The eighth period of American Idol broadcasted on Tuesday, January 13, 2009, and finished up on May 20, 2009. Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson kept on making a decision about the show's challenges, alongside Ryan Seacrest as host.

The season presented Kara DioGuardi as the fourth judge on the Idol board. It was likewise Abdul's last season as a judge.

Kris Allen, a local of Conway, Arkansas, was declared the victor of the challenge on May 20, 2009, vanquishing second-place Adam Lambert after almost 100 million votes.

This was the second season where both of the last two challengers had been in the last three or two in any event once before the finale, with the first being season three.

The eighth season saw various changes to the organization of the show. There were 36 semi-finalists rather than 24, and thirteen finalists rather than twelve, nine competitors picked by general society and four by the judges in a special case round.

Another expansion was the "spare," which was utilized on the best seven outcomes show to veto Matt Giraud's end.

Different candidates from this season were marked to record bargains. This incorporates victor Kris Allen, who was then marked to 19 Entertainment/Jive Records, next in line Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, Allison Iraheta, Lil Rounds, Anoop Desai, Michael Sarver, and Mickey Guyton.

Changes from last season

A few changes were gotten ready for season eight. Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly expressed that Idol would include less "William Hung-like" hopefuls and "interesting tryouts," and would rapidly move its concentration to the potential vocalists during the prior phases of the challenge, therefore moving the season at a quicker pace.

Mike Darnell, leader of Fox's elective programming, said the contenders would be increasingly passionate and that watchers would get familiar with them and their pasts than they had in the past season.

Lyricist and record maker Kara DioGuardi was included as a fourth judge on the board. She had recently worked together with Celine Dion, Hilary Duff, Britney Spears, Enrique Iglesias, Leona Lewis, and Christina Aguilera, and delivered a few Top 40 hits.

As a musician, she had just worked with a few American Idol graduated class and victors, including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, David Archuleta, and David Cook.

In the interim, Ken Warwick turned into the new official maker, as Nigel Lythgoe had left the show to concentrate on So You Think You Can Dance and his new show with Simon Fuller, Superstars of Dance.

Icon Gives Back was dropped for season 8, as the monetary emergency and downturn, left Idol authorities awkward requesting that monetarily battling watchers give.

The elimination rounds considered to be changed as the trump card round returned just because of the third season. After voters picked three finalists from every one of three gatherings of 12 semi-finalists, the judges chosen eight of the recently dispensed with 27 semifinalists to return and play out a tune on March 5, 2009, appear.

They were made a decision by the board, rather than a vote by the watchers, with four progressing to the finals. Despite the fact that the finals had been changed from the earliest starting point of the period as a lot of 12 competitors, the judges reported at last that they would propel a fourth special case/thirteenth hopeful, Anoop Desai, also.

The eighth season likewise denoted the first occasion when those tryouts were directed outside the mainland United States, when the demonstrate made a trip to U.S. domain San Juan, Puerto Rico to screen potential challengers.