Judging from the 122 million votes cast, I think it’s safe to say that “Idol” wins the prize for “finales we cared about today.” (Note: Oprah was in the lead until two-thirds of her audience fell asleep five minutes into her snooze-inducing swan song.)
No huge Idol shocker, 17-year-old Scotty McCreery became the first male country singer to win “American Idol.” Fellow country cutie Lauren Alaina, 16, placed second. Guess this proves two things: that the country vote really is a powerful one and that producers have finally allowed votes to be cast via CB radio.
The frontrunner going into this week, McCreery’s fate seemed sealed until Alaina gave him a run for his money with her performance on Tuesday’s show. Alas, it looks as if his “man of integrity” bit trumped her “girl with talent” schtick.
No matter; while Lauren has the voice and personality to make it in country music, she doesn’t quite have the maturity yet. Give her a year or two and she’ll be as confident as a surgically enhanced Kellie Pickler.
While the results themselves weren’t much of a shock, the show still had plenty of surprises to offer. (Can you ever really be prepared for a confetti shower?!) The most relevant finale in years, this show featured acts and songs that Scotty and Lauren’s tween fans didn’t have to Google.
The Top 13 kicked off the show with the ubiquitous “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. Though the Idols were all dressed in white to appear as a unit, I bet that didn’t stop your eyes from being continually drawn to Jacob Lusk, whose mixture of crotch-grabs and “Herkie” jumps made him look like a hefty Michael Jackson lost in a bad “Bring It On” sequel.
Fourth place finalist James Durbin, clad in his best S&M ensemble, performed alongside Judas Priest. Whether heavy metal is your thing or not, a final with James performing would’ve been much more dynamic than the country-on-country one that we received. It also would’ve given us the chance to see James go head to head with Steven, who promised to sing with him if he landed in the finals.
Next up was a video montage highlighting all of the “Randyisms” from our favorite veteran judge. Last year’s “dawg” and “for me, for you/for you, for me” have clearly been replaced by variations on the question “What kind of show is this?”
And need I even mention “in it to win it?” Cut to: “James is in it to win it, America!” “Lauren’s back in it to win it!” and “This guy’s in it to win it, too!” (I think he was referring to a janitor he heard whistling in the hallway.)
Next up was fifth place finisher Jacob Lusk, who performed “I Smile” with Kirk Franklin and Gladys Knight. Swishing across the stage and batting his eyes, Jacob kept his crotch grabs in check so as not to offend the requisite gospel choir.
