With (almost) all of America watching, it’s come down to this…Jordin Sparks…Blake Lewis…singing their hearts out for YOUR vote…tonight is the night…this is American Idol!

(In case you’re wondering, when I start my reviews off like that, I’m sort of doing what Ryan does at the beginning, albeit a little different…just my take on what I would say if I were host.)

So we’re down to it now…two finalists…one guy and one girl, 3 songs a piece, and your vote determines who walks away the 2007 American Idol.  I’ve said all along that it should be a guy and a girl because you get contrasting styles of singing, and never has that been more true than with this year’s matchup.

Blake Lewis is the unconventional superstar…the guy with an amazing ability to sing and perform in multiple ways.  Jordin Sparks is the ultimate vocalist, probably better right now than any other American Idol contestant in that regard.  So it’s performance versus vocals…and who will come out on top…

Without further adieu, let’s get to the review.

Blake Lewis
Right from the start, I knew Blake was in for a pretty good night.  He started strong with his special version of “You Give Love A Bad Name”.  I think he actually did it better the first time he sang this song.  The performance tonight was a little bit all-over-the-place for me.  It is still an amazing arrangement and rendition though, and he gets major kudos for (again) bucking a trend and doing something off the cuff.
“You Give Love A Bad Name” - 9.0 out of 10 Matties
When Blake came out to sing his next song, I was already writing down “This Love” by Maroon 5, but I was wrong…instead of the up-tempo song I had written down, he chose “She Will Be Loved”, one of Maroon 5’s ballads.  I thought he actually performed this song very well.  I enjoyed seeing him simply sing the song and not bounce all over the place.  He did the falsetto parts well, and he seemed very comfortable.
“She Will Be Loved” - 9.0 out of 10 Matties
And here’s where we go downhill a bit.  First off, let’s address the fact that American Idol chose to have both contestants sing the same song.  I have to disagree with this.  I’ve thought about it, and I completely disagree.  Here’s why…the song was MUCH more suited for Jordin’s style of singing than it was Blake’s, and from the way Blake performed it, you could tell he was not comfortable.  He did okay in the beginning, but as he got to the middle, he started trying to pick himself up by bouncing around a bit on-stage, and it came off as cheap and insincere.  The problem with Blake trying to do this emotional song is that at no time during this competition has he sang with any true emotion.  He’s been all about the hip-hop, super happy vibe the entire time, and so to try and pull this type of song off at the VERY END of the competition (to me) completely ruined the vibe that was Blake for me.  He didn’t sing it badly, it was just not what I was hoping for in his final performance.
“This Is My Now” - 8.0 out of 10 Matties
Total Score - 26.0 out of 30.0 Matties

Jordin Sparks
So Jordin goes 2nd (and in turn will finish us out later), and with her first song, she does Christina Aguilera…yay!  I was right in picking her to sing Christina earlier last week, but I was off a song or two on the album…she picked “Fighter” instead of “Ain’t No Other Man”, but that’s okay.  The song itself isn’t one of my favorite Christina numbers, but it’s still a decent song, and it allows Jordin to show off some of her younger vibe that apparently some people (Hello Simon!) think she lacked in her performances last week.  Pretty good job here on this one though, but not stellar.
“Fighter” - 8.5 out of 10 Matties
Song #2 for Jordin now, and she picked a Martina McBride song (one of Christy’s favorites) which she sang a few weeks ago at Country Week…”A Broken Wing”.  First off, let it be said that the girl has amazing control of her vocals…she’s soft when she needs to be, and brings the house down when she needs to, and the amazing thing is she can be understood in both tones, which is a completely underrated (but totally necessary) part of being a singer.  Jordin completely owned this one and I agree with Randy…possibly better than the original, and you can’t say that much.
“A Broken Wing” - 9.5 out of 10 Matties
And now for the American Idol song…let me also say that this song had a few things reminiscent of “How Deep Is Your Love” but I can’t remember who sang that one…but it had a few bits that sounded like it came from that song.  Anyway…the song itself is fine, and of course, it suits Jordin’s style of singing to a “T”.  It’s almost like the songwriter wrote this song with Jordin in mind, because the entire competition has profiled Jordin in this place in her life where she’s always dreamed of being, telling the world that this is where she’s always wanted to be, in essence, telling the world that “this is her now”.  And she owned this one again…she felt so emotionally connected to the song that by the end, her voice broke down as she delivered the final lines of the song as she shed a few tears.  I have to be honest, the wife and I welled up a bit as well, thinking about all that Jordin has gone through to get here.  An amazing singer, and an amazing girl.  Her future is unbelievably bright.
“This Is My Now” - 9.0 out of 10 Matties
Total Score - 27.0 out of 30.0 Matties

So from the scores above, you can tell who I think the next American Idol is.  Jordin is everything that American Idol stands for.  At the end of the day, as Simon and Randy said, it is a singing competition, and Jordin is (by far, IMO) the best singer of this year’s bunch.  She deserves the crown of American Idol, and let me say this as well in defense of Blake…I think he actually benefits by not winning this competition.  He’s so unconventional that I think not winning the competition would actually help his career.

Voting is still going on, so I think I’m going to go see if I can squeeze in a few votes for both contestants.  What??  You’re shocked I’m voting for both of them?  Why’s that?  They deserve it, both of them deserve votes, so I’m giving them both votes…I’m just not saying how many each one will get.  To find that out, tune in tomorrow night for the results show!  And send me your thoughts via the feedback link here on the blog or at mattplanet @ GMAIL dot COM.