Sure, it’s a short week with Memorial Day and all, but it seems weird not to be sitting down to watch American Idol. No Melinda, Blake or Jordin. On the bright side, I now have two extra hours a week to do whatever I want. That’s always nice.

So, how are you feeling now that Idol is over? Relieved or still wanting more?

Congratulations to Jordin Sparks as she won the American Idol Finale last night in Hollywood. She beat out the bet boxing Blake Lewis and definitely deserves the title.

The show, which was just over two hours long, seemed more about American Idol overall than season 6 or Jordan and Blake.

All former Idols where there with the exception of Fantasia who was busy on broadway. Kelly Clarkson kicked off the show with her new single. Tailor also sang his new single. Carrie sang her Idol Gives Back song and Rubin did a duet with Jordin. Then all the Idols came back on stage and did a tribute to Sargent Pepper.

There we also many musical guest stars but everyone was there trying to up their album sales. Pretty soon we’ll have a commercial free American Idol as it’s all turning into advertising anyway.

Carrie Underwood was presented with an award from the American Idol record company for having the biggest selling album. With just over 6 million sales, and tons of awards, she’s well on her way to be the biggest Idol ever. It was also noted that Chris Daughtry, who placed fourth last year, has the biggest selling album so far this year. Not just for American Idol, but for the music industry overall. Taylor has almost half a million album sales, Kathrine is at about a quarter of a million and Chris is at two million. Interesting.

Last night Melinda and Sanjaya also got to share the spotlight as those two Idols got their own spot on the show. Melinda sang with the group she use to sing backup for and they sang an odd song that sounded like something out of an after school special. Sanjaya sang his horrible You Really Got Me Going song with Joe Perry from Areosmith. Even Ashley Ferl was on hand to cry cry cry.

Ohh and lets not forget about the Golden Idol Awards. The awards that promote the worst and continue to tarnish the finale show. I really think these things hurt American Idol’s image as it shows they are not just looking for the best singer, but they reward the horrible, bush baby owl and giant chicken, singers. Come on.

And after all the Idol advertising and artists promoting their albums or shows it was time to get back to why we were all here, oh yea, to crown an American Idol.

609 Million votes were cast this season, 74 just for the finale. And what it all came down to was Jordin Sparks. The 17year old that has been amazing the judges and audience for the past few weeks. She deserves it and has earned it!

The American Idol finale was long, over done and seemed to focus more on everyone else than the two fighting it out for the title. I had to skip the season finale of Lost for this and it true Idol fashion, it was one hell of a show.

In a 2+ hour long show that was more about everyone else, Jordin Sparks took home the win in the end. Everyone was there too. The top 10, all past idol winners except Fantasia and even Melinda and Sanjaya got to sing in the spotlight. It was an odd night that seemed more like Idol advertising than a results show. And the horrid Golden Idol Awards were back. Ohh how I hate those things.

Congrats Jordan and I’ll be back with more insight tomorrow. To much buzz going on now as it is.

The lines are open an America is voting for the next American Idol. But who will it be? After tonight’s show, Jordin Sparks earned it.

Blake is a great performer, but not an amazing singer. His first song, You Give Love a Bad Name, was performed very well, but sung just ok. She Will Be Loved was again, sung ok, but no performance. Then the poor guy couldn’t do anything with This Is My Now.

Jordin on the other hand started out OK with Fighter. I thought she did really good after her nerves wore off. When she sang Broken Wing, it was simply amazing and she closed the show with This Is My Now and you could tell the difference. She belted out that song gave it her all. Simply perfect! And when she choked up a bit at the end, you knew it was over. Jordin has sung her way to the top.

Of course there is always that wild card; you. The public votes and it’s not always on singing. It could be on looks, overall season performance or people may just vote for their own gender. Really, it’s a HUGE unknown. It could go either way, but my votes will be in for Jordin. She deserves it.

However, as I pointed out earlier, everyone wins. Daughtry closed the show and are a prime example of not coming in first and still making it big. Both should be very proud and I look forward to their CDs.

So, who do you think will win?

Tonight’s the night, the night we find out who is going to put it all out there to win American Idol 2007. Granted, the results won’t be out till tomorrow, but it’s tonight that decides who wins and who looses umm… wins.

The American Idol finale is not as big as it use to be. The winner gets a recording contract and so does the second place, third and probably many others. The winner gets to go on tour along with the other top 12. The winner gets fame and glory, along with pretty much everyone else. So who cares if you win or not?

Taking a look at last year, was it Taylor that made it big? Sort of. Katharine? Maybe, Chris Daughtry? Definitely! Chris got 3rd place and is quite successful. More so than The top three from season five.

And what about Kelly Pickler? She placed sixth in season five and yet was the first to get an album out and have major radio play & success.

So what does the finale mean? What does the winner get? Maybe a bit more publicity, more financial help but really, it’s all about talent and not what place you came in. Blake and Jordin have both won along with pretty much everyone in the top 6.

The other night on the ACM’s Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire sang a duet. I missed the show but was all excited when I heard it was going to be on the radio. I knew Kelly and Reba were working on a song, but hadn’t heard it.

Unfortunately it’s not a new song. It’s a duet version of Kelly’s Because of You. That’s a bit of a letdown for me as I like both singers and thought they could do something amazing. Instead, they just re-worked old music. Still it’s good, but not great.

Check out the song thanks to YouTube.

So far, I see no download available in iTunes.

American Idol has a way of brining out the starts to advertise their music. Last night Marron 5 and Elliott Yamin joined the American Idol crew to try and boost album sales. And once again, I thought it made them less appealing.

First up was Elliott. Now he got third last year and it’s great to see him doing his own thing. The man can sing and sounds great. But that hair has to go. He look much older and I think he’s going to loose a lot of fans since he’s not ‘cute’ anymore. I really really do hate the hair. Please Elliott, go back to the short hair as you looked much much better and younger.

You can download Elliott’s music in

After Elliott came Maroon 5. Now I love the new song but it sounded pretty bad live. It’s amazing the amount of touching up and mastering you can do in the studio. It really was only an OK performance and maybe, if you hadn’t heard the song before, you’d never know. Download it from iTunes and you’ll notice the difference.

Then poor Melinda went home. I’m really sad and again find myself going into the finale not really caring who wins I’ve been a big Blake fan but I think Jordin will win it all. Only one more week though!

In a bit of a shocker, front runner Melinda was voted out. It seems to happened to all the best ones before the final show though. Or at least it did last year.

I think she’s gone because of age. She’s a bit older than the others so lacks the ‘good looks’ vote. I think she’ll do great no matter what.

Either way, she’ll be in the finale. I believe all of the top 12 (or is it 10) perform. Plus she’ll get to go out on tour and I’m sure an album will be on it’s way.

You rock Melinda!!!

Carrie Underwood was interviewed on Good Morning America before the ACM awards and she still seems down to earth and friendly. She thanks her success to American Idol and the huge fan base. Carrie is a cross over superstar and soon to be a country diva.

Carrie won three ACM awards last night for:
- Top Female Vocalist
- Album of the Year: Some Hearts
- Video of the Year: Before He Cheats

There was also one other big deal as Carrie Underwood and boyfriend Tony Romo (aka Dallas Cowboys quarterback) made their first public appearance.

Can this girl get any more successful????

The ACM awards are pulling out all the stops and doing everything they can to out-shine American Idol. Guess, what … even Shania Twain can’t make me switch away from Idol.

Ok, so I’m watching on the commercials, but the thought of Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson all make me want to tune in, but Melinda, Blake and Jordin beat out the country superstars.

Nice try CBS, but I’m sticking with American Idol tonight.