'American Idol' Finale, Pt. 1: Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone

There’s a disparaging turn of phrase in the American Idol blogosphere/Twitterverse, which I did not make up, called “WGWGs,” or “white guys with guitars.” This snarky term got a lot of use between Seasons 7 through 11, when David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, Scotty McCreery, and Phillip Phillips all triumphed in quick succession. R&B diva Candice Glover broke the lads’ winning streak in Season 12, but this Tuesday, as the top two Season 14 finalists were announced at the start Idol’s part one finale, the show went back to being a boys’ club. Frontrunner Jackie “Jax” Cole, the only girl left in the game, shockingly went home in third place, leaving non-threatening male soft-rockers Clark Beckham and Nick Fradiani to compete for the Idol title.

Jax looked absolutely crestfallen upon hearing this bad news, which was revealed by Ryan Seacrest during a very awkward cold open — shot backstage, with crowd booing audible in the background. Then she was quickly pushed aside to make way for Clark and Nick’s final performances. Even Nick and Clark looked shocked, like the last thing they wanted to do was perform after all that drama. It set a terrible tone for what was supposed to be a celebratory night.

And you know what? I think I was almost as shocked as Nick and Clark, and almost as upset as poor Jax. The loss of Jax was pretty jacked-up. The real shame about this result was the fact that she seemed poised to be the first actual rocker chick to win American Idol — accomplishing what fierce female contenders Allison Iraheta, Crystal Bowersox, Haley Reinhart, Elise Testone, and Jena Irene sadly failed to pull off in recent seasons. And with only one more season of Idol left before it’s canceled for good, a girl, rocker or otherwise, may never win this show again. Sigh. Maybe it’s time to cancel this show after all.

There’s still a chance that Idol in-house mentor and Big Machine Label Group honcho Scott Borchetta may sign Jax, since he’s always seemed to harbor a real fondness for the plucky, peroxide-headed piano girl. But seeing Jax go home in the first few minutes of Tuesday’s episode — without getting the chance to perform, or debut her proposed coronation song — was a bitter disappointment. Jax was the season’s last true maverick, following the departures of Quentin Alexander and Joey Cook, and Tuesday’s final showdown probably would’ve been a lot more interesting if she’d stuck around for the rest of the hour.

But I managed to stick it out and watch Clark and Nick sing three songs each: one encore of a favorite performance from earlier in the season, one pick by show creator Simon Fuller, and one new “coronation” single. Here’s how it went…

ENCORE PERFORMANCES

Clark reprised “Georgia on My Mind” for his first performance, and it was nice. Clark always excels behind his piano, where he seems the most comfortable. Did he seem like a star, though? Of that, I am not so sure. Keith Urban oddly compared Clark to “a whole mess of flapjacks dressed in syrup,” but to me this was more like a bowl of Corn Flakes. I was still hungry for more.

Nick revisited Matchbox Twenty’s “Bright Lights,” probably the safest and most obvious choice he could have gone with, considering his Rob Thomas-soundalike tendencies. Once again, he came across like the lead singer of a Matchbox Twenty cover band, not an actual original artist. That being said, he did perform like a true, confident pro — basically, like the lead singer of a really good Matchbox Twenty cover band. So that’s something, I guess.

Jennifer Lopez declared this a tie, but judging from the in-studio cheers, the live audience totally gave this round to Nick. I personally sided with Clark. But I couldn’t help thinking, WWJD (What Would Jax Do)? I missed her already.

SIMON FULLER PICKS

For his second song, Clark did a haunting, acoustic cover of Bill Withers’s “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Scott Borchetta may not a big Clark fan (I’m still convinced he tried to sabotage Clark with that terrible U2 song pick last week), but Fuller did a good job here. Clark killed this. He oozed oodles of raw passion, and I was riveted. “Who are you singing to right now?” gasped a curious, impressed Jennifer. I just assumed this was a dedication to Jax. Ha.

Fuller assigned Jason Mraz’s “I Won’t Give Up” to Nick, and this was another fantastic choice. Kudos to Nick for throwing a curveball and revealing that he can play piano; he never did that before, all throughout Season 14. And he did it very, very well.

I’d still give this round to Clark. Harry Connick Jr. didn’t agree, though he did retroactively declare Clark the winner of round one. Either way, this was extremely close.

CORONATION SONGS

This was inarguably the most important, most make-or-break round of the night. We all remember how in Season 10, Jessica Sanchez seemed poised to prevail, until she got that clunker “Change Nothing” and Phillip Phillips got the future quintuple-platinum hit “Home.”

Clark’s potential debut single was the obviously titled “Champion.” Sadly, it had little in common with RuPaul’s song of the same name. But did have a certain triumphant spirit (this year’s coronation song will be the official anthem for Fox’s coverage of the World Cup, after all), with a touch of Florence/Bastille-style indie flair. It was a solid song, but I just don’t think Clark sang it like, well, a champion. He didn’t seem to commit to it. His performance was tepid and tentative, and he didn’t look all that happy or confident when it was over. “I think you did a good job with it, but it’s obvious that it’s a new song to you,” Harry said rather diplomatically.

After a commercial break, Nick had the advantage of closing the show with his potential single, “Beautiful Life,” which he described as “fun. meets the Goo Goo Dolls meets me.” This was a toss-up. I think Clark got the stronger song, but Nick definitely gave the stronger performance. Nick actually seemed to really like his song, and he belted it with chest-beating World Cup gusto. “You got really lucky, because that song sounds like it was tailor-written for you,” noted Harry.

I’ll give this round to Nick. But if you want to know what Jax would’ve performed in this round, her would-be coronation song, “Forcefield,” can be heard here.

So now, it is prediction time. Ryan asked Keith to pick a champion, and instead of pussyfooting around like Harry and J.Lo, Keith flat-out declared Nick the winner. I think he was probably right, but I’m secretly, or I guess not-so-secretly, rooting for Clark by default now. He seems like more of a real artist to me.

See you at the finale. Until then, Parker out.

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