Kris Allen wins 'American Idol'

Adam Lambert was robbed, said Dan Abramson in The Huffington Post. “I don’t think he’s the god that everyone made him out to be,” but Lambert is “obviously talented,” which is more than I can say for Kris Allen, who beat out Lambert for this year’s “American Idol” crown. Allen has “no personality and an average voice,” so this just proves that America is “in love with mediocrity.”

No one was more surprised at Kris Allen’s win than Allen himself, said Anne Neville in The Buffalo News. He reacted with “open-mouthed shock” when “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest gave him the news, and said, “Adam deserves this.” It was, after all, Lambert’s “electrifying performances” that were credited with the record number of votes cast for this year’s contestants. Allen earned everyone's respect quietly—none of his solos were even televised in the show’s Hollywood round.

Everybody agrees that this year’s finalists were among the show’s most talented ever, said Richard Rushfield in the Los Angeles Times. But while “the public gaped in awe at Lambert’s virtuosity,” something was missing. Kris Allen, “in the quiet power of his performance, and his humble, unmistakable personal goodness, gave the show back its heart and a story that will bring tears to the eyes of all who behold it for ages to come.”

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