The show begins with Ryan asking, "Who will set the standard?" Whoa, the finale is three weeks and there are so many votes, they needed to add a second phone number for each of the top five! The theme is "standards from the rat pack" and the signs are out! There's a lot in store for us!
It's Opry week and St. Patrick's Day on Season 8 of American Idol 2009! This was a great week for Kris, bringing us for the first time his amazing cover of To Make You Feel My Love by Bob Dylan, although to get it into country week, it was technically covered by Garth Brooks. Kris' cover is more like Adele's version. Anyway! It works! Like Ryan says, after the break...
With the wild cards added, and the top 12 expanded to top 13, Idol Season 8 had selected its finalists for 2009. Now it was time for the real shows to begin and the fans of the real singers to enjoy the performances and start picking a favorite. The theme for top 13 night was Michael Jackson night, and as Paula put it, no one knows Michael Jackson songs better than Kris Allen, who had already performed Man in the Mirror for his group night semi-final selection. More behind the jump...
Just looked at the Kralendar and gasped! Tomorrow, Monday, January 21, 2019, will mark 10 years since Kris Allen's Louisville audition for American Idol first aired! Crazy!
Since Kris is in writing/recording mode at the moment and news is slow, I'm making a blog executive decision and we're going to go down memory lane for 2009 throughout this year, week by week! I think this will be fun and hope that you'll all chime in the comments with your memories too! (In case you need to refresh yourselves on the whole season, here's a great wiki on it!) I'll be adding in my memories and reactions as I recall them to each week's episode of Idol, that great summer of 2009, and the excitement of anticipation for Kris Allen The Album (KATA as Kris fans call it).
So let's get started with the Louisville audition episode, which was taped in 2008 and aired on January 21, 2009. Kris appeared toward the very end of it. I'll be honest, I was more struck by Matt Giraud's audition (helped along by Idol supplying back story from Matt).
As for Kris, the judges were actually pretty critical, but then all put him through. Viewers didn't see that, as his full audition was heavily edited. In the version that aired, he was lumped in with three other good singers, with narration from Ryan Seacrest, "the judges hope some winners will emerge..." We see Kris sing a few bars of A Song for You well. And the Ford logo was super-imposed over Kris with the motto, "Who's got the drive." Subtle stuff there from Idol. Check out these videos to see Kris's full audition, compared to what actually aired.
As Kara says in the unaired version, though, "You know what? You're going to Hollywood!"
