Image Credit: Michael Becker/PictureGroupSo let’s just call this thing: Crystal killed it, and Lee kinda choked. Having discussed last night’s American Idol finale performance night with EW.com’s preeminent Idoloonie Michael Slezak, I know that was also his assessment of the evening from the vantage point of his living room couch. From my seat inside the IdolDeathStar — a.k.a. the Nokia Theater LA Live — the difference between Crystal’s often effortless excellence and Lee’s unfocused striving was even more stark. I don’t think I’ve experienced an Idol finale, on TV or in person, this lopsidedly obvious since the days of Fantasia Barrino and That One Girl Who Does Broadway Now. Crystal owned that gargantuan room like it was a small bar in Toledo, Ohio and not packed with 7,000 screaming fans. Lee just barely borrowed it.
Before you scream “omigodyouaresooooobiased!!!!” at me in the comments, please know I truly have no dog in this hunt. Really, my job here is to report back to you what the experience was like at the show itself, so I’m honestly just telling you, as a reporter, that Crystal was simply better. Now, the Crystal and Lee t-shirts being sold outside the Nokia before the show were an entirely different matter. READ FULL STORY »
