WHAT?! I'm stunned!
Last night's American Idol finale saw Laine Hardy take home the title...and for me it was a "double shocker" kind of show!
First of all, I was stunned that Laine made it through the first cut! After the top 3's first two performances of the night, I easily had Alejandro & Madison going through as the top 2. So, my first shock was when Madison was cut! I thought she arguably had the best pure voice of any contestant this year...and the way she compared vocally to past winner Kelly Clarkson was uncanny! Who knows, maybe that's what did her in!
But the big jaw-dropper came for me when Ryan announced that Laine had won the whole thing!
My first thought was...oh no, all of the young pre-teen and teenage girls came out of the woodwork to vote for the cutest guy on the show to make sure he would win! Then I thought...maybe Alejandro was just too way out there for America; he was too artsy..., too much music/not enough style to get the votes.
But, my wife made a good point. She said that maybe Idol viewers were just so sure that Alejandro was going to be an instant star anyway, that they decided to vote for Laine so he could win!
After all, you don't HAVE to win Idol at the end to make it big, i.e. Daughtry, Adam Lambert, Jennifer Hudson, etc.
Anyway, this year had some real good singers...and I look forward to next year's new crop of talent!
Matthews out...
Photo: Getty Images