American Idol: Jordin Soars in Finale

Last night was a showdown between performance and singing, with beat-boxing Blake representing for all wannabe teen hipsters out there, and Jordin Sparks representing for all the wannabe teen Mariahs. The question of what will prevail - hipness or high Cs - was answered with one of the most dubiously titled American Idol original selections ever (and that surely is a feat, since the dubiousness of previous songs has been pretty impressive) called "This is My Now."

Jordin Sparks should be on her knees giving thanks to the men who penned "This is My Now," a song which American Idol's producers chose from thousands of entries, due to its uncanny blandness and lackluster semi-triumphant chorus. Perhaps due to the fact that she's 17 years old, Jordin found phrases like "There was a time I packed my dreams away/Living in a shell hiding from myself" extremely profound. Blake, on the other hand, clearly found them trite and although he tried his best to pretend otherwise, his ennui shone through.

In general, Blake's performances last night were like the Idol equivalent of pulling back the curtain and revealing that the wizard behind it is just a man. He started off with a reprise of his famous "You Give Love a Bad Name," which was sans the advantage of being something completely novel, considering we had seen it performed before. He then failed to bring up his innovation quotient on his second song, Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved," delivering a fairly straight-forward karaoke performance. And, as already discussed, "This is My Now" was a complete and utter disaster for him - he found himself hopping idly around the stage (Simon described this as "odd," an apt evaluation) trying to give the treacly tune some punch.

Jordin, perhaps foolishly, started off the night with Christina Aguilera's "Fighter," a tune that is famous for being performed by perhaps one of the best living female vocalists. But she came back strong on her second selection, "Broken Wing," which Randy called "better than the original" (Martina McBride, watch out!). "Broken Wing" certainly soared with Jordin owning the stage with her youthful sweetness and powerful vocals.

But when talking about the Season 6 finale of Idol, I predict that people will not remember what was sung or whether that final high C was exactly on pitch. They'll remember Jordin Sparks, 17 years old, overwhelmed and grateful, beautiful and vulnerable, a single tear welling up in her eyes on the last sweet notes of "This is My Now." It's true that this is a singing competition, and Jordin easily won the vocal aspects of it. But it's important to remember that American Idol is also something more - it's about dreams, and last night someone's dream came true.