*SPOILER WARNING*
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So tonight was the big night. After three hours of voting (up from the usual two they give us) I decided to watch the show again. IMO, Clay showed Ruben up. Being a Clay fan I could be a bit biased, though.

Ruben was up first with “A House is Not a Home.” I thought he sounded kind of gravelly, but he did okay. Still didn’t do much for me.

Clay performed the original song “This is the Night.” This will be his single if he wins, I think. I really like this song! It’s received lukewarm reviews from other boards, but I think it’s great.

Ruben’s next song was “Imagine.” For the first time in forever I actually “felt something” from a Ruben performance. Simon said the performance was risky, but he pulled it off. I agree.

Next Clay performed “Here, There, and Everywhere.” I can only rate this as okay. I don’t think he handled some of those high notes too well.

Ruben performed “Flying Without Wings” next, which will be his single. Okay, this week I downloaded the Westlife version and I think it’s a great song (been listening to it a lot). But it does not suit Ruben AT ALL. Horrible. And he was sweating. Profusely. How hot does it get in Southern California? They were outside, weren’t they?

Clay’s last song was “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” When I saw that they had brought out a church choir, I was thinking “whaaat?!” I would have rather them not be there, but Clay did a FANTASTIC job. That last note? Chills.

Then Paul Anka came out and did a *special* version of “My Way.” Very cute.

Some other thoughts:

*Paula is an idiot. She actually worked the matrix into a critique.
*During “flying without wings” the entire crowd has their hands up swaying. Paula has grabbed Simon’s hand and is swaying it. Simon looks completely annoyed. LOL
*Ryan dressed up. He looked nice.

My voting experience:
I feel crazy. For the first hour and a half I had a phone for the upstairs land line on my left ear and my cell phone on my right. ZERO votes for the land line. I had probably twenty from my cell phone. My mom was on the downstairs land line calling and never got in. She then used her cell phone for a while and got in 6 votes. I said screw this!! dropped the regular phone and continued using my cell for the rest of the time and my grand total is 63 votes! After a while I couldn’t tell the difference between a dial tone and a busy signal. Oh yeah, I was voting for Clay (as if you didn’t already know).

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*END*

I've downloaded the new Clay single, and although it does get better with more listenings, it's still in the schmaltzy mould of Will and Kelly's singles. Did Dianne Warren write it, it sounds like her brand of pap?
Still, its a 2 hour marathon tonight isn't it? Hope your blistered fingers pay off Jess.

How many of us are going to have the stamina not to visit this forum tomorrow???

I've decided not to ruin it - I won't be able to get online until at least 1pm tomorrow afternoon so I may as well wait a few more hours to the ITV2 showing

Clay's gonna win anyway - just watched the 2 singles. I thought Ruben sounded bloody awful actually, he's totally ruined a great song !! YES - he's ruined a WESTLIFE song, is that even possible?

Clay should have been given Flying Without Wings, he would have ripped it up. This Is The Night is a good song, but not quite as good as Evergreen or Moment Like This. But he has to win

Unfortunately, I'm not that strong, shall have to visit tomorrow to find out who did the business!

I have no will power, I am weak!!

Well, I didn't manage to get through on the phones last night, just like NoDoubtJess. I didn't think to try my cellphone because I was using my computer to dial the phone for me. I couldn't sit there for three hours listening to the phone beep when I was hanging up. I pretty much agree with NoDoubtJess about all of the performances. Pretty much...

Ruben's first song wasn't anything special. He did OK, but his voice was all over the place with the notes. I couldn't quite grasp what the actual tune of the song was because of that. Kind of annoying.

I thought Clay's first song was OK, but I think it will sound much better recorded in a studio than it did live. He really had to sing his ass off on some of those notes.

Ruben's second song was actually pretty nice. His voice was much more consistent, and it was backed with an acoustic guitar that made for a nice version of this song.

I agree with NoDoubtJess about Clay's second song because a few of those high notes sounded really forced. I don't know why he chose this song, or even if HE chose the song. It wouldn't be my pick for him, but he did OK with the harp backing him.

Ruben's third song was the Westlife song, and I didn't really care for it much. I guess it was his best performance out of the three, but I don't love that song. I still think Clay would've done an amazing job on it. I'll bet Simon didn't let Clay sing it because he didn't want to make Westlife look bad. He he. The lead singer for Westlife has a pretty weak pop voice. No wonder why they're not popular here.

Clay's final song was pretty good, but people were acting like it was spectacular. I'm sorry, but "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is never spectacular, even with the backing choir Clay had. He hit some low, low notes and some high notes pretty well, but I just thought his performance was good, not great. Apparently, everyone else thought it was phenomenal because Paula said it was the best he's done in the competition and Simon said that it just might win him the competition. Hmmm...

Paula Anka's "American Idol" version of "My Way" was hilarious. Very funny.

NoDoubtJess, you were right about how funny Simon looked when everyone was swaying their arms. When the camera scrolled to him I totally laughed out loud. The look on his face was priceless.

Overall, it was actually a boring night for performances. Last week was much better from Clay and Ruben, but it's all over now. We have to wait until tonight to find out who will win this damn thing. They both win, though, because their singles are coming out next week.

That was another thing - on Flying.. it sounded like Ruben was making the tune up as he went along !

I just found out on Amazon.com that the winner of American Idol Season 2 will have his CD-single released on June 03, 2003. The runner-up will have his CD-single released on June 10, 2003. Interesting...

I've read Randy said he hoped This Is The Night isn't Clay's first single, after Clay had performed it, what's with that? Did he not know it was Clay's single or was he just being sarccy?

Yeah, ikkleosu, Randy did say that. I almost thought he was trying to sabotage Clay on his first performance, but maybe Clay's first single isn't really final yet. Who knows. They could pre-sell any song of Clay's on Amazon.com and it would go to #1 at this point. They can still change it if they want to because it's not like people even knew what that song sounded like when they were buying it on Amazon.com a few days ago. Paula and Ruben didn't like the song itself, but they both thought Clay sang well anyway. Simon said it sounded like American Idol: The Musical. I don't know, it all happened so quick, so it wasn't that big of a deal. If everyone loved "Bridge Over Troubled Water" so much, they should release that as his first single then.

This is so strange. I downloaded some songs off the internet from a file-sharing site that said they were Clay Aiken. Honestly, they could have been, but the files said they were off of his unreleased album called "Redefined". The weird thing is that several of them are Christian/gospel stuff, and they were boring. If that really is him, I would snore through his whole new album. I don't know, I deleted the files because I wouldn't want to listen to any of those songs twice.

I was taken aback when Randy said he hated the song and hopes that's not his first single. Where has he been?


And just an extra Entertainment Weekly bonus review:

Feat of Clay

Here's why Clay will win -- In the winner-take-all finale, Clay shines while Ruben falters for the first time. Jessica Shaw was there live, and she explains what happened

Okay, that was so not the finale I was expecting. And not just because I thought Paul Anka was dead. (Little did we know he's been hiding away penning Bar Mitzvah-style lyrics to classic songs!) Didn't you sort of think Ruben would come in tonight and rock the house with his little velvet teddy bear moves and Grand Canyon-sized smile? And didn't it seem like Clay would be all show-tuney and maybe forget a line or two along the way?

Well, as far as I could tell (that would be from row D, seat 3 in section 18, thank you very much. Yes, I officially have the best job on the planet), Clay owned the night. You heard it here first: Clay is the next American Idol.

Considering how steady and flawless Ruben has been all competition, it shocked the hell out of me that he choked on the last night. Lord only knows why he chose to sing ''House Is Not a Home,'' a song that in ''American Idol''-land now officially belongs to Tamyra Gray. His rendition was fine, but hardly a goosebump-inducing situation. Only Simon was willing to make the call that it wasn't ''the best performance we've heard.''

From that point on, you could see Ruben's nerves continuously dripping right down his face. Frankly, I was sort of worried he was going to slip and wipe out in a pool of his own sweat. Simon had never spoken badly of big Ru before that moment.

''Imagine'' was a little better, though Ruben's face registered such serious pain, I thought Ryan was going to have to attempt CPR on live TV. Plus, it was sort of an easy song. (And Randy called ''Here, There, Everywhere'' -- with all those ridiculously high notes -- ''safe''? I think not!). What can I say about ''Flying Without Wings,'' big Ru's big finale? He sounded great, the choir rocked, but Kimberley could have belted out that song just as well, if not better. Still, the judges seemed to love that performance. Randy gave the ol’ standing ovation. ''It's the church of Ruben!'' Paula said, meaning to give a compliment. And Simon, who's been Ruben's No. 1 supporter all along gushed ''That was fantastic. You saved the best for last.''

I sort of wish Ruben and Clay had to sing the same songs, like Kelly and Justin had to last year. Even though it was abundantly clear that Kelly was the greater talent, you didn't know just how superior she was until you heard her rendition of ''A Moment Like This'' next to his. What would Ruben have sounded like singing ''This Is the Night''? We'll never know.

Even though the judges seemed to hate Clay's original, I thought it was pretty damn genius. (I'm almost sure Paula may have agreed with me. ''You found a matrix of a song,'' she said. Was that some weird cross-Fox promotion? Will she ever make sense?) Clay could have used a little less David Copperfield backlighting, but his voice blew everyone in section 18 away. And we had some serious Ruben fans at the beginning.

When Ryan said Clay would be doing a Sir Paul song, I was sort of hoping it would be ''Blackbird'' or ''Hey Jude.'' ''Here, There, Everywhere'' was, as Simon said, ''very pretty,'' but the entire audience spent that song terrified that Clay's voice would crack everytime he went falsetto.

But all five songs before Clay's finale didn't mean a thing. ''Bridge Over Troubled Water'' was by far the song of the season. ''I think that performance could win you the competition,'' Simon, who has clearly been championing Ruben, begrudgingly said. And you might hate Simon, but let's face it, the guy is always right.

So what to do now? A full 24 hours until we find out. It all comes down to who's going to inherit Kimberley’s fans. Fans of plus-sized performers will go Ruben, but all those who dug Kimmy's major vocal range might hang with Clay. Some voters might feel sorry for Ruben's subpar showing tonight and do the whole moral-support dial-up. And there's got to be at least a few hundred people turned off by Clay's odd wiggly finger move urging the audience to vote for contestant 2. For sure, it's going to be close. I think we're headed for a serious Red State/Blue State situation. They'll split the South. Coasts may go Ruben, but heartland is all Clay. I'm hating Florida already.

Thank Goodness for 'E'. They're doing a 2hour special right now. We've never had this type of coverage before. Seems they are biased towards Clay.....I do hope so.

Funny how everyone was saying Ruben was going to win this whole time, but after last night they've all switched to saying Clay will win.

jmsjmsjms yup that is Clay. He appears to have done 2 demo albums -one Christian, one love songs. I downloaded about 1 song from each and I actually really liked them but they are definately not Americna Idol kind of stuff.

jms, ikklesue- have you got a link for those downloads or is it on Kazzaa?

Tally, I used Kazaa for mine.

Bummer. I was sure he'd just do it! Though,just over !000 votes in it. Isn't that closer than the vote that got Dubya in? Oh well. Enjoy "Flying Without Wings". Should have been a tie, with the result that close!



ps jms: Thanks. Looks like I'll have to go a-hunting.

I'm devastated.

The entire show I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest. I can't believe the vote was that close!

The show was fun to watch, though. The best part was the Paula & Simon affair skit. ROTFLMAO!!!!

I can't really think now. I'll probably be back later.

I need to shed some tears for Clay not winning the American Idol title.

...but I need to show some love for Ruben winning because he seems like a really genuine guy.

1,000 votes was just too close to even bother giving either of them a title! At the beginning of the show Ryan said there were only 13,000 votes between them, but right before he announced the winner Ryan said their accountant was drunk and it was really 1,000 votes.

Clay joked that they would compete on the charts next. Count that as a true statement because it looks like Clay will be releasing the "Bridge Over Troubled Water" song as his first single because it became an overnight sensation across the nation.

That Paula and Simon skit was TOO MUCH! I can't believe they kissed like that! EWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Kelly Clarkson was yelling her way through her songs. It's cool that she's already sold 1.3 million albums. Good for her. Even though she's yelling now, she was awesome on last season's show. I only voted for her the whole time.

Must go to bed now...

I'm back!!!

Okay, to open the show they presented "the best of the worst clips" from AI2 AND from international pop idol shows. My personal favorite was the "o christmas tree" girl from the UK. lol

Some more boring filler crap of shots from Birmingham and Raleigh (and there were MANY more to come ).

Hmm.. let's go on the street and ask the retards of America their opinion.

Then they did a video thingy of rejects, etc. to "Sing a Song." OMG could this have lasted any longer. It wasn't funny.

The finalists and Kelly Clarkson performed together! Wow, Kelly's voice really stood out. She is so bubbly. i love her.

Then she performed "Miss Independent." Now, this song isn't the greatest, but it has grown on me due to the fact that the local top 40 radio station plays it EVERY FREAKIN HOUR! You learn to like a song after you've heard it five million times. But her perfomance was really shouty and sounded like she was out of breath. Then Clive Davis came out and presented her with the platinum record for Thankful. Yay Kelly!

They also showed the "Ride Wit Me" Ford skit (Clay as a nerd). I hope they show that in the UK. lol

The finalists then performed the longest medley in the history of mankind. I enjoyed it, though (Julia still has no rhythm ... they should bolt her to the floor). Vanessa was great. She did not deserve to leave first!!! Josh was noticeably absent.

Ruben performed "flying without wings" again. Clay performs "Bridge" again. Great, but I was ready to get down to it.

Clay, Ruben, Kimberley perform. Kim: Over the Rainbow Ruben: Superstar Clay: On the Wings of Love. Excellent job by all.

Clay and Ruben perform "Aint No Stopping Us Now." Cute.

All above was semi- in order. Written as it came to me.

Then Ruben was announced the winner. I felt the need to be dramatic and screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" My mom then tells me,"Jeez Jessica, if only you had voted thirteen hundred more times Clay would have won!"

The real test: they are releasing their albums at the same time.

Yeeeaaaaaaahh! Rooooooooo-ben!

Am I the only person who wanted him to win?

It doesn't make any differece who won the show as has been proved over here, they've both got the fan base I'm sure they'll both do very well, and Kim too.

The rejects thing souds like the 'perfect day ' thing the losers did last year on our Pop Idol. I thought that quite funny. maybe cos it's infinitely better than 'sing a bloody song'.

I can't believe they've got Ruben singing a Westlife song. What a waste of a great voice.

there we go see, I ruined it for myself and now I'll go all day being depressed cos I wanted Clay to win!!

I was going to come on this board - find out who won and spend the rest of the day depressed/elated depending on who won.

However, RI:SE spoiled it for me, so now I can blame that stupid programme for telling me while I ate my cornflakes!!

I'm still depressed for the rest of the day though!

Ooooooooooooooooo thanks for letting me know. I now have to spend the day working in the same place as scotslass64 and not let her know! *eek*