Kris Allen first caught my attention during Group 2 week with his Jason Mraz, John Mayer like performance, especially in the way he did his glory note during Man in the Mirror. I made a mental note that I wish he got through, but he remained that cute boy to me. I thought that if he went through, it'd be throughly because of his looks and Simon's comment. Believe me or not, i didn't even catch the results show the next night. I probably had something on and didn't bother watching the replays. All I knew was that Adam Lambert got through, along with that red haired girl and yeah, that cute boy.

All throughout the Semis, I had clear favorites, Adam Lambert, Scott McIntyre, Alexis Grace, Jasmine Murray, Ricky Braddy, Lil Rounds and gasp, Danny Gokey. Kris Allen wasn't on my list at all.

3 weeks later that cute boy performed Remember The Time. I sort of liked it but it remained too much like Jason Mraz and John Mayer-esque. However i liked how Kara or Paula commented that he had actually helped other contestants with the Michael Jackson songbook. I immediately thought, wow this is a nice guy! In a incredibly fierce competition very few people would do what Kris did. However, I believed that it was a no-brainer who would go after that night, so it didn't bother or excite me that much.

Then came Grand Ole Pry week. This was the game changing week for me. That cute boy came out to just sing. No band, no accompanying instrument or anything just his vocals on full display and under intense scrutiny. It was a big bold risk which paid off and caught my attention. He stood out from the rest and became Kris Allen. The tipping point came from the studio version of To Make You Feel My Love. It did what it said it'd do. I felt the raw emotions of a singer like never before and it got me really excited. I told anyone who would listen about him.

I remember clearly that when i played the studio of To Make You Feel My Love in the car, my Dad went: Is he the American Idol? He was thinking of Archie because Archie visited Singapore about the time the studio version came out. All i could do was smile and say that Kris hasn't won the competition yet, and it felt right. My family's really picky about music and doesn't really know how to appreciate modern pop. For them to say that they enjoy someone current is really rare and special. From than on, i knew Simon was right and Kris would do really well. In the following weeks, it became clear that he was one of the best and most radio ready idols ever.

The judges comments remained great and i thought that he was a clear favorite, after continuous weeks of praise from all 4 judges. Meanwhile, Alexis, Jasmine, Ricky Braddy left. Scott got boring as his performances were clearly out of his comfort zone (I blame the theme weeks and limited song lists) and Lil couldn't get her game started proper. I had lost Adam on country week after that absolute rubbish of a performance with what: Ring of Fire? I can't even remember the song name because all I did was mute the TV 5 seconds into the song. Danny lost his charm when he continued to get excessive praise for his seemingly direct covers and the excessive media harping of his wife. Allison, however, grew as a fierce competitor and rather good performer. I could see her grow week after week and started to really like her.

I started to get worried after his Falling Slowly performance which got that pitchy comment from Randy. I actually agreed with him, even though i was in the minority. Then i found out that we could actually vote from Singapore! I made a pledge to vote for him the following week, and i did. She Works Hard For The Money was brilliant and I had no regrets voting, even though I was forced to vote without first hearing the performances due to time differences and work. What started bothering me was the muted praise he was getting while people like Danny were getting crazy praises for really mediocre or bad karaoke performances. That said, I had already planned how I'd spend the final idol week with my dream Kradam finale: Taking the day off to vote like mad and catch the performances live.

With every muted praise or bad comment from the judges that I read from the live blogs, I voted even harder. It really came as a shock that he was in the bottom 3 on Rat Pack Week. I was really nervous and afraid as the save was gone. I couldn't describe the relieve that I felt when he was declared safe first over Adam. I was hyperventilating and collapsed into the chair when he was declared safe. There was no way someone that talented could be voted off, ever.

Then came Rock Week. The atrocious pairing of egoistic Danny who clearly didn't want or didn't know how to sing a duet and Kris being forced to sing back to back really threw me off as it seemed that the producers really didn't like Kris. I voted hard that week, even though i knew i could be risking a huge phone bill. It was worth it, just getting Kris back to Conway was a blessing. I was really happy till i found out that Allison went home.I felt really bad and robbed. Danny had destroyed my perfect Top 3 with his absolutely dreadful scream that sent my fingers straight into my ear canal.

Top 3 week! When I read the song choices on the live blog, my jaw really dropped. Heartless?!?!?!?! By now, Kris had already proven that he was the top song arranger and artiste to ever grace the idol stage but I still couldn't think of how he would even tackle that crazy auto-tune hit that Kanye performed just weeks ago on Idol while lip syncing. I listened to the original a few times and still couldn't figure out how on earth he would rearrange the song. I actually had higher hopes for Apologize. I had spent all weekend looking forward to Apologize. My friends and a lot of online fans agreed that a piano version would be too much like how the original live version was done and Kris wouldn't do that as he was a truly original performer. That night, i was really disappointed by Apologize. I wanted what Kara and Randy wanted, for Kris to bring out the guitar and strum out his unique Allenized version but all i got was the dreaded piano. As i was spoiled ahead of time, the surprise was gone but Heartless was still freaking amazing and i immediately forgave his less worked on version of Apologize. That said, I had already voted like mad just to get Danny out of the competition, to avenge Allison's early elimination and to get my dream finale. This was also the week that i found out voting was actually free from Singapore.

I sort of knew that Kris had the finale in his bag after Heartless. Throughout the intense voting period, the shock and surprise of Heartless stayed clear in my mind. The internet was ablaze and everyone was surprised. Heartless shot up the charts and I knew that even though Danny up-ed his game and performed really well, Kradam would make it and I would have my dream finale. For me, Danny's performances would have served him well if he was in the Top 11 week. However I had long fallen off the Danny train and was not going back on.

Going into the dream finale, I absolutely felt that it could really go either way and that both were winners in their own right. It had taken me weeks, but I finally accepted Adam for who he was. Though his music was not my taste, I understood his appeal and his unmistakable talent, both in vocal skills and performance. There can be no comparison between Kris and Adam besides the fact that they are both amazingly talented. The performances for both Adam and Kris weren't that great except for the first, but I was ready on hand with two phones, and 2 computers to vote for the full 7 hours. I felt for the first time in weeks that the judging was fair and deserved. It was really up to the fans to crown the winner, the question of who had the most dedicated fans that would vote like crazy for the full 7 hours.

I believe whole heartedly that Krisallenation is the real reason behind Kris' win. Without the high level of organization and fan support on krisallenation.com, I don't think we'd have pulled it off. Each week, through the podcasts, mini competitions and our cries of foul over the under praised performances we grew stronger and bonded together. We had gotten to the point of being able to put Kris through unbelievably tough weeks that i sincerely thought that what Krisallenation wanted, Krisallenation got. When if finally came round to the finals, we christened the mission for the crown as Operation Ding Dong, made plans, had detailed guides to voting, FAQs, promotional kits and a strong mission: To Win! All the credit of which goes to the creator Kris Fan, his wife, Ashley, and the mods on the chatbox. On the chat box, the heart of Krisallenation, there was endless encouraging and voting guidance. We taught people how to use gizmo from overseas, how to vote on their mobiles from overseas, power text and encouraged people to up their votes. We slammed the judges for their weak praise of our Idol, butchered Adam's fans and screamed on for Danny and Allison.

On the final voting night, we gave each other tips on which vote numbers were freeing up, alarm buzzes, caffeine doses and strong encouragements. This was spontaneous organization like I have never seen. When people were thinking of going off to bed, we screamed on them to keep voting. When people were talking too much on the Chat Box, we banned them or sent reminders for them to vote. I will never forget how many people kept saying through the weeks of voting to GET OFF THE BOX AND VOTE! So much so that it became a pre-finale reminder for people to JUST USE THE CBOX FOR VOTING QUESTIONS AND HELP, BUT NOT TO CHAT. Through the gizmo complains, worried messages about free lines, we kept on voting, peservering through the night on the east coast or through the day in Asia. When voting through phones closed on the fourth hour, streams of WE CAN STILL VOTE ON GIZMO rained down in encouragement for everyone to keep voting through the less efficient Gizmo. From a 1000 plus voters, it dwindled down to about 450 of the most hard-core fans that really voted till the end. It was really exhausting especially for the mods who had to clear the cbox of biased people form Adam's camp, spammers, and over talkers. Kudos to them for such an amazing job. Believe me, I still get warm and fuzzy when i think of the incredible support and rallying around Kris that happened on Krisallenation that night.

When it came to the finale, I knew instinctively that I wanted to be in front of the big TV, with my laptop plugged in and tuned to Krisallenation.com. It was simply the best finale ever. Though I couldn't have my friends over to watch, I felt the friendship and love on the site. We commented on how great or bad the performances were, laughed at eerily similar comments and counted down to the final moment with our increasing heart rates and messages of HERE WE GO! Then came the moment. I have to admit, my mind really went blank. I couldn't scream or shout or cry as my family was with me and it would be embarrassing. All I did was stare at the TV and let my fingers go wild and join the streams of OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG on the cbox. Then the cbox exploded, literally. The numbers grew in hundreds by the seconds, peaking at 2500 users. My eyes bleed from trying to read the comments that were pouring down the cbox. I missed part of the crowning song and had to re-watch it again at night, though i did catch the heartwarming, No. 1 shot of the season of Mr and Mrs Allen embracing.

This is the first year I've been so emotionally invested in Idol. So much that I actually voted all the way through 7 hours and took the day off just to do so. In the past, I had only been happy that Carrie or David Cook won. This year was totally different. Till today, I find it hard to belief that I actually got it right from the start. Kris actually won the whole thing! The cannon-fodder that was never meant to do well survived the meek praise that the judges barely dished out as the finales drew close. The underdog who destroyed Paula's pre-ordained Danny and Adam finale.

To Kris, if that by any chance you get to read this excessively long post, I have just one thing to complain. You are responsible for dirtying up my iTunes Top 100 with lossy,compressed, poor audio quality music that I have played on repeat through Thursday nights. In revenge, I promise to buy your album to clean the list up with proper, legal, uncompressed AIFF music that I will finally get a chance to spend money on. It'll be hard though, considering the really high total number of plays i have, 1235 and counting. You are my Top 4 most played artiste, beating out Jason Mraz in 5th. On a last fanatic note, I really hope you can pull an Archie and visit Singapore. Your music has really touched hearts and minds here and throughout South East Asia. You have fervent fans in Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines that are just dying to meet you, fans that voted like mad all the way around the world through the last month of the competition. Congratulations on your well-deserved win and your first of many Number One Hits on iTunes and I'm sure on Billboard. Don't listen to half of the media. Your fans will continue to love your music despite of what the press thinks of the win. You have really made this season special and worth every minute of heart break and joy.

PS, If you have any chance, please include Beautiful Moon on your debut! I just LOVE that song.