Despite the attempt by the American Idol producers and judges to rig this season in favor of Adam Lambert, the American public voted for the unassuming Kris Allen to be this year’s American Idol winner. 

The win by Allen was a slap in the face to the judges on the show who all but crowned Lambert in the final performance show and the producers who did everything in their power to give Lambert the edge.  Heck, in last night’s show they even made the final song the two sang a Queen song which is exactly the kind of music everyone thinks Adam will be performing in the future. 

I’m sure Cowell and the other judges will echo the sentiments of all the other Adam Lambert fans and say that this doesn’t mean anything except America is full of homophobic Christian teenage girls who watch American Idol and vote for the guy they most want to go to the movies with and that Lambert will end up being the much bigger star.  I disagree, though. 

I think Adam may end up being a star, but not the international superstar that Simon Cowell seemed to suggest on the show the other night.  He’s not going to be a Queen version of Michael Jackson or something.  I think he might end up with a band and do fairly well in a limited musical demographic or he might end up on Broadway or in Vegas.  I think those are all very real possibilities for him and they could all lead to some real success.

However, I think Kris Allen always had the better chance of being a mainstream success.  Hearing him perform last night only solidified my opinion.  Kris has an all-American look and style that will play to almost any kind of music he wants to do from Christian to pop to country and if he chooses his songs wisely he’ll be successful on the charts.  Maybe he did have millions of teenage girls voting for him, but those are the same people who buy millions of albums and go see you in concert. 

Kris Allen may be more mainstream than Adam Lambert but that’s exactly why he’ll be more successful in the long run.