Update: Click here to find out who won America’s Got Talent Season 9>>>
I was prepared to put the words ‘major upset’ in the title for this, my final 2014 America’s Got Talent predictions article. That was before the action began last night and I watched in awe as the entertainment unfurled. Two hours, a can of Sour Cream & Onion Pringles, a box of Kleenex and 12 performances later, I must confess my heart was full to overflowing and confident that an upset tonight would be next to impossible. Why? Because any of the final three are already million dollar acts.
But why the initial preemptive angst on my part? Well, I had it in my head that if Emily West doesn’t win this competition, it’s because some hanging chad somewhere disqualified the majority of the votes and she would be unjustly robbed.
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Residual Irritation Over Christian Stoinev Past Slights
I still can’t believe Quintavious Johnson got into the final six over Christian Stoinev last week and I’ll pout if I want to. As my cohort Bill King so eloquently put it last night in his AGT recap, Quintavious Johnson never distinguished himself from himself. So succinctly put, dear William. Christian did give us something new and more daring than he’d given us before, but he still took it in the shorts because he wasted his pre-game on the pooch. Doh!
But that’s all water under the bridge and Christian and I must pick up our bruised and tattered egos and learn from this. Hopefully, Christian will go forward into the world sans-canine. I, however, will continue to vote from the goosebumps, and that’s pretty much all I have to say about that. I still think Christian should have … well, okay, fine. I’ll shut up now. #ShuttingUp
Why do I blather on about this? Because I have a point to make and this is it: it’s never over ’til it’s over, reality is crazier than fiction and sometimes, despite the politico-crap upper management spoon-feeds us during a lay-off, there really can be a win-win outcome for some of life’s challenges. Tonight, I predict, will be such a night.
A Snapshot Before the Fact Proves Accurate
Again this week, I checked in with Bill at the beginning of his live blog of last night’s events, but then I kept to myself and still haven’t read his commentary. Again, I wanted nothing to influence my predictions. Before the show last night and, actually, ever since last Wednesday’s results, I’d forgotten about all the other acts, even Christian (sorry, sweetie, kiss-kiss), because, well, I’ve been busy. So here I was thinking the whole time that tonight’s results would prove to be a battle to the blood and bone between Miguel Dakota and Emily West. However, once the performances started rolling last night, I was quickly reminded that there were other acts just as deserving of the million dollar booty.
Who would win could be anyone’s guess, and I’d be okay with that. So I set up my six contenders and placed them in order of who I thought would take home the fatted cow. By the end of the show, the order I’d set up still felt right, but I felt a hell of a lot differently about the outcome. #ReadOn
The First Three Predicted to Fall
Everyone was great last night, bla, bla, bla, including Heidi Klum, Mel B., Howard Stern, Howie Mande and my new boyfriend, Nick Cannon, even though their opening greetings to the crowd at Radio City Music Hall were dangerously similar to the cheesy grins, grimaces and waves of past-their-prime celebs guest starring on Hollywood Squares.
So we’ve established that everyone on the docket was going to be fantastic last night, and they were. Each performer performed twice, which probably called for a lot of IBS for those poor performers, but it was especially sweet for us viewers.
That being said, my first two to be dropped from the possible top picks are Quintavious Johnson and Sons of Serendip. I love the guys of SOS, and when they put out their first album, I’ll be downloading it onto all my electronic devices. But will America vote on sheer talent or on who they believe has the potential to be the next mega heartthrob? SOS is better than Miguel Dakota (in a big way), but I think the sex appeal and the rock ‘n’ roll star quality of Miguelito will put him above the more talented and polished SOS.
Having said the above, I have to confess — sorry, ladies — that Miguel’s last three performances were not as fantastic as his previous ones. His final song featured way too much of his indoor voice and not enough of his barroom brawl. This set him apart from and below the top three.
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AcroArmy Was Beyond Amazing and Mat Franco Put a New Spin on Some Old Balls
These guys, every single one of them, literally curled my toes and took my breath away. Literally. Acro’s final act was a bit wobbly in places, which is to be expected considering the unbelievable risks they took (I’m still sweating just from watching them). Mat’s performance was fantastic. His poem was charming, his smile was alarming, he involved everyone including the judges and a bunch of audience volunteers, and he put a new spin on an amazing set of old balls in his first performance! I mean, hell, people continued screaming all through Howard’s commentary. Mat is ahead of Acro only because we know and love him personally, whereas there are many faces within AcroArmy’s Olympic gold medal quality performers.
Why We Watch Competitive Talent Shows
It is a beautiful thing to watch someone meet the challenges brought forth by pushing themselves. All of these people, way back in their cradles, had a tickle in their souls that told them they were meant for something more, something special, something big. This is the reason I agreed to write these articles, as torturous as they are. I mean, it’s nerve-wracking week after week trying to keep track of all the performers and their performances and trying to arrange them in some semblance of evaluative order according to quality, marketability, audience reaction, outrageous judge approbation and assumed strategy.
But I do it because I have dreams too. I have big dreams, just like many others out there do, possibly even you. Watching these people on AGT perform their hearts out and feel the love of millions of people against their skin … well, it’s down right titillating. It reminds us of all the greatness within us and of the freedom of spirit and full self-expression available to us if we would just throw off the shackles of conformity and insecurity to let our true selves breathe freely the clean air.
That’s why we do it. That’s why we I watch (and write), and maybe why you do too. Because of the marvelous vicarious thrill given to us as viewers by AcroArmy, Mat Franco and Emily West.
Because Music is All She Breathes
Finally, I do believe Emily is going to win. Or Mat will. But I’m going on record to say she is my prediction for the million dollar booty. Not because she’s supposed to win or because she’s earned it any more than the other two, or even because she’s better than Mat Franco (“Which she isn’t,” said the apple to the orange), but because, well, I don’t really know, I just feel it. But I feel it about Mat Franco as well. Either way, I will not be disappointed. The only disappointment is that they won’t be entertaining us every week anymore.
There Will Be No Upsets Tonight
So why was my heart full to overflowing and confident that an upset tonight would be next to impossible? Because any of these three — AcroArmy, Mat Franco or Emily West — could win and it would be just fine with me. They are all superstars. They are all million dollar acts. They all deserve it. But only one can win it. And that will be Emily West. (Or Mat Franco.) Gah!!!!! Okay — Emily West.
Grammy Award-Winning Guest Performers Tonight on AGT
Tonight, we’ll see Ed Sheeran, Jennifer Hudson, Lenny Kravitz, Pitbull, The Rockettes, Train and — just recently announced — Cyndi Lauper and Travis Barker. It will be a night you will not want to miss.
You can watch the America’s Got Talent season 9 finale tonight at 8pm on NBC.
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(Image courtesy of NBC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
