American Idol: The Winner Could Be?

brent johnson and bill bodkin look at who could be the winner of this season’s american idol …

Brent Johnson’s Take

He has a croaky voice and shouts too much. He has a penchant for playing dull meat-and-potatoes rock — and thinks covering Hinder is cool for some God-knows-why reason. But he also — coolly — added bagpipes to ‘Hey Jude.’

And Wednesday night, Lee DeWyze will become the next American Idol.

That’s my prediction, at least. A few weeks ago, that idea was unthinkable. The finale was going to be Crystal vs. Siobahn. And I was going to be rooting for the latter — the funky-weird girl with the booming voice.

But Siobahn got boring — and was booted. And guess what? Just as I was starting to think Crystal and her I’m-so-authentic-because-I-channel-Janis-Joplin aesthetic wasn’t so bad after all, she suddenly got boring, too.

Crystal’s authenticity only goes so far. And lamely covering ‘Come To My Window’ with a half-hearted harmonica part won’t get you out of the coffeehouse. I also don’t think there are enough people out there that will vote for her.

Lee, though? He does have talent, and he’s the safer choice. Right now, he’s a second-rate David Cook, who himself was a second-rate Chris Daughtry. All of them are really nothing but guitar-toing, anthem-touting shouters. But all of them had broad appeal.

And on Idol, that counts big time. We’re looking at you, Kris Allen.

Bill Bodkin’s Take

It feels a lot like last year, doesn’t it? The finale of American Idol seems to be suffering from a little deja vu, a glitch in the Matrix, if you will. The final two contestants battling it out are early the odds-on recently about criticized of “mailing it in” versus the once instantly forgettable contestant who’s now become Simon Cowell’s personal champion. But unlike last year, the content and suspense will be over the actual performances given by the contestants — not America weighing in on the sexual politics of the contestants (and don’t tell me it wasn’t). Yes, this year it’ll be dueling guitarists, dueling big, raspy voiced mid-Westerners, two rags-to-nearly-riches stories, two very strong competitors.

When Idol officially began its Top 12 portion of the season, I felt that Andrew Garcia, Crystal Bowersox, Casey James and DiDi Benami were going to be in the Top 4. I was half-right. DiDi never got her chance
to shine and Andrew fizzled out fast, while Casey eeked his way into the top 3. Crystal, however, remained a picture of consistency, delivering firey, Janis-inspired renditions of songs. She owned Idol for the first part of the Top 12 run, and if the show had ended in mid-April, Crystal would’ve easily been our new Idol. But it did not and the past few weeks have seen her performances seemingly blur together — same set-up, same sound, nothing different. Combine that with fans criticizing (quite idiotically) Bowersox about her quote about the only reason she joined Idol was to hopefully provide a good life for her family through the music industry, the once-untouchable hippie is definitely in troubled waters.

If Crystal owned the first half of the season, Lee DeWyze stole it from her when he brought out a bagpiper during his rendition of “Hey Jude.” It was a gutsy move that could’ve cost him the season, but it paid off and it seemed to give the once shy rocker the inspiration to push himself every week. Now this is a stark difference from his early run. Lee had impressed briefly during Top 24 episodes with his version of Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars.” During Top 12, he was rock solid with “Treat Her Like A Lady,” the first song which made people take notice of him. However, it wasn’t until his showstoppingly over-the-top rendition of “Hey Jude” when he dared the audience to join in the famous “Na, Na, Na, Naaaah, Hey Jude” sing-a-long while a bagpiper blared in unison, did the show become his. His performances may not always be perfect, but he leaves it all on the stage. His shy, stage-frightened demeanor has melted away to a throw caution to thewind, heartfelt charisma that has captured the hearts and ears of Idol audiences.

This is going to be a close race. However, I feel in the end, the passion Lee DeWyze has when he performs will outweigh Crystal Bowersox’s natural talent. Both are extremely talented performers who may have a nice shelf-life post-Idol, but it’s DeWyze who shows the best potential to grow. His raw talent and booming voice can be groomed by the top-notch producers that will be working with him and he can easily be knocking on the door of former Idol Chris Daughtry as the new “it” kid in rock.