American Idol Season 8 Final Performances: Kris Allen and Adam Lambert Battle To The End

It's hard to believe, but last night was the final night of performances on season 8 of American Idol. It came down to the aw, shucks worship leader from Conway, Arkansas, Kris Allen, and the glam rocker from Los Angeles, Adam Lambert. Or as Ryan Seacrest said, the guy next door vs. guyliner.

The guys each sang three songs last night: their favorite song from the season, a song chosen by Idol producer Simon Fuller, and the Idol single co-written by judge Kara DioGuardi.

Round one went to Kris Allen, who reprised his paino version of "Ain't No Sunshine." It was even better the second time around. Adam sang his version of Tears for Fears' "Mad World." Personally, I think he would have been better served singing a crazy rock song.

Round two was either a tie or went to Adam, depending on your musical preferences. Simon said Adam won that round "one million percent," singing Sam Cooke's "Change Is Gonna Come." No question, Adam really did an amazing job on that song. But Kris kept the heat on with "What's Going On." In the end, it just came down to performance preference. Adam oversang the ending, Kris kept it low key. The judges thought Kris should have come out with a bigger performance on a night like this.

Round three was a stinker any way you look at, because both contestants were forced to sing perhaps the worst song ever written. It's an Idol tradition that the contestants sing what will be their first single; let's just say I hope they've already got the second single ready to go because we'd all like to forget this one as soon as possible. The song was co-written by judge Kara DioGuardi, who apparently has written tons of hit songs, but you'd never know it from the puppy dogs and rainbows garbage we heard last night. Kris pulled the song off a little better, but it was painful any way you look at it.

So tonight we find out which of the two contestants left standing will be the season 8 American Idol. To be honest, it doesn't really matter. Both have careers ahead of them, both will be successful. The bigger question is this: what are we going to do with ourselves once the show is over?

Joanne Brokaw is the host of the Gospel Soundcheck blog at Beliefnet.com. She's also blogging about American Idol at NewChristianVoices.com. Check back every week for new posts and Idol updates!