Who Will Win 'American Idol' 2010? Crystal Bowersox Versus Lee DeWyze

May 26, 2010 — -- Tonight's the night – the ninth season of "American Idol" has come down to a contest between the early favorite, Crystal Bowersox, and Lee DeWyze, once a middle-of-the-pack contender whose popularity with judges and fans has steadily grown.

The DeWyze-vs.-Bowersox drama could be eclipsed by acerbic judge Simon Cowell, who is making his final appearance on the show. Many fret that "Idol" will never be as entertaining without him.

First, the predictions: The judges have been leaning clearly toward DeWyze in recent weeks, but after last night's bravura performance, a lot of critics are calling it for Crystal.

"If the finals were the deciding factor, Crystal won it in a walk," USA Today's Ken Barnes wrote on the site's "Idol Meter", which gave Bowersox a score of 51 against DeWyze's 26.

"On a night when their verdicts probably couldn't sway any votes, the judges were lukewarm toward Lee. They called him out for nervousness, vocal wobbliness and lack of excitement, and although they were polite, they made it clear that Crystal outperformed him by a considerable margin."

Bowersox's renditions of "Me and Bobby McGee" and Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet" got good reviews, but it was her performance of Patty Griffin's "Up to The Mountain" that seemed to win critics' hearts.

It was "an achingly tender performance whose power was as much in the arrangement," wrote Leslie Gray Streeter. "I will say that after a few weeks of decline, it looks like early favorite Crystal Bowersox pulled it off, at least singing-wise, and should probably be the winner on tonight's finale."

"I think America will vote Lee into office, but, as far as the night's performances went, Crystal's last song really got me," Blake Lewis wrote for USA Today's Idol Chatter blog.