Up until the final performance show, Scooter McCorny was destined to bask in Wednesday night’s confetti shower, thanks in no small part to the judges‘ incessant pimping. Enter a near-perfect performance by Lauren Alaina on Tuesday, and things don’t seem so cut-and-dried.
With our two honky-tonk teens neck and neck, this contest may just come down to who has the bigger high school — the backwoods baritone or the boot-scootin’ belter.
It’s amazing that they made it this far at all, despite having some of the most memorable first auditions of the year. As Jimmy Iovine mentioned last week, the country vote is a very powerful one. While that has been clearly illustrated this season, it’s surprising that they didn’t cancel one another out by splitting the votes of country fans. Instead it seems that just the opposite happened; Lauren landed in the Bottom Two just once, while Scotty has never been in danger of going home.
Until now?
Scotty is nothing if not consistent — the rich voice, the questionable mic technique….those eyebrows. Consistency is a double-edged sword, though. There is nothing about Scotty that is exciting or unexpected. It’s just a good ‘ole boy singin’ with a good ‘ole voice about going to barn raises (or wherever hillbilly folk go). Yes, he has a golden voice but that’s not what separates him from fellow country crooner Lauren.
Despite his questionably corny facial expressions and “Bubba Fierce” stage persona, Scotty radiates confidence every time he performs. There definitely is a market for the “humorous” country singer (See: “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off” or virtually anything by Brad Paisley), and Scotty is poised to fall right into that mold.
Lauren, on the other hand, is her own worst enemy. Though she has a much bigger voice than Scotty, at times you could practically hear her heart beating through the television screen. I hate to say it, but while she may be more talented and marketable than Scotty, she’s just not ripe enough and needs a couple of years to mature. If she can’t handle the pressure of the weekly results show, perhaps being picked apart in Us Weekly is not the best thing for her self-esteem.
Interestingly enough, a tuxedoed Seacrest, with help from the staff doctor, explained that Lauren was suffering a “vocal injury” and was “on medication.” Would she be able to rely more on her performance skills and less on her actual voice? More important, would the “meds” lead to a hard-partying downward spiral, a la Tanya Tucker?
This week, the two-steppin’ twosome competed in three rounds. Round 1 was a reprisal of their favorite songs from the season. The numbers for Round 2 were chosen for them by their personal idols — Carrie Underwood for Lauren and George Strait for Scotty. (Sadly, we caught a glimpse of neither star.) Round 3 consisted of original songs chosen specifically for each contestant. The winner will release the song as her (or his) first single; however I think it’s safe to say that both songs will eventually be released.
SONG 1 — FAVORITE SONG OF THE SEASON
SCOTTY McCREERY “Gone” by Montgomery Gentry
It seemed anticlimactic that Scotty chose not to sing “Your Man” by Josh Turner. Are we ever gonna find out what happened after that gal locked them doors and turned the lights down low? Nevertheless, McCreery played to his strengths by starting off in the aisles and getting the audience riled up — no small feat when you’re playing live to 7,000 people. To quote Randy, “I felt like I was at a Scotty concert!”
Interacting with the band, he was like a pied piper to that flat-ironed fiddle player, not to mention the squealing tweens in the front row. He did not buzzcut his hair like J. Lo requested; however, this just adds to his “integrity” and shows that he “don’t take no orders from no ladies.” Back in the kitchen, J. Lo!
LAUREN ALAINA “Flat On the Floor” by Carrie Underwood
While Lauren has the youth and bubbly personality to pull off saucy lyrics such as these, it is on these “fun” songs that she seems most self-conscious. If she were going to choose an upbeat song, though, her rendition of Elvis’ “Trouble” may have been a better choice. “Flat On the Floor” scraped an unflatteringly low part of her range, and her “vocal injury” was painfully obvious on the bigger notes. First song out of the gate; not a good omen. Perhaps a better choice would’ve been her initial audition song, Aerosmith’s “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” It remains her strongest vocal on the show. But, if Pia Toscano taught us anything, it’s that “Idol” cannot be won on ballads alone.
SONG 2 — CHOSEN BY PERSONAL IDOLS
SCOTTY McCREERY “Check Yes or No” by George Strait
Scotty has already sung George Strait’s “I Cross My Heart,” so It’s interesting that Strait chose another one of his own songs for Scooter to perform. Regardless, this showed that McCreery has a variety of colors, even if the differences are ever so subtle. Whereas “Gone” showed the “fun” side of Scotty — all teen dream and gang signs — this was the “stand and strum” Scotty, equal parts guitar playing and eyebrow wiggling. While this performance didn’t exactly inspire hootin’ and hollerin’, it was foreshadowing to his future career as a “country humorist,” as mentioned above.
LAUREN ALAINA “Maybe It Was Memphis” by Pam Tillis
I guess two Carrie Underwood songs in one episode would be too much to ask for, so Lauren’s idol chose this mid-tempo number from the 1990s. The lyrics aren’t exactly the stuff of a Ke$ha song, but singing about “Southern summer nights” and it “sure feelin’ right” seemed on the cusp of risque for the virginal Lauren. Throw in her “Toddlers and Tiaras” get-up and it bordered on pedophilia. Note to Lauren: Cowboy boots do not go with everything and the “Western Wow Wear” competition does not commence until after the lunch break. On the plus side, she made it through her belts without evidence of her “vocal injury” betraying her.
After the second round, Ryan went to the judges for their reactions.
Randy: No surprise here, he felt like he was at a Scotty concert! For him, Scotty had a “slight edge” in Round 1; however, Lauren had the same “slight edge” in Round 2.
Jennifer: She agreed with Randy, giving Round 1 to Scotty and Round 2 to Lauren. She thought that there was no better way to start the show than with Scotty’s version of “Gone” and that they both had explosive starts. Scotty’s second song wasn’t as “dynamic” for her.
Steven: A Lauren fan from day one, he gave both the first and second rounds to Alaina, “only because she’s prettier.”
SONG 3 — POTENTIAL FIRST SINGLES
SCOTTY McCREERY “I Love You This Big”
This must be the part of the “Scotty concert” where he says something like “We’re gonna slow it down a little bit now.” Jimmy thought that this was the right song for the finale and the right song to launch Scotty’s career. Citing that McCreery confidence, Iovine thought that if Scooter brought his patented “cool” to the performance, there was no reason that he shouldn’t be standing in that confetti shower at the finale. As a montage of Scotty’s Idol Journey played in the background, the lyrics really did seem to be the right fit: I know I’m still young…. No one’s ever dreamed this big. Watching his parents in the audience, it was clear where Scotty gets his tear ducts. It was a nice enough song but it wasn’t exactly “A Moment Like This.”
Randy wasn’t sure that it was the perfect song but liked that it showed his range and called it a “brilliant vocal.” Jennifer thinks Scotty has been the “great storyteller on this show” and that he did an “amazing job.” Steven applauded him: “You’ve come a long way. You take your chances, you ran with it and you nailed it again.”
LAUREN ALAINA “Like My Mother Does”
Jimmy thought that this song really captured Lauren’s Idol Journey and I have to agree. As a minor, Lauren has had her mother beside her for the entire ride, from the time she serenaded Steven with “Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” up until now. Lauren’s performance was testament to two things: that she does best when she emotionally connects to a song and that this competition is truly won on song choice. Speaking of “testaments,” it looked like Mama Alaina was doing some testifying of her own in the front row. This ain’t a mega-church! As the song started off soft and slow, Lauren’s “vocal injury” didn’t show until right before the key change. It didn’t matter, though, because her emotional connection trumped any problems with vocal technique. When a dapper Seacrest appeared out of nowhere to escort her down the treacherous stairs, I actually got chills. Never one to wade into the audience, Lauren walked up to Mama Alaina and sang right to her. In fact, she actually hugged her as she continued to belt it out. Yes, it was corny but it was also moving.
Randy proclaimed that, “Lauren Alaina has arrived, America! Amazing! Amazing! Amazing!” Jennifer thought it was a tight race but with that song, Lauren may have just won. It had everything it needed — “heart, emotion, feeling and a beautiful, beautiful voice.”
Steven said, “You just gave it up to your mom.” (I’m thinking he probably wants her mom to give it up to him.) “As far as I’m concerned, the first time I saw you I thought you were my American Idol and I think America is gonna find that to be true as well. You are it in my eyes.”
As Scotty whispered sweet nothings in Lauren’s ear (wouldn’t they make a cute couple?), Ryan went to the judges for final thoughts.
Randy: He gave the “slight edge” to Lauren.
Jennifer: She’s always thought of Scotty as a frontrunner, but thinks that it’s too close to call. (Despite saying just minutes earlier that Lauren “may have just won.”)
Steven: “I’m sorry, Scotty. Lauren gets it hands down.”
