American Idol- May 25

Shewit

Today was the finale of American Idol , a day that all fans of the show have been anticipating. For one of the performers the finale was the start of a wonderful career in the music industry and for the other it was a finale for their singing career.

It is no surprise that it was the end of the road for Diana Digarmo's career. Why did she stay this long? Okay, she can hold the same note for a long time. Big deal that does not mean one can sing. When she keeps straining on the same note it becomes annoying. I said it before and I will say it again, America made a mistake when they let go of La Toya, and America learned its lesson in selecting people when they had to listen to Digarmo again. Digarmo did her normal nice performances for the first two songs, but for the third song, she lost the melody. Why is an American Idol finalist not in tune with the song? She has been doing this for weeks; you shouldn't mess up in the finale.

That is what Fantasia obviously learned, because she sounded wonderful.  I did not think it was possible for Fantasia to get any better, but I was wrong. She might have picked a bad song to sing for her first song, but her gorgeous voice made up for it. Her last song had the people in the audience crying (and yes I will admit that I was close to tears).

When a performer can bring people to tears, and not because they are horrible, then it should not be no question who should win. As Simon said to Fantasia "Congratulations, this is your acceptance speech" because tomorrow is the day Fantasia will be titled American Idol's winner.

Adedeji

The season finale of American Idol was full of emotion. The finalists gave it their all at a last chance to win votes from the American public. Fantasia won the most hearts and minds of the crowd and raised the bar for the definition of an American idol.

The two contestants vying for the American Idol title premiered a song co-written by season one cast off Tamyra Gray.

Fantasia did not start off perfectly though. Her first song, "All My Life," did not show off her vocal capabilities, and the arrangement seemed extremely watered down. She still did the best with what she had. Her second selection, "Summertime," was just as brilliant as the first time she performed it, but she also was innovative enough to make the song more unique the second time around. Her tone, her riffs, just everything was the best it could ever be. Fantasia saved the best for last with her performance of "Believe." She put all of her emotions into the song, and the song was not just coming from someone's voice; but another force was singing that song. Fantasia sang the song with demonically possessed prowess. Her performance was good enough to keep the audience sounding emphatic applause well after her selection was over.

On the other hand Dianna Degarmo started the night with confidence, but towards the end of the night, her energetic stage presence fizzled out. Diana Degarmo kicked off the show with "Believe". Though not as convincing as Fantasia's rendition, her voice sounded extraordinarily developed and she had more control on stage. When she took the stage for her second song selection, she still was performing with a lively character, but she sounded winded. For her final song selection, everything fell apart. Her voice was tired and in the middle of "Don't Cry Out Loud" her voice began to shift to unregistered charts of being off key. All of a sudden, the determined confidence she had on stage just disappeared.

Throughout the weeks, the Silver Chips judges gave their predictions as to who would be eliminated every week. I have abstained from giving these predictions because I always managed to be completely wrong. But since this is the last week, I will predict who should win. Diana Degarmo, though not as good as her competitor Fantasia, will win this competition and I base this guess solely on her age. American Idol is a show that targets younger people, and Degarmo identifies with the audience of teeny pop idol lovers that obsessively watch the show every week. Fantasia Barrino deserves the title infinitely more. My prediction may be totally wrong, as they always have been, but if Fantasia wins the American Idol crown, the show will gain back credibility that it has lost over the past few weeks.