Danny Gokey

Ryan Seacrest‘s words, not ours! Last night on American Idol it was all about final impressions — Adam Lambert and Kris Allen needed to pick the right songs and hit the right notes to remind us why we like them. They both did a good job, but it was pretty clear that Adam did a little bit better. (God, it pains us to say that.) From his reprise of “Mad World,” which he originally sang during the “Songs From the Year You Were Born” week, to a toned down Sam Cooke song, he took a slight edge over Kris, whose jammy style felt weaker by comparison. If you joined in our live American Idol blog you would have been there for all the fun and the impromptu drinking games (more on that in a sec), but for now, here are our highlights.

Adam’s Performances

Adam played the game smartly last night, he sang “Mad World” again, which was universally lauded the first time around and got the first-ever standing ovation from Simon Cowell. He also toned down the rock/glam aspect (okay, he sang “Mad World” while wearing a leather duster, surrounded by dry ice fog — he toned it down AFTER that) by singing “Change is Gonna Come,” a song chosen for him by show creator Simon Fuller. It was completely out of character but he handled it competently and the only way he knew how, with a few obligatory screeches. Paula loved it so much she threw an improv-mimed lasso around Adam though to rein him in and keep him locked up forever, presumably in the same dungeon where she keeps MC Skat Kat.

Kris’ Performances

We think the judges are slightly abusive, the way they throw out their love for the contestants one minute, then they coldly rescind it the next, then are like “Baby, shh, we didn’t mean it, you’re great again.” That’s how they treated Matt Giraud and Lil Rounds for the entire show, and it’s how they’ve been treating Kris lately. After he sang “Ain’t No Sunshine,” everyone was all “Wow, awesome, you moved me,” but when he fell a little flat on his coffeehouse-ish rendition of “What’s Goin’ On?” it was like “Kris who? How did he get here?” Y’all might as well just wear “Lambert Lover” T-shirts, judges. It’s hard to keep up with your wavering, just admit you don’t give a crap about Kris.

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Last night we shed a single tear for Allison Iraheta who, despite 64 million votes being cast on Tuesday, got the lowest amount and was ousted from American Idol. It pains us to admit that our baby’s gone. We know Adam Lambert is going to win this now, he’s the only performer the judges haven’t criticized harshly for any of his performances and that’s the only thing that pains us more than seeing Allison go. We can barely go on anymore. But we must. …

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