Adam Lambert
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In a word: WOW!

There shouldn't have been much doubt before, but now we can certainly say for sure: this competition is Adam Lambert's to lose.

The singer blew away judges and viewers last night with his acoustic rendition of "Tracks of My Tears." Simon called it the best of the night, and that almost feels like an understatement.

Other performances that caught our attention - in a good way - were Allison Iraheta with "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" and Matt Giraud with "Let's Get It On."

But this night was all about Adam Lambert. Don't you agree?

Need we even ask: Who was your favorite performer last night?

Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta and Kris Allen are officially American Idol finalists. Congrats to the trio!

Here are excerpts of interviews each singer gave this week to TV Guide:

Adam Lambert on...

... his first musical theater role: "It was a production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. I was 10 years old, and I played Linus. It was downtown San Diego, and it was pretty wild!"

... fear of country music: "Range-wise, there isn't anything I'd be scared to attempt. But as for styles, country week would be a stretch for me."

Allison Iraheta on...

... American Idol aspirations: "I've been wanting to audition since [age] 9! I had my face against the TV screen, wishing I was on the show."

... Simon's critiques: "He doesn't know me. He says I'm boring, but honestly I'm not. I'll just chill a little bit more because the nerves got to me a little [this week]."

Kris Allen on...

... a theme he'd embrace: "Doing The Beatles would be so amazing. I feel like you can do a lot with their songs. That would be the coolest thing ever."

... tackling Michael Jackson: "I decided on ["Man in the Mirror"] a while back, so it was a little scary. But I was really confident in what I was dong. I was just happy I didn't get any compared to him."

Six down, six to go.

Three more finalists were named on American Idol last night, as Allison Iraheta, Adam Lambert and Kris Allen received the most viewer votes.

Who is your favorite new finalist?

They join the first trio of singers to move on to the show's round of 12: Danny Gokey, Alexis Grace and Michael Sarver.

Next Tuesday, a dozen more semifinalists will compete for three spots in the competition's final round.

After they have been chosen, the judges will pick the last three finalists after a special wild card round.

There were two big winners from last night's second round of semifinal auditions on American Idol.

1. Adam Lambert.
2. Anoop Desai.

Allow us to explain:

Lambert put on the best performance - by far - of an otherwise woeful series of auditions. Yes, Allison Iraheta surprised the judges and the viewers. But Lambert was the true star.

He closed the show with a rendition of "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones that Simon called "brilliant" and caused Paula to yammer something about how the nation was attending a special Adam Lambert concert.

So, why was Desai, who peformed last week but did not advance to the finals, also a winner? Because no other contenders emerged last night, especially considering that two singers (aside from Lambert, of course) will be voted through to the next round tonight.

This means that Anoop will have very little competition during next week's Wild Card round. We expect him to make the finals, after all.

Who was your favorite peformer this week?