Either Jordin Sparks or Blake Lewis will be named the winner of "American Idol" tonight. AP Photo/Fox, Frank Micelotta

One of the goals of the songwriting contest was to find a fresher song than the tired, cliche-ridden power ballads that professional songwriters had foisted on past "Idol" winners. The winning song, by pastor Jeff Peabody and a member of his congregation, Scott Krippayne, turned out to be a tired, cliche-ridden power ballad called "This Is My Now" that sounded much like all the songs from back then.

And it was a disaster for Blake Lewis.

In this year's format, each singer chose a new song plus a favorite number from earlier in the season, and both sang the contest winner. So Lewis was saddled with a saccharine inspirational ballad unsuited to his talents. His limited range didn't allow him to inject any drama, and his patented beatboxing was out of place, so all he could do was throw in a few jarringly out-of-place dance steps in the middle to try to infuse a little life in the tune.

Jordin Sparks can handle a saccharine ballad with ease, and even threw in a little extra artificial sweetener by sobbing a bit to finish it up — but not before she had soared through the chorus and hit a crowd-pleasing glory note toward the end. Judge Simon Cowell said she "wiped the floor with Blake" on the song, and it would be difficult to disagree.

Earlier, it was more of a competition. Lewis began with a reprise of his favorite past tune, which turned out to be the beatboxed Bon Jovi number "You Give Love a Bad Name." Its vocal acrobatics rendered it (again) the most original performance "Idol" has yet seen.

Sparks countered with a first-time performance of Christina Aguilera's "Fighter," dressed up with a convincing snarl.

In the second round, Lewis went to his new song, which turned out to be his second Maroon 5 tune in two weeks, the hit "She Will Be Loved," a Frankenstein-like fusion of Red Hot Chili Peppers verse with U2 chorus that calls for a gliding falsetto that he failed to execute smoothly.

Sparks adequately reprised Martina McBride's country ballad "A Broken Wing."