And The New American Idol Is…Phillip Phillips!

Well, after four months and a record-setting 132 million votes, it's official: Phillip Phillips is the 11th American Idol. It's hardly the most surprising finale result in "Idol" history--since many pundits (myself included) had him pegged as the winner the moment he entered the audition room--but it's not one without controversy.

After four male champions in a row, many "Idol" fans were no doubt hoping that runner-up Jessica Sanchez, arguably the technically best vocalist of Season 11, would be the girl to break the female curse on "Idol." And I suspect that "Idol's" powers-that-be were rooting for Jessica as well. Surely it would have been a fantastic PR development for the "Idol" franchise (which over the years has, wrongly or not, been accused of being a closed door to contestants of color or of the fairer sex, or basically any contestant that doesn't sing rock or country music) to blast out a press release declaring, "FIRST GIRL WINS IN FIVE YEARS!"--rather than have to send out yet another anticlimactic announcement that yet another cute young boy has prevailed.