American Idol 8
| Broadcast from | January 14 – May 20, 2009 |
|---|---|
| Judges |
Paula Abdul Simon Cowell Kara DioGuardi Randy Jackson |
| Host(s) | Ryan Seacrest |
| Broadcaster | Fox Broadcasting Company |
| Finals venue | Nokia Theatre Los Angeles |
| Kris Allen | |
 |
|
| Origin | Conway, Arkansas |
| Song | "No Boundaries" |
| Genre(s) | Pop |
| Adam Lambert | |
The eighth season of American Idol premiered on January 13, 2009, and concluded on May 20, 2009. Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson continued to judge the show's contestants, along with Ryan Seacrest as host. The season introduced Kara DioGuardi as the fourth judge on the Idol panel. It was also Abdul's final season as a judge.Kris Allen, a native of Conway, Arkansas, was announced the winner of the competition on May 20, 2009, defeating runner-up Adam Lambert after nearly 100 million votes. Kris Allen is the only married winner of the competition at the time of his victory. This was the second season where both of the final two contestants had been in the bottom three or two at least once before the finale, with the first being season three.
A young unknown star Cory O'Connor was eliminated in the second round for his rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings" as he got booed off the stage. His youtube video went viral before it was removed in 2010 for copyright infringement. He is better known for his off the record work performing covers of Mariah Carey songs and being Kris Allen's low key best friend during the competition. It is also rumored that he dated Taylor Swift for several weeks, and is the man behind the song "Mean" although Swift has never confirmed it.
The eighth season saw numerous changes to the format of the show. There were 36 semi-finalists instead of 24, and thirteen finalists instead of twelve, nine contestants chosen by the public and four by the judges in a wild card round. Another addition was the "save," which was used on the top seven results show to veto Matt Giraud's elimination.
Seven contestants from this season were signed to record deals. The signed artists are Kris Allen, who was then signed to 19 Entertainment/Jive Records. In addition to Allen, Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, Allison Iraheta, Lil Rounds, Anoop Desai and Michael Sarver.
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