Real Kato Blog: American Idol, Week 14

The finals.

Blake starts by reprising his performance of "You Give Love a Bad Name". I'm disappointed to hear this again. I mean, we liked it before, and it's still good, but I would have liked to have seen something new.

Jordin starts off with "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera. It's pretty good, but it sounds too much like a cover song. The vocals aren't the best we've heard from her; it's shouty at times and it drops out at other times. It's energetic and entertaining, but not spectacular.

Round 1: Tie.

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Blake picks Maroon 5 for his second song, "She Will Be Loved". This isn't a great song for him... a lot of it is pretty tuneless, and he's just okay on the falsetto parts. The performance is low key and, well, a little boring.

Jordin picks "Broken Wing", a reprise from Week 9. Again, we'd like to hear something new, but hey, she nailed it again. I don't see her as a country singer, but she could have a crossover hit with something like this.

Round 2: Jordin.

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Blake sings the songwriting competition winner, called "This Is My Now". As you'd expect from custom American Idol song, it is cheesy and, well, gay. It sounds like a romantic comedy movie soundtrack, or a Christian rock song, or something equally white-bread. It is clearly not Blake's style, and he's off-key in parts, and he looks uncomfortable... but we shouldn't penalize him for having to sing this.

Jordin ought to be more comfortable with this, but even she can't rescue this song. She's got genuine emotion behind it, and if I ignore the song itself, I'd say this was an Idol-winning performance.

Round 3: Jordin.

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Summary: Jordin is the dream winner for the American Idol producers. She's clearly the type of pop star that they want to have, and it's probably no accident that they picked a Jordin-friendly ballad as the final song of the competition. She's pretty and youthful, and she's got a powerful voice.

Blake is the most original performer that this show has ever seen, and he ought to get something for that... but the fact is, he'd be better off not winning the competition. An independent career will give him the creative freedom that he deserves.

I think Jordin wins the competition tomorrow night, and she could easily enjoy the same commercial success that Kelly Clarkson has achieved. But Blake will win more critical appeal, and that's probably a greater victory for him.

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