. And even if that’s what they mean, that’s still a ridiculous thing to say because of course America would be the country with the most votes–do you realize how many people are living on this land? Anyway, sorry for that rant.

Phillip Phillips and John Fogerty perform “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” and “Bad Moon Rising.”

Video: A look back at some of the best judges moments during the auditions–very funny.

Joshua Ledet, aka Mantasia, and his original female counterpart, Fantasia, perform “Take Me to the Pilot.” This is beyond epic, what with the two having almost a battle for who could wail the most. And wow, Fantasia–what long hair you have. Many of us have been wanting these two to pair up for the longest time now. I know I’m not the only one who has been tweeting Nigel Lythgoe and Fantasia to try to make this happen, and now it has, and I could easily just go to bed now and forget about the rest of the show.

Video: A montage of clips of Jimmy Iovine mistaking Jennifer Lopez’s first name for Jessica. And at one point, he says “Joshica” when referring to Joshua Ledet.

The Top 12 girls perform “Ain’t Nobody” and “Through the Fire,” then are joined by Jessica Sanchez and Chaka Khan on “I’m Every Woman.” And I’m sorry, but Chaka sounds terible here–she’s way too shouty.

Ford Music Video: “I Was Here,” set to a montage of footage from all the music videos. Afterwards, the Top 2 give Ford cars to someone they know who has inspired them, mentors of sorts (Jessica’s is a close family friend and P2′s is his brother-in-law). Then Jess and P2 get Ford cars as well, as is customary on this show. I wonder, does Jess even have her driver’s license?

Rihanna performs “Where Have You Been.” Lasers everywhere!

Skylar Laine teams up with Reba McEntire on Reba’s hit “Turn On the Radio.” I love this song, and remember when Lauren Alaina sang it perfectly last year. This is a brilliant pairing, and I would easily buy this song if the two of them recorded it, or even if the live recording was released on iTunes.

Video: Steven Tyler takes us into his dressing room, or rather, it’s more like some separate building like a bungalow or something. He’s got a sloth and Playboy Playmates in there.

Jessica Sanchez performs “I Will Always Love You.” Just as beautiful the second time around.

The Top 12 guys (minus P2) perform “America,” “Crackling Rosie” and “I’m a Believer” (the last being a song that the very young viewers of this show probably are under the impression it originally came from Shrek), then Neil Diamond joins then on “Sweet Caroline.” (Neil doesn’t really sing so much as he talks his way through the song.)

Video: A clip montage of Randy Jackson saying countless times, “You can sing the phone book.” So to pay tribute to one of Randy’s most over-used phrases, we also get a video of the Top 12 (minus the Top 2) in choir robes and literally singing the phone book. It’s kinda cheesy, but I actually find myself really enjoying it. There’s a moment near the end where Johsua goes off on his wailing and the others get exasperated–hilarious.

Jennifer Lopez takes to the stage to lip-sync her way through two songs. And Rihanna’s lasers make a return here.

Do you remember season 3 runner-up Diana DeGarmo and season 5′s Ace Young? If you don’t know, the two of them, from separate seasons, first met when they performed together on Broadway. This turned into a friendship, and then eventually into a relationship. And Ryan Seacrest calls the two of them up to the stage. Ace proposes to Diana and she of course says yes! Leading up to it, Ryan had Kieran dim the lights and the Idol music began playing after she said yes, which only reminds us this is still a TV show they’re producing here, after all, no matter the amazing thing happening on stage now.

Wow, I had no idea this would happen, and I’m genuinely happy for the two of them. You know, I pretty much knew which guest artists would be stopping by and we all know who’s going to win, so this actually is the only surprise of the night.

Hollie Cavanagh and Jordin Sparks perform “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” This is a great song for both of them to show off their vocal pipes.

The guys minus P2 pay tribute to the late Robin Gibb and perform Bee Gees hits, including “How Deep is Your Love,” “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” and “To Love Somebody.” Josh takes over during the final song and is fantastic. Has anyone else noticed how Josh is being showcased a whole lot tonight? Maybe the producers are doing this as a sort of slap in the face to us to show us what we’re missing out on if we had only voted Joshua in to the Top 2. Oh, if only that could’ve happened…

Jessica Sanchez and Jennifer Holliday team up for one of my favorite songs ever, “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” Just like the Josh/Fantasia duet, this is beyond epic as well. (On a side note, my family and I were laughing almost the entire time seeing Jennifer’s hilarious facial expressions.)

Aerosmith, led by Steven Tyler, perform two songs, including “Walk This Way.” You know, Steven’s still got it.

To close out the finale, Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips come together one final time for “Up Where We Belong.” And for once, P2 is dressed nicely. Has anyone else noticed that he’s been missing for about 95% of the show tonight? Maybe the producers don’t want him to collapse or anything, what with his health issues he’s had all season long.

The moment is now upon us. The winner of American Idol season 11 is…PHILLIP PHILLIPS!

Winner:
Phillip Phillips (Correct Prediction)

Runner-Up:
Jessica Sanchez (Correct Prediction)

Is it just me, or does there not seem to be a lot of excitement in this aftermath? The joy we see on the screen should be pouring out into our living rooms, but I don’t feel that. This whole thing is way too anticlimactic to even be enjoyable, in a way.

Phillip is handed a guitar and he performs his winning single (and a great song, by the way), “Home.” He is maybe only a quarter of the way through the song and starts crying. The emotions just come flooding, and never sings the rest of the song; all we hear the rest of the time is the background vocals and instruments. I always love it when the winners cry during their winning performance. And it rarely happens with the male winners, so it’s good to see P2 so emotional. But at the same time, it ends up being a bust because he doesn’t really sing it, which adds to me not enjoying it as much.

Now, since I’m on the negativity train, I need to get in just one more before we wrap up: In about a year from now, no one will know who Phillip is, a la Lee Dewyze. Having said that, I am rooting for him to succeed because the show can’t afford to have another winner fail. Things turned around last year with Scotty McCreery, but it seems like that was a little rarity. Phillip’s winning single, “Home,” is a great song and suits him well, so I hope that the record label can team him up with the right songwriters and producers to create something that’ll sell. And it’s not just the music; they’ve got to promote it like crazy for it to stand a chance.

Now onto Jessica: I came into tonight with very low hopes of her winning. And because I did that, I ended up not being let down (like I did two years ago with Crystal Bowersox). When you see her on those big powerhouse vocal performances like we saw tonight, we see how fantastic she is. But that’s not the kind of music she’ll end up doing on her album. Especially because of her age, I think they need to have her album mirror that of season 6 winner Jordin Sparks. Jordin’s debut was surprisingly good and produced two or three hits.

Well, that does it. American Idol season 11 is now behind us. And the auditions for season 2 are about to begin. What changes might we see next year? Will Jennifer Lopez stay or will she go? Will Idol finally fire Randy and replace him with Jimmy Iovine? Will they try to steer clear of the white guys with guitars during the auditions so that we don’t end up having six in a row? In the meantime, there’s always Simon Cowell’s The X Factor in the fall with new judges Britney Spears and Demi Lovato to tide us over.

So, for one final time this season, I will see ya then…