ZoMbI3 CuPcAK3's blog: "I blog your face."

I want to say American Idol is my guilty pleasure, but I'm not so sure anymore.  American Idol has finally discovered some incredible talent. Talent that says a big "fuck you" to cookie cutter pop and does its own thing. Artists so compelling that it makes sitting through three hours a week of Simon's snivelling overly harsh criticism, Paula's insane enthusiasm, Kara's determination to mold everyone into a bland R&B artist, Randy's pathetic attempts at coming across as a hip young music producer, and countless tedious clips of their disgustingly charmed and appropriately overdramatized lives at "Camp Idol" worth sitting through, if only to get to the meaty center. The show still has its Clay Aikens and Kelly Clarksons and Daughtrys and blonde guys from boy bands and Britney Spears wannabes, but some serious contenders for actual rock superstars have crept their way onto the once woefully undeserving American Idol stage. And those talents are actually getting votes and staying on that stage. Maybe America is improving, learning to appreciate raw genius when they see it and learning to accept the eccentricities of those who express their artistic capabilities outside the box. Probably not, but here's hoping. The first seven seasons of American Idol were like watching an audition for New Kids on the Block meets an episode of the Mickey Mouse Club. There were a few standouts. Jason Castro. David Cook. Carrie Underwood. But never really anyone who screamed superstar from every pore of their being.

And then the gods of "we need something new and refreshing" spoke and there was an Adam Lambert. He dresses like the gay love child of David Bowie and a Hell's Angel, has a personality as flambouyant as a drag queen on meth, and has a voice that could make Freddie Mercury green with envy. When he lost Season 8 to Chris Whatever-the-fuck-his-name-is, I vowed I would never watch American Idol again. I know that coming in second is preferable, that the loser of the finals is always the one who ends up with the killer career, but it was the PRINCIPLE OF IT. Never has anyone deserved to win a singing competition more than Adam Lambert.

Adam Lambert's defining performance was "Mad World". Simon was speechless. That's a freakin' miracle. Adam, in the course of one season, managed to make me like two songs I hated before he sang them ("Satisfaction" and "Black or White") and to actually improve upon my favourite Johnny Cash song ("Ring of Fire"). And he did it all without smearing his eyeliner. His losing was...ridiculous...and I tried to stick by my guns, I did...but then I ran across the auditions this year and, well, there was this chick named...

Crystal Bowersox. She's that hippy chick everyone always made fun of in high school for smelling like patchouli and carrying her guitar everywhere and always saying the weirdest shit. And she has a voice and a sense of originality that is utterly unparalleled. She's my fucking hero. Halfway into Season 9, she is already being placed in the realm of such goddesses as Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, and Janis Joplin, comparisons that would make me cringe if it were anyone else. But, no, Crystal Bowersox holds her own, and every other contestant this season is paling horribly in her ass-kicking shadow. The world needs a Crystal Bowersox right now. She is painfully real, blatantly refuses to march to any beat but her own, and gives true artists hope that there is possibility in their creativity beyond playing biker bars and singing in subways.

Last week, her performance of "Come Together" was...I am almost speechless. Hands down, the best performance in all of American Idol history. And the judges love her. And America loves her. And that's something, because she ain't skinny, she has crooked teeth and messy, frizzy dredlocks and she dresses like she just raided the back of a Salvation Army truck. But none of that seems to matter, because DAMN CAN THAT GIRL FREAKIN' SING. Have I mentioned she's my hero? And I think she's gorgeous, in the most real way anyone on a television screen has been in years. My faith in original artistic vision is renwed.

(The two performances mentioned are the first comment. Fix your code embedding issues for blogs, please, BabyJ *mwah*).