Jordin Sparks Is This Years 'American Idol'

This seasons American Idol wrapped up with Jordin Sparks being crowned as the winner.

The season finale was loaded with Hollywood icons such as Bette Midler, Tony Bennett and Smokey Robinson.

I enjoyed the season finale more than I thought I would. Maybe it was the 'Memorial Day Weekend is almost here' shots of tequila I had, or maybe it was actually good.

Here are the highlights and lowlights of this years season finale of American Idol.

Gwen Stefani started off the show, and she was alright. I love Gwen, but she hasn't changed her game up any in some time. Her performance was mediocre and the song was boring. I fast forwarded my DVR.
Sorry Gwen..


Kelly Clarkson was amazing everytime she sang. I loved her Alanis Morrisette-like girl anthem that she sang with passion. It was angsty and rebellious. I loved it. I became a fan of Kelly's tonight just with that performance. Kelly looked great tonight despite recent photos of her looking a bit heavier. Thank God for corsets. Her hem could've used a couple more inches in length but she owned that stage and commanded your attention. Love ya Kels.

Doug E. Fresh and Blake Lewis beat-boxing together was amazing. I am a huge fan of old school rap so I was psyched to hear the two challenge each other to a beat-box breakdown. If Blake ever impressed me it was tonight in this performance. He held his own with schooled rapper Fresh, and brought a nice mix of new school melded with old school, turned into a fresh mix of sound that everyone can enjoy. It was hot, and might possibly be my favorite American Idol performance ever.

American Idol brought back Jonathan and Kenneth, the 'bush baby' and the chubby kid in the Hawaiian shirt from Seattle to give them an award. (What award was it?)

I thought it was great that AI brought these two back after publicly ridiculing them and mocking their appearance. It seems the publicity has brought many good things to these two and they seemed grateful. Kenneth, the one who Simon proclaimed as the 'bush baby' said to Simon,

"If you hadn't said what you said, I wouldn't be where I'm at."

Right on brother. I'm glad something good came out of it. Being called a bush baby on national television would have thrown me off the deep end. I'm happy to see it worked out.

Amidst all the excitement tonight I realized tonight what it was about Jordin Sparks that bugged me. It is her drop jaw. Every time someone complimented her, or the camera was focused on her, she dropped her jaw and displayed an open mouthed smile.

That's it! That's what bugged me about her all season. It just seemed fabricated and staged. It took me until tonight to pinpoint what quirk of hers bothered me, but that was it. And she did it all night long. The moment I realized it was when she and Blake were given the keys to their new Mustangs.

Next it was the African Childrens Choir who were just darling. I last saw them on Leno just before Christmas and I never forgot them. I was thrilled to see them on tonight's AI finale.

Sanjaya and Joe Perry. The introduction leading up to Sanjaya's performance was awesome. It made you want to see Sanjaya, it made you anticipate his performance. And then he sang and reminded us why we hated him all season long. Oh Sanjaya.

Bette Midler was da bomb of course. She may be aging and all, but I love her and felt it was a treat to have someone of her status performing on American Idol of all places. I'll take a performance of hers anyway I can get it. Love you Bette.

Then it was time for the past American Idol's to perform songs off of the Beatle's 'Sgt. Pepper' album.

Taylor Hicks was great. I loved him last year and he did good tonight as I enjoyed his performance.

Then there was Carrie Underwood. I thought she was awful. Sorry, but she was was off key in the beginning. I fast forwarded my DVR to Rueben Studdard who did much better.

After that it went to commercial. There were 10 minutes left in the finale. The announcement of this years American Idol was up next and I was ready to see who it was. Unfortunately for me, the show went over time (or something?) and my DVR cut off at the last set of commercials. So I was reduced to getting online and reading who the winner was. Boy, that really ruined the experience.

So from what I read Jordin was crowned the winner. Which is no surprise to me. Once she cried last night i knew she had it in the bag. Blake, if you could have mustered up some tears you might have had a shot.

All in all though, Jordin was the better singer and deserved it. She's just lucky that Melinda Doolittle didn't make it that far.