Amerian Idol 2011: Scotty McCreery bests Lauren Alaina in somewhat snoozy finale

May 25, 2011 Branden American Idol, Season 10 847

Scotty McCreery is our 2011 American Idol.

My prediction was wrong and I’m actually happy about that. Are you? In case you don’t know, last night, after Lauren Alaina’s sappy song about moms, I said she’d take the crown tonight. I also said I’d prefer Scotty to win, so I’m happy to be wrong.

Scotty’s emotional win came at the end of 2 hours and 7 minutes of OK-performances, almost no surprise musical guests, and a massive pimping of artists’ new albums, tours and even “Kung Fu Panda 2.” In other words, aside from Scotty’s win and Steven Tyler’s performance, it was pretty much the worst finale ever.

Why did they tell us who the musical guests were going to be before the performances? That’s always been my favorite part… where they start a medley and you’re like “ooooh is the artist they’re singing really going to show up or not!???!” Then one of the Idols says “Ladies and gentlemen …” They always show up but I still like the element of wonder and surprise. So I was VERY disappointed by the lack of that.

I was also very disappointed by the performances of Gaga, Beyonce and “Spider-Man” the musical. I wanted to see MORE Top 13 performances mixed in with guests. I wanted Paul McDonald to duet with Rod Stewart. I wanted Pia Toscano to duet with Celine Dion. I wanted more of the “Idol” finale format I love.

The best performances were Steven Tyler’s “Dream On,” Scotty’s duet with Tim McGraw, the girls doing the Beyonce medley and the Lauren and Carrie Underwood duet. But wow, did Lauren seem like a karaoke star singing next to Carrie Underwood.

The worst performances of the night were the guys’ Tom Jones’ medley (even though I did finally get to hear Stefano Langone sing Prince via Tom Jones) and Casey Abrams and Jack Black’s murder of Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls.”

We also got the typical montage where we make fun of all the people who didn’t make it on the show. And this year, we got a montage of each of the judges. Randy Jackson’s just featured his arrogance and Jennifer’s showcased her diva ways. Steven’s was all about his dirty mouth and lust for the ladies. In other words, it was hilarious.

It’s been a season of ups and downs. It started out huge and slowly became the same “American Idol” from every other year. And that’s OK with me because we love it, right? It was also a season of shocks. Casey was cut then saved. Pia’s elimination dropped jaws. James Durbin fell victim to the Chirs Daughtry Top 4 rocker curse. Haley went from bottom to top. The season definitely had its moments.

So congratulations, Scotty. And thank you to all my readers. It’s been a fun season and thanks for sharing it with me. Are we all looking forward to a summer of Idol judge speculations (will they stay or will they go?) and unfulfilled promises from Nigel? I am! Maybe we’ll even hear “I Love You This Big” on the radio! Eh. Probably not.

Goodnight!

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846 Comments

  1. SO to Scotty congrats, cause he did deserved to win… all this time I was afrais a girl would and it wouldn’t be right cause guys did it better this season… hey, he’s buddy of my idol so I like him too… yay and I got money from his win…

    • It’s all good. Thanks Matt for a great place to air our opinions. Terrific site.

      • ha,ha. Templar finally made a “rookie mistake”! with the clumsy recovery of course. Point being have a little more mercy for newbies and don’t act so elitist with your ‘attack wit’. Ha, ha.

      • Coondog: Thank you for trying to teach me humility. If that’s the chance you’ve been hoping for to pounce on me, glad I could help. Right now, I’m too pleased with the Idol results to take umbrage.

      • You’ve redeemed yourself well Templar! You took my cheap shot humbly without taking the bait to attack! Good day Sir! Regards Tuesday, it was sleepy and boring as expected, but the 2 hour Final show was fun and versatile and I’m happy for Scotty also (Lauren actually looked relieved to not get what she didn’t quite feel up to I think, so hopefully she’ll recover her voice and mature gracefully). And my sweet Haley performed admirably and classily in her acts!

  2. I loved this years Idol. It was full of talent and drama, after all it is all about the numbers. Congrats to Scotty you were number one every week. My hometown girl Lauren made me so proud. Can’t wait to download their new singles tomorrow.

    • Drama? Oh, you’re talking about that little bit between James and Casey about who was more of a shock to leave.

      • Well, Scotty McHotty is more of a metropolitan urban kind-of country bumpkin I guess. Hey, who else thought his choral is a hotty? Cougar city! GRRRRR!

      • Scotty is gonna change BIG TIME when he becomes professional. The country singer out shadowed him when he was next to him today. so the cowboys hat will probably be coming to a scotty head near you soon. 🙂 And all that hip hop influenced hand movements is gonna go as well.. then he will be a real country singer.. but props for winning.. now he’s gonna have to play the game.

      • oh and by the way (not dissin on anyone) but i just never knew so many people were attracted to the MAD magazine guy.. ? They LOOK the same!

    • Erm – Scotty sang 21/24 Country sons and Lauren 12/24 so who is the Country Bumpkin??

    • I happy for Scotty but I like more JAMES!!!!!! I hope James follow his dream….I love him..
      Pamela Rodriguez
      Ecuador

  5. I by will buy I love you this big by Scotty.
    It brings back a lot of memmories of my own
    children.Scotty you have a great voice! congrats!

    • Scotty I am in South Africa but will definitely buy you album when it is available in SA. You have an amazing voice and what a wonderful Christian. God bless you and your family

  6. Loved tonights show. This is THE BEST season EVER!!!!!!!! I’m very happy with the results. LOVED your comment about Steven!

  7. I am watching the finale replay right now here in Brazil as we speak – I already know Scotty won, so I am trying to enjoy the shows… so far, so good…medleys and more medleys – but hey, it is American Idol after all… Scotty was not my favorite, but between him and Lauren, it had to be Scotty. I started rooting for Scotty after his duet with Josh Turner and his hometown visit – it was so naturally pure, what a beautiful family and actually a great life. He has charisma and that glow of a star – I just hope he doesn’t get disappointed with the music industry – that can be very cruel at times. I loved reading all the news here and always agreed with you Branden… Loved your commentaries… and I am happy you were wrong about the winner – as usual… he hehe…

  8. Branden which show will you take over your wings now. I will miss you as much as the show. Thank u for ur insights

    • Gina, I think I’ll be writing for one of Matt’s Big Brother sites… If he’ll have me. Do you watch Big Brother?

      • No I don,t, never heard of it. I thought you will be around for “so u think u can dance” I love that show too and I will need an expert like u to help me judge. Good luck on your new adventure.

  9. Congratulations Scotty.
    Although I gotta admit, I spent most of my time reading email while the show was going on. It seemed more like 2 hours of commercials.

    • Congragulations Scotty!! Keep God as your foundation and you will touch many hearts and go far. Please keep that humble spirit. I can not wait to see you at the AI tour on July 9th. I am planning to buy your album from itunes tommorrow and many more after that. If God is for us who can be against us. Thanks Brian and Mark for running this site. This is the first year I have actually posted on an AI site. I will be back next year.

  10. scotty knows how he won….through the grace of GOD. i love to hear a THANK YOU TO GOD when someone wins!!!!!

      • Yes, God was singing for Scotty the whole time. In fact that wasn’t even Scotty’s voice, the Lord was inside him and sang through him. God was also on all the phones texting and calling in votes. Lets just take away all the credit from Scotty and give it to God. God won American Idol this year. Praise the Lord, Hallelujah

      • Doug, Coondog in a serious moment:

        Yes, it Is God’s fault that the others lost! We (Believers) are to praise God when we Win and when we Lose. It doesn’t necessarily mean God loves one more than another. It’s just that God is in Control of all things. He allows some things (good and bad) to happen; He intervenes in some things. God’s ways are not our ways! By faith we praise Him no matter what.

        Yes Coondog Haters, the above does not jive with my Haley Love Fantasies, yet He allows me to live a little longer!?!

    • so do I, after all, GOD gave Scotty the chance to do this and he is in control of all of our lives.

    • I also love to hear people giving glory to God. Scotty knows that God gave him the gift of singing and that he would have not been able to withstand the pressures of the competition without leaning on God for strength and guidence.

      • God is to moronic adults as Santa Clause is children- a fairy tale. People are sooooo stupid and they’re getting moreso as time goes on. Keep buhleeeevin in your fairy tales – morons. Scotty will never make it big. He’s karaoke at best. Lauren will have a better career than him. Haley willsextuple Lauren in sales – and will destroy the new winner by 1000%

      • JS I am sorry you don’t believe in God. Scotty has a good heart and has been blessed by God with his voice and his talents. He is to be admired by giving him Praise for his accomplishment.

      • I respectfully disagree. Religion is a private matter and should be kept so. No need to parade your beliefs. Just live by them. That’s the real testament to your morale core.

    • Which God was that? There are 8 Million People in the World and only 2.1 Million are Christians so which God are you referring to?

      Some well known singers/artists who are Jewish – just as an example.

      * Paula Abdul – remember her?
      * Elkie Brooks – multi platinum
      * Marc Cohn – Walking In Memphis
      * Neil Diamond – H’m do you know him?
      * Bob Dylan – OMG
      * Marianne Faithful – big in the 60’s
      * Art Garfunkel – Wow who’d a thought?
      * Al Jolson – believe it or not!
      * Adam Lambert – Oops!
      * Bette Midler – Wow!
      * P!nk – the earth is ending!!!!
      * Helen Reddy – I am Woman
      * David Lee Roth – H’m
      * Paul Simon – Wow, Simon & Garfunkel Jews!!
      * Barbra Streisand – Who’d a thunk
      * Mel Tormé – wrote The Christmas Song
      * Elliot Yamin – an Idol Alumni who has done more for people in need than any other Idol Alumni and still does.

      Jesus was born Jewish and was a Rabbi. Check your Bible and it’s teachings!

      God has a different definition to 75% of the World’s population.

      • Paul Not to be a PITA but there are nearly 7 Billion people in the world not 8 Million. And 2 Billion of those are Christians.

      • @ Paul. Agreed. I do not like the prosthelytizing by some here.

        To you who feel compelled to mention God in every post (or even in your name), I find that arrogant and offensive. I suggest if you really lived by your beliefs, you would keep those matters private. Truly pious people understand there is no need to make a show of them!

        I truly don’t want to know about your religious or political beliefs. Such comments are not pertinent to the topic, and most of the posters who make such comments reveal themselves to be extremely biased in favor of THEIR brand of religion (and politics). And, it’s not as though such posters are full of love in every posts. I’ve seen quite a few willingly make hateful posts.

        I, for one, do not care about your personal religious and political choices and don’t want to wade through such commentary.

      • So Pup, you’re toeing the line of God-haters that they want to spew hatred of or carelessly mock God, but you would deny the free speech of God lovers to retort back to the Haters?

        Several people here simply responded to the ones that started mocking God after the original number poster simply acknowledged Scotty’s simple acknowledgment to God. I get tired of Haters always reprimanding religious people for responding to mockery. Yeah, there’s a time and a place, and sometimes that’s right here right now, so deal with it.

      • God does have many different definition in man’s religions – but there’s one God. If Scotty gives thanks to the Lord does it have to be offensive to someone who is not Christian? It’s not the Christian God – its God – however we worship him. God doesn’t play favorites. It was refreshing to see someone proud enough of their faith to make such a public statement.
        Congratulations to all the Idol contestants. It was a fabulous season – the first I’ve watched – and I enjoyed being a part of the experience. Peace out.

      • @ Coonie:

        I would never deny anyone the right to say what they please (as long as it is civil). It is only my opinion that we’d be better served on forums such as this one by encouraging posters to be more respectful to others by refraining from posting references which reflect their personal religious and political beliefs.

        I had no problem with either Scotty’s or Lauren’s personal religious statements, btw. They were both quite sincere; that was clear.

        I simply don’t want to encourage self-righteous posters here to feel they have my support when they write post after post about the “good Christian boy and girl” contestants who are really “best suited for being the American Idol”. That mindset is very disrespectful to anyone with a different belief system.

        By saying or doing nothing, we actually encourage posters to use religious beliefs to separate us from each other.

        How? When some posters began using their religious beliefs to define what a “good boy or girl or man or woman” was, only a handful of people called them on it. So, the posts started multiplying like dandelions choking a lawn.

        Most condoned the very subtle form of hate–or implied superiority) because Person A did not mirror the same beliefs we found to be flourishing in Person B by saying nothing or ignoring it.

        I choose not to ignore it. And I truly believe that keeping your religious beliefs and politics out of your posts is simply the most respectful way to behave on a public forum.

      • You see how much controversy and arguments have transpired already on this site just because of religion. There’s nothing wrong with being religious, but people who wear religion on their sleeves and flaunt it as opposed to keeping it in their hearts are ersatz and not genuine. People who feel the need to show their faith are not confident enough in their faith that they feel they must reveal it through a physical manifestation somehow. Religion is not turpitude itself, but it’s always people that instigate the vitiation.

      • Nicely measured response Pup. And logical. Can’t really refute what you say. But I will add that in the same vein that insouciant dreams below you comment about “wearing their religion on their sleeves”, these same conservatives feel they’re constantly badgered by more liberal remarks that go unchallenged also or are accepted as being normal.

        Your points are well said; I’m just saying that apparently many folks don’t realize that the “religious sleeve” folks perceive it as happening in the reverse direction. By the way, we all know that Old Coonie is not an uppity Holy Roller that thinks he’s superior as seen from my many naughty posts, I just would like the Zero Tolerance Police to not jump on or mock people who give their opinion about why they like certain contestants–stating that you admire someone’s respect to God shouldn’t be any more bait for mockery than the endless discussions about who hugged who or who smiled at who at such and such a time.

        Sorry, got long. But I respect your opinion.

      • Hey, Coonie! Never any offense taken, believe me.

        Interesting related side note:

        I happened to be watching the National Press Club on TV yesterday when Juan Williams was speaking before the group at their invitation. He was given that opportunity after the group had invited NPR to speak to them regarding a journalist’s firing for expressing his thoughts a very touchy religious and political topic for Americans.

        If you are not familiar with Williams, he was a radio talk show host (Talk of the Nation) on NPR for 10 years. That is, until NPR fired him in 2010 after going on Fox to debate Bill O’Reilly about statements he had made about “all Muslims being terrorists.”

        In that “debate” Williams admitted to having a certain “feeling” of apprehension when he boarded planes with people in full Muslim dress. But Williams hastened to add that he actually believed otherwise; that the feelings, though still real for him, were just that. He said both intellectually and morally he believed each person should be judged individually and that stereotyping for any reason is wrong and is against everything this country stands for.

        A day after uttering those words in that debate, NPR fired Williams–for expressing the honest ones about his “feelings.” NPR chose to ignore any of the rest of his statements during the debate. And they never allowed him to respond to the reasons for firing, either.

        Williams was subsequently hired by Fox as a guest commentator on a news show, which he still currently does. He has his own newspaper column, and he has written a book covering the topic of free speech and the incident for which he was fired, entitled, “Muzzled.”

        Now, my point in mentioning all of this here –to you, in particular–is that my stance does not mean I am trying to muzzle anyone here.

        It’s just that (as you can see by this example), religious/political issues are very, very touchy topics. Conversation about either can be monumentally dividing and (within a corporate culture–career killers). This man (I guess in his late 40s) who had dedicated his life to honorable journalism, had his career and hence, his reputation, thrown in the toilet.

        Believe me, I am not saying such consequences should keep people from expressing their political and religious points of view. What I am saying is that this is a real-life example of the kind of reaction doing so produces–even among educated and well-informed people. Here, on this site, it’s akin to throwing gas on a fire.

      • Hey Pup, in case you review–I appreciate your last post regards Juan Williams , “muzzled” and all. Well said. I am familiar with Juan’s case, though I hadn’t caught the latest NPR speech he did. Interesting!

        Yeah, the “muzzled” is what I was feeling, but you’re right that it’s gas and fire and sometimes just isn’t worth pursuing–Just needed my rant time! (Like a few others have had on their issues!). Though I will say that a word similar to “muzzled” is the tactic of some anti-Christians is to play the game of “keeping us in the closet”–which I hate also.

        Thanks for replying and me and Brick passed on our last thoughts on page 1 of Matt’s “Ratings Soar” blog. Didn’t want to insult anyone by leaving their name out, but I believe me and Brick were talking about folks like you and our Regulars in our nice thoughts about enjoying “the differences of opinion” to make this site more exciting than just fluff. We like humor, a little hate, and lots of lovin’–You’re in the humor and lovin’ categories (and the musical knowledge and/or wisdom one also)! Catch u later. I may look at the SYTYCD site a little, so I’ll drop you a line if I see you there–I”ve got to curtail my own blog time though! Do look at Brick’s note on the short “Matt’s Ratings Soar” blog though, because he states well my feelings also.

  11. I like the finale but not the top two..boring. Haley should be the winner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im angry

    • Haley was fantastic tonight. She handled her part very professionally and, she should have been in the finals.

      • Haley was impressive tonight. I use to dislike Haley, but as of about 4 weeks ago, I really started liking her. I hope she does well.

      • You don’t use the word “mediocre” when you speak of Scotty – that was genuine talent & that stood out from the rest right from the beginning of the contest( apart from & including Hayley’s growls & snarls). Scotty was the best & I’m glad the rest of America saw it too!

    • I like Hailey too. I had predicted that Scotty wins and I’m right. I’m very happy that Scotty wins yahooooooooo!. Congrats to Scotty.

    • I may not be a fan of Scotty or Lauren, but i’m glad that Scotty Wins…..and not the arrogant haley bitch with Bad Attitude

      CONGRATULATIONS Scotty!!!!!!!!

      • Nicely put Devin Lee. And was Haley not truly beautiful and gallant the way she carried herself with an older Gent of Jazz and love Ballads–Tony Bennett? And she did some great vocals too; I was really waiting for a bit of SCAT!–that song demanded it, but I think they or she held it back so as not to totally upstage Tony and so it wouldn’t be so Obvious to everyone who actually belonged in the Final?!

        Oh, and unlike Branden, I actually applauded all the musical variety of the show except for the crotch grabbing rap crap (TLC, gangstah’?) and and a couple other things. And I agree that Lauren looked totally outclassed by Carrie who kept trying to bring her in. Lauren is afraid, but maybe it’s just the cracked voice thing?

      • Typical coment and the only b*tch here is you!

        Haley sang with an 85 year old icon who messed up, missed his cues and forgot his words and a 20-yr old pulled him through.

        The panel saw that and – if you watched the end – all (especially JLo) went to Haley and hugged her because they new how well she had carried that duo with Tony.

      • haley is a coolest girl i have ever seen! so, dont said somethin like that before you know her well.

      • amee: None of the top five are loosers! And for those of you that might be curious…

        I am Budhist person & have achieved Nirvana regarding Scotty’s win, lol. I am happy for all of these kids & wish them all well!

    • Haley was phenomenal, singing and dancing little circles around the great Tony Bennett. She’s really honed her craft at AI and I loved watching her paired up with Tony. She’s going to go far and do very well. All hail Haley!

  12. This was the best season yet! The judges were beyond fabulous. I am glad that both Scotty & Lauren landed in the top 2…….not only are they great singers…..they are fabulous people too. Honestly I wish Lauren would have won…..but I am just so glad that Lauren made it to the top 2…..and not that other girl……What’s her name?….LOL…..Seriously she had major attitude and didn’t deserve to compete as long as she she did.
    Can’t wait for next season already!!

  13. I am so glad Scotty won. If I were his mother, I would watch him like a hawk. Lauren was all over him, kissed him right on the mouth and grabbed him around the neck and kissed him several times on his face. She could not control herself. Scotty’s mama and daddy better nip that in the bud, or his young life will get totally messed up.

    • Lol lol funny you said that. I was thinking the same thing. I guess we have a mother instint.

      • I think that was sweet and cute. Lauren was quite agressive, yeah. but I like them both so it’s okay hehehe.

      • I think it is a “mutual admiration society”…Have you not noticed how they look at each other? These kids have feelings for each other.

    • He said – and I quote – “We will be together for a long time.”

      It takes two to tango and they have been tangoing for a while so get over the poor innocent Scotty bit.

      He is 17 and if he is normal, the testosterone is rampant right now.

    • I think there a couple with Lauren kissing him and Scotty telling her he loves her I think there a cute couple

      • Yes James Durbin should’ve won. The guy’s performance and singing is awesome. Good Luck James, you’ll do well.

    • James has trouble sometimes staying on tune. Also is a little too dramatic for me – left me often wondering if he was real – and doubting. I like my idols to be people I can believe in. Thought Beyonce and Lady Gaga were great; Casey sucked like usual; would have been happy with either Scotty or Lauren winning but I think America made the right choice although Lauren was great on Tuesday night. I think Haley’s got a great voice but I don’t care for her growl either.

  15. Wow when will idol be won by the best talent? It would be nice if the best artist won and it wasn’t such a popularity contest…Would someone tell these 12 year olds to stop voting for the “cute” boys!!!! First Adam Lambert by far the best singer in his year, Crystal nailed her finale but no didn’t win and now these two this year. Come on please start voting for a true artist and not one who rips out one album and then disappears until they are bought back to idol.

  16. Branden; Thank-You so much for being such a great commentator! You are the BEST! I have enjoyed this year of American Idol! And I read almost every one of your comments when it was your post board! And I would like to say ~ Good Job dude! You did a very good job all of this season! I agree with you that the best part of the show tonight was Steven Tylers singing.It was too short!Steven can really wail!I enjoyed Carrie Underwood and Lauren’s duet. But like you , I thought Lauren kind of sounded bad! But it just kind of show cased that she was not as good as Scotty. If James couldn’t win then I am very happy Scotty won! I liked him all along. I just like James better. I would like to wish very good things for James too!.I hope James gets signed for a record deal. I would like to say that I hope you have a great summer Branden. And we shall see what happens next year! Have a good one! ( CONGRATULATIONS SCOTTY! 🙂 Sherry K 🙂

  17. CONGRATULATIONS SCOTTY!!! I am so thrilled that my favourite won – because he really deserved to win the contest. We in India don’t get to watch the live performances so I couldn’t wait to log on to American Idol to find out who won – and I’m over the moon with Scotty’s success!! he’s a great singer, a humble & unpretentious person & a model son. A true American Idol, in my opinion. Congratulations, once again Scotty! God bless you.

  19. Reply if you want to thank Branden, Matt, and Ashlie Ray for a season of great performances, results, shocks, and tears. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Thanks all blog writers and web masters! Great job and well done!

      • Branden–
        Much thanx from me, too!
        This was the first time I’ve watched AI, or voted, or participated on line.
        Lots-o-fun had I.
        Even lasted the whole season without missing a show!
        I agree with Sherry K…Steven’s “Dream On” treat was waaaaaaay too short.
        (Course, with Stevie T., ALL-NITE-LONG would still be WAY-TOO-SHORT for me.) And that goes for his SINGING, too!!!
        Thanx for all your time and thought on your blog.
        See ya ’round the bend—

      • Ha, ha. I agree also with the Branden praise. I just don’t get his temper control. If I was him, I’d have been CAP Shouting all my Haters. Umm, I guess I’d be a bad Dictator? Nice role modeling Branden for self control and the free speech you allowed to get through even with all the Haters and such. Well Done!!

      • Hey, Coonie-D—-

        It’s Debbie’s Dollar Bill. (So I gave myself a raise. Nothing wrong with a stiff shot of free enterprise.)

        Well, I guess we made it, huh? I got out unscathed, how ’bout you? In retrospect, it seems like an awful lot of people invested an awful lot of their energies in hurtfulness and “my-opinion’s-right…..yours-sucks” kind of horse-sh–! It’s like a rocking chair; it keeps you busy, but gets you nowhere. I just tried to enjoy some free entertainment. (Not only do I like to make money, I like to save it now and then.) And I also got some MAJOR Oo-la-la’s having THE STEVEN in my living room every week!!!

        Which brings me to my next point.
        No more “Haley-Honey” for you and no more “Stevie-licious” for me. Poor us. (Sniffle.) I feel like Christmas morning with no presents. Bah-humbug.

      • Yep Debby , we did OK. Top 3 for Haley, and lots of people know she really had the most talent along with James I suppose. But I’m happy for Scotty and Lauren also. And your Steven at least comported himself well and had a pretty good scream time–I wasn’t sure if he still had it, but he did!

  20. Scotty Yakkkk!!!!!!! This will be the last i watch American Idol… Lauren still the BEST!!!!!

    • I’m sure lauren is very happy for scotty. Especially since she kissed him on the lips once or twice and on the cheek a billion times!!!

      • I thought Lauren showed her immaturity by grabbing Scotty around the neck and kissing his cheek about eight times. If Scotty hadn’t turned his head, she would have kissed his mouth, as she did earlier. If she had any maturity or self-confidence, she would have waited until he was off national TV to attack him. I am sorry if you do not agree, but she sure didn’t act like a lady.

  23. woah `! last night, i prayed hard to GOD, that this time SCOTTY McCREERY will win, and what i did i prayed hard, and I LOVE SCOTTY THAT MUCH. he’s my idol from the very start. And today, my sister sent me a message regarding about SCOTTY !!! and i rush towards my laptop and i checked out this AMERICANIDOLNET.COM, and surprisingly i sAW SCOTTY’S NAME, including “OUR AMERICAN IDOL 2011 is SCOTTY McCREERY !!!!

    i was so shocked, and my world turned upside down, i jumped and jumped, i can’t believe that SCOTTY WON THE COMPETITION, i’m so thankful to GOD, very much that he did answer my prayer last night,

    CONGRATULATIONS SCOTTY ! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU ! I LOVE YOUR VOICE, AND THE WAY YOU SING A SONG, IT MAKES ME WANNA HUG YOU* >.< aweee..

    IF I COULD ONLY WISH ONE THING, I WANT YOU SING FOR ME. 🙂

    • haha it’s hilarious how everyone thinks that God listens to their prayers, when there are billions of people praying at the same time. For one thing, I’m pretty sure God has better prayers to answer than who is going to be the next American Idol. Secondly, I’m sure Scotty was praying as well as his family, so I’m sure the fact that Scotty one had nothing to do with your prayers. Thirdly, the American public made Scotty win and not God, so you should be thanking them.

      • God never sleeps so he hears all our prayers. God also touches the hearts of people. If someone wants to give credit to God then that is their right.

      • Haley was a witch sent by Satan to destroy Christianity and country music but God heard the prayers of the Christian country fans and sent down from Heaven a mighty and righteous weapon called the ‘Iphone super voting app’ and the world was saved from Armageddon once again.

        (Barf)

      • Two questions: if God sang through Scotty all time what’s the first words He sang? and second: if He did not want the others to win why would He gave them the strength and will to achieve their goals? was it just to take them down? If so, I don’t like the way you see God

    • Thanks Scotty for a great performance!! can’t wait for your first album, I will be buying that one. You and Lauren make such a cute couple

    • Hell girl, I’ll do more than sing for you! I got three inches of raging manhood for you girlfriend!!! Wanna have my baby?

    • Of all the things in the world to pray about, you pray that someone will win AI! Give God a break, there are a lot more important things out there than Scotty winnning AI. You sound like a scary obsessed fan to me.

      • Well put GodandLove regards God’s endless ability to Hear and Answer all prayers. Note to the fool Insouciant Dreams (my caps for human respect): Just like we experience in our physical realm on Earth, many more times than we like, God’s answer to Prayer is often No or not right now! (God’s way of tlling one person, “I like Haley more than James”–or the reverse)

      • Thank you sooo much Coondog.
        You said exactly what I would have said if I wasn’t so upset to reply. I had to suck it up and move to a different post.

      • Yes that’s what I said Frank. And to Coondog, it’s disrespectful to call people names, I take profound umbrage to your impertinence. I actually prayed to God last night to have puerile individuals respond to my comments just to corroborate the depravity of religious zealots. So yes you are correct, God does answer prayers simultaneously.

      • Ha, ha! Talk about Zealots Insouciant Dreams, as soon as anyone says a word about God or prayer, you ignore all the other lines of their post like yu did with the poster in #23 above and you become OBSESSED with your anti-God or anti-religious person rants.

        Were you elected or appointed as Chief of the Zero Tolerance Police?

      • No I’m actually president of the zero tolerance police, or God of it, seems more fitting. Anyways, it’s not wrong to be religious as I said. I just think it’s weird when everyone attributes their success to God. I mean people have to give credit to themselves once in awhile. I’m sure all the other contestants were just as determined to be the next AI. I just don’t see it as Scotty being the “Chosen one” by God. In a literal sense, it really was the American people. For those individuals that spent hours voting for Scotty over the course of the show, I’m sure they wouldn’t want to hear that just God made him win.

    • Just out of curiosity – did God get back to you? If he or she did, which one was it?

      8 Billion people in the world of which 25% are – or call themselves – Christians.

    • If you know anything about God,you would know that he would never answer a prayer like that.He is a jealous God,the answer would like this, (sarcastically) Sure,I’ll let Scotty win,He needs worshipers like you so he can save you from that hot place,oops, no,that’s me.

  24. This was the best season EVER. And I usually hate the finale and never tune in until the end, but I am so glad I watched it tonite. I actually made me want to rush out and buy AI Tour tickets!!!! And Beyonce!! OMG! She is amazing. Noone can touch her talent. I was so blown away by her. Very happy for Scotty. I could not choose between him and Alaina. I thought they were equally talented. I think it really came down to who you favor the most. I was happy with either outcome. Although I will say, on one level I wish Lauren had won it because I felt Scotty was going to have an amazing career, with or without AI. Whereas Lauren Alaina could have used the AI vehicle more. Nonetheless, what a great AI season.

    • Great final 13 – terrible final result for Idol, 19 Productions and the Record Company.

      Unless they change the power voting, Idol Seaaon 11 will be the last and it is not certain that Ryan Seacrest will be there for Idol 11 and I am sure JLo won’t.

    • This was a gresat finale I really enjoyed the whole show I even enjoyed Lady Gagas peformance

  28. i really enjoy this web .. but for the next time, don’t be a biased ..
    seem like a rubbish .. TQ

  29. Such a shame the voting American public cannot hear real talent. I’m actually ashamed to be an American Idol fan. Anyone with an ear knows who the real talent is. Unfortunately that was abandoned weeks ago and the fate of the AI was in the hands of “the texting majority”. Good Luck America! This is our future.

    • There are so-oo-o many really, really rich and famous singers whose talent is “questionable” It really boils down to popularity, what people like, and in this case, the people liked Scotty and that is what the show is about. Why not come up with a concept and a show that would promote “real” talent the way you would like it done. I’m sure there’s more room for another music show, after all, American Idol only has the odd one hundred million or so followers, so you might want to target the rest.

      • 20,000,000 VIEWERS NOT 100,000,000 The amount of votes does not represent the amount of viewers.example-4 million people voting 25 times each decides the amount of votes which leaves 16 million not voting at all but if all 20 million voted they would have to had voted 4 time each.thats how they get the big voting numbers

    • hey!!! I always knew Scotty would be at finale, but he wasn’t my fav at all…He did deserve to be there, I’m sorry if anyone disagrees but Lauren is the one who shouldn’t be there at all… thereis one girl should be there and her name is Pia…

      • Pia was/is the best female vocalist out of the whole bunch. Just rotten song selections.

  30. No doubt…and I don’t even like country music. And I kinda have to agree with someone who earlier said Lauren Alaina paled besides Carrie Underwood. So….totally looking forward to a Scotty album.

    • Carrie Underwood is a superstar. Lauren has very little chance to even approach Carrie’s level of success.

      • Oh my god – a 16 year old who was in the finale of American Idol pales next to an artist whose albums have gone multi-platinum, won top female vocalist, entertainer of the year and been perform for 6 years?! No freaking way!!!! Carrie Underwood from Season 4 pales in comparison to Carrie Underwood last night.

    • The Carrie Underwood of Season 4 would have paled beside the Carrie Underwood of last night.

      • David: It is so nice to see that someone else noticed what 6 years experience will do for an intertainer. I voted for Carrie in season 4, and she has grown sooooo much!

      • Lauren has a good voice, no doubt. But to approach Carrie Underwood status will be extremely difficult for Lauren.

        Don’t get mad at me for this, but the truth is the truth. Lauren is not as sexy or pretty as Carrie. And that goes a long way also in being extremely popular. Not saying it is right, just the way it is. Unfortunately America is obsessed with the way people look. A good example is Elvis. If Elvis looked like Elmer Fudd, he would not have been as popular as he became.

  31. Maybe I’m wrong but it sounded to me like Scotty was saying that he and Lauren were “together”, right at the end before he thanked God, didn’t he say something like that ?

    • I think Lauren kissed scotty on the lips when he was declared the winner ( its wasn’t clear cause scotty turned his back on the audience and then I clearly saw Lauren peck him little kisses on the cheek later on the show…sweeet! They do look good together in fairness.

      • yeah, they do make a cute couple, they are both from the south, so they are wonderful together

    • He said that they have been together from the begining. They do make a really cute couple though

      • Scotty said “Lauren and I have been together since day one a year go and we are going to stay together”. I played it back. Also, it does look like she kissed him on the mouth in “slowmo”.

    • But later on Scotty said they were really close friends and that Lauren said before the show that she would do that

    • Something along the lines of:

      We have been together since day one and we are going to stay together.

      They did indulge in a full on kiss with Scotty having his back to the camera.

    • am i the only one who’s weirded out by these two in a thought of a relationship? Either way, friends or more, they came to idol to sing… not to find a new snuggle mate…

  33. Brandon a big thanks to you. I loved reading your performance ratings. This is my first season on this site and I loved it!

  34. bad luck of Lauren .. she got a fever ..
    and the people judges her crack voice with Carrie good vocal ..
    Sorry for Lauren .. so sorry ..

  35. Ready for Lauren in grammy award n Country Music Award for the best vocal performance and new country artist!

  36. I must agree this finale did not have the thrills and chills of years gone by. I found myself drifting off to sleep early on but got a jumpstart when Marc Anthony took the stage. I did not like the girls performance with Beyonce. It was all over the place musically. I did like the boys with Tom Jones, it was more comedic and campy then a wow moment and kept wondering what they thought when they were told they were performing with Tom Jones. I loved Lady Gaga and I was thankful spiderman safely performed his stunts after all the accidents that have plagued the show. There was a moment there where I forgot the winner has not been crowned yet. There were no golden Idols given out this year. I was hoping for a James and Casey Final so the results this year were not a close your eyes and hold your breath moment for me. All in all congratulations Scotty.That is quite the achievement for such a young talent. Branden thanks for your wonderful recaps,and your predictions, its been a pleasure.

  37. So it’s Scotty. What a great season, with plenty of moments, amazing contestants, and shocking results. Hundreds of thousands of people, narrowed down to one amazing voice. This was by a country mile the best season of Idol so far! Hopefully next season is just as good, instead of a repeat of season 9. Well, I guess that’s it. Hopefully there is enough hype about it to keep me busy for the next 7 months.

  39. Thanks Branden and Matt for a great site. It became my habit to check out your posts after I watch an AI show. Love reading the comments too. Congrats Scotty, idol as one said here is a role model and overall, you are!!!

  40. Lauren should have never been in the finale which should have been James. Anyway I am glad she did not win the title and just a mere runenr up…she more a karoake singer then a real singer…just luck was on her side or the producer is up to their monket trick to get her ther…she and Haley have no standard at all….Scotty you are GREAT!@!!!

  41. Branden,

    Great job and hope to see your commentary next year. You are spot on for the summary of this season: its ups and downs, surprises and dramas, ridiculous judges and an anti-climax at the end. But we should all know by now after 10 seasons as botox-Ryan said it all the time at the beginning of the show: “THIS IS — THE AMERICAN IDOL!!!”. Cheers and take care.

  42. Nope not happy…they took Pia and James, (who should have been in finale) away. Lauren was my #3 choice..so between her and Scotty…omg. Lauren shouldda won….nope not boring Scotty.

    • JAMES and PIA should be the TOP 2
      vocally.. they are awesome!
      but i don’t have anything against Scotty
      he’s a great kid….!
      CONGRATULATIONS Scotty

      • I think Pia may have made it to the finals if she picked better songs. For the most part, she picked some very crappy songs.

  43. Out of all the contestants Scotty was the most humble, sincere and he grew as an artist through the competition. Lauren was good, but she really lacked a lot of the confidence to be a star. I didn’t warm to Haley and James until Haley sang and “House of the Rising Sun” and James sang, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.” I think those were the two best performances of the season.
    I was disappointed to see Pia go, because she is truly great, but I don’t think losing early has hurt her career at all. And my other favorite was, Jacob. He also has a great career ahead of him.
    Scotty was the best of the group, though, as far as being the total package. He’s a good kid.
    Next year, though, I think people should only be allowed one vote. Some people out there voted hundreds of times and that really isn’t fare.
    CONGRATULATIONS SCOTTY!!!!!

  44. Thanks for the posts you do on this site, Branden! Its been an enjoyable season

  45. I don’t know if anyone else saw it, But I think there is sparks between Alaina and Scotty. Could they become the next Faith Hill and Tim Mcgraw? 🙂

    • he said that they were together from the beginning, they do make such a cute couple.

      • I heard that and I also saw the congratulations kiss and kisses. How CUTE!!!!

  46. HOLY CRAP!!!! That was, without question, the most disgusting final performance in the history of American Idol. Scotty was so far off pitch for most of the song that my dogs started howling! Gag me with a spoon! That was worse than karaoke after last call! Those of you who actually know music, I dare you! Go back and listen. That was gross!

    • To Serge What a mean-spirited & idiotic observation !!!! Scotty just won Idol & with everything happening around him, it’s amazing he could even attempt to sing.

    • It was awful but he was over whelmed with winning. It was better last night but not as good as. Lot of his other performances. Laurens finale song was better last night BUT she sounded awful with Carrie Underwood tonight. I think it was the vocal cord problem.

  47. What no mention of James and Judas Priest??? I liked Casey and Jack Blacks duet. I can see Casey in the movies eventually. And Scotty’s Duet with Tim McGraw was actually his best performance of the season IMO. Lauren did pale in comparison to Carrie.

    James, Casey, and Steven Tylers performances made the episode worth watching for me.

    • James could be in the movies too, he is hilarious. James has a charisma about him that just makes you like him. I hope James does well.

  48. 5 months. 5 months for this…I’m really looking forward to the X-Factor.
    Time will tell who will sell music out of this season’s crop, and who will not.
    Soooo, uh…I like how the show made Haley almost non-existant tonight…and yet people are still saying gross and disgusting things about her on here. People need to grow the FFFFFFF UP(yeah, I said the ‘F’ letter)! The highlights of tonight; Casey and Jack, haha, cuuuute, James rocking out, Haley’s very short jazzy number, and I even liked the Spiderman thing! I thought the young guy sounded awesome. All in all, it was my first year watching Idol regularly and I was very let down, disappointed, but not really surprised at all. Ehhh.
    To Pup, fatboy, bunny, David P., Coondog, Angela J., JD, iloveHALEY, Rose, Northern Guy, ect., ect., and all my buddies who were entertaining, respectful, and hilarious…love ya all. 🙂 Secondchance and I have loved this website, thanks alot Branden and Matt! Have a great life everybody! I’ll be impatiently awaiting Haley’s album, that’s the one good thing, the best and only thing that’s come from watching American Idol for me. Good luck to James and Casey as well. You guys rock!
    Congratulations, Scotty McCreery. I hope all of the people who voted for you, actually support you so you can have a long and prosperous career ahead of you! Treat Lauren like the little princess she is! Bye everyone! Muah* 😀

    • P.S. Sorry if I left anyone out, but you know, I make it very obvious who I like and who I don’t. I’ve worked for 8 days straight now, and I’m tired and my memory doesn’t want to work. Haha. Still can’t believe it’s all over now…

    • Also, my mom (secondchance) wanted me to tell everyone that she absolutely loved James’ performance, but she doesn’t want to even come on here because of the bashing she knows is going on. Doesn’t want to see people badmouthing Scotty, Lauren, James, or Haley. She was VERY VERY very upset at Idol getting one final smack in Haley’s face tonight, letting her perform for a whole minute and a half, 45 seconds of her singing, singing with someone my grandparents listened to (which I told her Haley probably loved singing with Tony!), cutting out when Scotty hugged her, not putting her in any of the videos/clips, just ignoring her completely when everyone else had explosive performances and bits on the funny videos. Even though James, Scotty, and Lauren were her faves from the start, it’s all the injustices done to Haley that made it so she won’t even watch Idol next year. She wanted me to tell you that she loves you all, though! Goodnight everyone! Sweet dreams.

      • Tony was/is one of the greatest singers ever. I don’t particularly like his type of music, but he is an icon. Haley was great, as was Pia, James and Scotty. Those were my favorites. Life goes on and any of the top 11 can make a living in the industry if they pick the right people to lead them. Being a country western fan, I really liked Scotty. He is only 17 and I believe he has a hell of a future in front of him.

      • Nice, classy posts Devin Lee, and thanks for the shout outs. Yeah , I had some fun moments with your Mom too (though I didn’t get to kiss her like the giant Snakes did!). I also noticed the absence of Haley in lots of clips, maybe they were afraid of all of her Haters? But like I said, she did great with Tony bennett; it shows her ability to do Show Business!!! Oh, and for your Mom–James did a great job with Judas Priest. And I thought he’d come out with Steven Tyler also! but I guess he showed his good stuff with Judas Priest. But you’re right, they always seemed to cut away from Haley hugging Scotty, producers still ticked that she’s probably not giving them the ‘love’ they want from her (treating her like ’50s age female movie casting couch stars). Great job Haley for maintaining your ‘Distance’ from pervert producers (Good parenting!). Anyways, bye bye DL and SC, my first real year also!

      • Bye Devin…it was a pleasure getting to know you. I am very sorry for upsetting you early on. I learned what a great person you are and am very grateful for another helping hand in this world saving animals. Your pets and your family are very lucky to have you in their lives. Both opposing sides in our discussions (Haley and Pia) will have awesome CDs.

    • Mwah back, Devin Lee. You are a smart young woman with lots of confidence and independence. I really admire that! Secondchance, you done good! 🙂

      Hope to talk with you both again.

  50. Well judging from all ur comments I didnt miss a thing. Idol is beginning to b predictable. I was a die hard fan first couple of seasons but now the voting system sucks……the judging is not colorful enuff. The thrill is gon…. Maybe the entire show needs to be revamped or take a break. Been watchin the voice and dwts this season and must say, I enjoy them way more than idol. Please giv idol a makeover so I can come home.

  51. James performance was great. He could have won! But at the end of the day, I would rather listen to a soothing voice such as Scotty’s! I’ll buy his album and I am sure that I will enjoy it. Congratulations Scotty!

    • It was a great night. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a AI finale such as that one. It proves that the show did get bigger and better and more PROFESSIONAL artist even gave the nod when asked to come and perform on the show.. I think it’s because when you look at it.. it’s either.. ”will you come do it for simon?” HELL NO! HANG UP THE PHONE.. ”will you do it for Steven Tyler” HELL YES, I’LL BE THERE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! HAHA congrats America. Still showing that we know how to put on a show with out all that Sarcasim BS!

      • You think Steven Tyler had a hand in attracting the guest performers?! Seriously?

      • ALL the performers tonight are in the Jimmy Iovine group so get real. It had nothing to do with Steven Tyler or JLo but with the $$$$$’s Iovine, 19 Productions and Idol make.

        You do know that Idol gets a %age of At&T revenues from the votes.

        Wake up – it is a business and a ruthless, big money one. If Scotty does not sell, he will be treated the same as Lee DeWyze and Kris Allen who failed to sell big.

        Kris Allen came from Arkansas, a State with a 2.8 Mil population in 2008 but 28 Mil votes came in for him from Arkansas alone and he won.

        His debut album sales were 350,000 and Adam Lambert’s were 875,000.

        Last year, Crystal outsold Lee but her sales where poor but his were pathetic – the worst for a winner in Idol history behind Kris Allen.

        Good luck Scotty because he will find that the power vote does not compute to record sales and that is the measure 19 and the record company use.

        Enjoy the ride Scotty, because it will be brief but fun.

      • @Joey: LOL!!

        David, I think Scotty’s fans will buy his music. Not sure how things will size up against former Idol winners, but that will be interesting to watch.

        I am betting Haley will be the real winner when it all shakes out.

      • @ Pup – I’m sure they will but the point I was making is that the votes never come close to the record sales.

        The most succesful debut album by a winner was Carrie Underwood’s first which sold over 7 Million.

        The next most successful was by a non-winner – Daughtry – who clocked up 4.8 Million.

        Kelly Clarkson’s 2nd album is the 2nd most successsful with over 6 Million.

        Apart from David Cook, whose debut album went Platinum and puts him 7th in the Idol Alumni record sales league after just one Album, the fact is that only Carrie (1st) and Kelly (2nd) can truly claim major album sales success out of the winners.

        Daughtry is #3 on the list, Clay Aiken #4, Kellie Pickler #8 and Jennifer Hudson #10 and they were not winners.

        The last 5 seasons winners have not done well with debut albums compared to the previous 5 seasons. David Cook and Jordin Sparks did go Platinum but Jordin’s 2nd album is bombing.

        Taylor Hicks 704,000
        Jordin Sparks 1,039,000
        David Cook 1,345,000
        Kris Allen 326,000
        Lee DeWyze 133,000

        In the last 3 seasons, the only two to have successful sales are David Cook and Adam Lambert whose debut album sold 815,000.

        So, to Joey, it was not a case of being a ray of sunshine or not, it was a realistic review of the diminishing impact Idol has been having in recent seasons.

        I wish Scotty well and hope he does break the trend because if not, Season 11 could be the last one for Idol.

      • Wow, David. That was an incredible amount of research you did. Point clearly made!

  52. Congratulations to Scotty!! I feel America got it right, and Congratulations to Lauren too. Both Scotty and Lauren are, as far as I’m concerned, rated tops. Both of them are young and very respectful. They are the ones who should represent “Idols” in the eyes of the youth of today. Between the two of them, Scotty was my choice. He is very mature for his age and displays love for all in his quiet way. Scotty has that rich, golden voice that is totally beautiful!! This is not to say that Lauren doesn’t have a beautiful voice….she certainly does, but Scotty was my choice. I’d like to comment on the show itself, regarding the entertainment. I didn’t think the Lady Gaga sexy act was the greatest thing in adding to a show titled, “American Idol.” She is definitely not a Lady in my observation, and referring to her as “Lady” is a disgrace to the word itself. The producers of American Idol should think twice about screening their show, weeding out acts such as Gaga’s. That’s not sending the greatest message out to the youth of today. Some will not agree with me, but some will. I’m far from the teenage years, believe me, but I truly believe Scotty and Lauren would agree with me, and they are YOUNG! They both stem from families that are what I call “pure and respectful.” Best Wishes to Lauren. She will do very well in the future. Now “she,” Lauren, is what I call a “Lady.” How wonderful of her to state how happy she was for Scotty. That was from her heart! The best is wished for all of the finalists. Their tour, I’m sure, will be very successful. God Bless all of them. I would also like to comment on the judges. I feel there should be new judges every season. We’ve had enough of Randy. Steven needs to do something else. Jennifer was very kind to everyone, and an asset to the judging. New judges would represent a freshness to the show. Oh, yes, one more comment on the entertainment ….. It was great to have the old great performers on the show. Tony Bennett was in Phoenix last year, and put on a fantastic night of great songs, etc. He commented that night about “Lady Gaga”…….it was a riot to see both of them on this show tonight, because during Tony Bennett’s show, his mention of her wasn’t meant to compliment her in any way, and his followers felt the same…..it was very funny! Congratulations again to Scotty, and also, Congratulations to his loving Family. They raised a Winner in all respects.

    • Tony Bennett – great as he has been – is 85 and a 20yr old that folk like you slandered, pulled him through an embarrassing display where he forgot his words and where they where with the song.

      You can love Scotty until the cows come home but Haley will be a much bigger star than he can ever hope to be.

      • Paul, I respectfully disagree. Country music is bigger than Jazz by a wide margin. Scotty will sell many more records than Haley. Don’t get me wrong, I love Haley, but her genre is not as popular. Tony Bennett was a great singer and icon, but his type of music is dying out.

      • I will bet anything Scotty will be famous! I think Haley is awesome but she doesn’t win me over like Scotty! country music is huge. Jazz can’t even hold a candle to country music. I think with everything going on in the south, and everything going on in the world people turn to songs with great lyrics told by great story tellers. Just saying!

      • @ Frank

        Country Music accounts for 12% of all record sales amd Haley is much more than a Jazz singer. If you said Casey was, then I would agree but Haley will be the biggest star to emerge from Season 10.

      • Paul, this is a great debate. What genre do you believe Haley will go into? Rock or R/B is still extremely popular and if she chooses one of these, I agree, she could become very successful. But, if she decides to pursue Jazz, she will not come close to what Scotty will achieve popularity wise.

      • I doubt Haley is going to strictly do jazz. She knows what people like to hear from her, and that’s what she’ll do. She could put out more Adele, Amy winehouse, Joss Stone, or even Christina Perri type albums. But with a little more of a throwback to 50s-60s music than them. I just CAN’T WAIT! Anything she sings sounds awesome.

      • @ Frank

        I agree that if she focuses on Jazz, her target market is limited but I doubt she will or that Iovine will advise her to take such a risk.

        I agree with Devin Lee that she has the vocal style that is “in” right now and has been for a while in the pop music genre – I know that is generic but it is what they use these days. Some who she can emulate include:

        Adele
        Agnes
        Christina Perri
        Leona Lewis
        Joss Stone

        Each of them have international fame because their music appeals to a much wider audience than does Country.

        By the way, I hope Scotty does succeed because I am a big Country fan and have a huge collection of Country Albums. Right now, his voice and the way he presents/sells a song just doesn’t quite do it for me but he is 17 and will improve.

        The Country Music business is extremely competitive and he will need a good mentor to get him in to the club – as it were.

        There are some 14,000 singers and songwriters trying to make it in Nashville and I know some darn good ones who have been knocking at the door for years and even if someone answers, they keep the safety latch attached. 🙂

        There is a contest going on right now on Friday nights on CMT that we have been following and they are down to the last 3.

        It is called CMT’s Next Country Superstar. One of the final 3 is Steven Clawson who is one of those who has been knocking on the door for years. I have an album he released in 2006 called “Restless” and it is on i-Tunes if you want to check it out.

        I wish all these contestants all the best and one other reason for wishing Scotty success is that Idol needs a winner to sell otherwise it won’t last much longer. The last two winners have bombed and only David Cook and Adam Lambert have been successful out of the last 6 finalists.

        Hope you get to read this and I have enjoyed the chats with you, which have always been cordial and constructive.

        Now let’s see what the Voice and X-Factor can do but, in the meantime, I have my CMT Stars Final 3 tomorrow night.

        Ciao
        Paul

      • Paul, I have been watching CMT’s Next Superstar also. Clausen is very good, as is Matt Mason. Matt reminds me of Gary Allen quite a bit.

        I think that Scotty will do well because of AI’s popularity. A lot of people will buy his CD because of this show.

    • Anna, You are so right…and I agree with you 100%. I am not too old that I don’t appreciate a young good looking singer (guy or girl) but I am old enough to be respectful and enjoy the old guys singing a tune. Soctty won the hears of thousands of people with his fantastic voice, heartfelt performances, and graciousness. I adore him and Lauren and think that they both did a wonderful job. At the end, they were both so considerate of each other. America got it right. I know we will be hearing from Scotty for long time. His voice is just one of those that stick around for a while. I like American Idol for finding him for us.

  53. I will miss this crazy show so much!!! I can’t wait to see the talent in 2012!!! In the meantime I will follow AIN to see how the careers turn out.

    • After this years fiasco – it is no longer American Idol. The final 2 and the result were a joke and an insult to music.

      • That is your opinion Paul, which you are entitled to. But here is a real fact for you, country music is really popular right now, and that is what Scotty is all about.

      • @ Frank

        It is Country Rock that is popular – like Carrie, Sugarland, Keith Urban et al. Scotty is not even close to that genre but, as we all say, you are entitled to your opinion.

        I am a big modern Country fan and Scotty does nothing to mske me believe he will make it big.

        Hopefully, for his sake, I am wrong but I doubt I am.

      • @ Blake Austin

        I respect your disagreement with me and only time will tell who is right.

      • Frank: You are quite right. Chris Young is also a young traditional country singer who is doing well, as is Rodney Atkins.

      • @ Frank – The Paul in this chat stream is not me. I am the one who had the chat with you about the direction of Scotty and Haley and who told you about the CMT Contest. I guess I’ll have to call myself Paul #2 🙂

      • Paul 2, I understand. There is another Frank on here also, and I mostly disagree with him all the time.

    • didnt anyone notice that Lauren wasn’t in the top 13 girls performance during the finale? though Scotty was in the boys performance… i belive the girls really outshone the guys… some of the girls even surprised me… who knew some of them had that much talent? Kudos to Thia and karen…

  55. First off, a thank-you for Brandon. Here in the world of Comcast, I read the review of the show on their “entertainment news” section, but it’s basically just a factual run-down of the show without any nuance. Then, I come here and truly enjoy YOUR review of the show, personal impressions and all. You do a great job here, and I hope you continue this gig for as long as this show runs. Now….about tonight….
    Oh my God, but tonight seemed like a 2 hour 7 min root canal! Nothing but plugs for this, that or the other. Endless camera time for Jack Black (!!??) even when Scotty was hugging his family at the end. And they must’ve emptied out the Old Folks’ Home for tonight, what with Gladys Knight, Tom Jones and Tony Bennett. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had resurrected Jack Benny from the dead if he had something to plug! The endless, overblown performances; Beyonce singing over and over “make love to me” (won’t somebody please remember there are kids in the freakin’ audience??), and on and on and on and on. And since when does the winner get a trophy?? I don’t remember that from previous years. When Lauren and Carrie Underwood were performing, I ALMOST SAID I hope Scotty wins because we’ve just had too much cookie-cutter blond chicks; but I didn’t because in spite of it all, Scotty creeps me out. All we heard about all through this season was the vast amount of staggering talent on display, only to wind up at the finale with Roy Rogers and Dale Evens to choose from. So sure…they’ll all end up with fabulous careers and sterling record sales and loving fans. But when they were showing the hometowns of the two finalists and the throng was cheering their favorites, it occured to me that eight months ago these same people wouldn’t have spit on these kids if they were on fire. And now, they treat them like they’re the Second Coming. Amazing what t.v. exposure can do.

    • Amen and thanks.

      They brought out 70-85 year old who were out sung by the contestants.

      How was it tnat James got to sing 2 songs with Pearl Jam and the others, including Haley who was in the top 3, got little exposure in comparison?

      • Maybe they recounted the votes and noticed that Haley should not have been in top 3? LOL

  56. Ok, did y’all catch Steven Tyler lip sync James’s name at the end of his song. Check it out, he did, OMG.

    • No! I will have to check that out. Well, that was nice . . . I thought it was a shame he didn’t invite him out there for at least one chorus.

    • I thought for sure James was going to come out and sing with Tyler. Kinda disappointed he didn’t.

      • He had 2 songs with Pearl Jam for Gods sake and got more exposure than any one except the two finalists.

      • Paul, I understand that. But everyone since the beginning wanted to see James sing with Tyler.

      • You’ll have to excuse Paul, as he is absolutely livid and therefore not quite himself.

      • It was Judas Priest and big difference between the two lead singers of Priest and Pearl Jam!!

      • Tonight show was not about Haley… can you get over her elimination already??? MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!

      • I also don’t remember seen a group of contestants that may never go forgotten such as this bunch did, which also proved the judges did their job very well in picking them.

      • Gabby, Gabby, Gabby…don’t speak to me. Ever. I’m over Haley’s elimination, I was over it 5 minutes after it happened. She is MY American Idol though, and YOU should get over THAT FACT.

    • Haley carried an 85 year old icon through a song that he messed up big time. Kudos to Haley who will emerge as the #1 star from this year’s show.

      Scotty will be a has been just as the last 3 (including him) “winners” have been for the past 3 years/

      Enjoy the tour Scotty because that will be the pinnacle of your limited career.

      • Paul, I will bet you that Scotty has a great career in country music. Let me know if you want to take that bet. Just send me your email and I will respond.

      • @ Frank – of course I will send my e-mail over a public blog!! Since you are so sure Scotty will out sell Haley – why not send me yours and I will be happy to take your hard earned money!

      • Ok Paul, here is the deal. I will give you my phone number and we can make the bet that way. 559-905-8855.

      • I would bet my house on Haley! Scotty is boring guess thats why my bro Frank is a fan.I have plenty of cash?

      • @ Frank

        So there is no confusion, the Paul in this thread is not moi so I have stuck the #2 to mine to clarify.

        That being said, I do agree with Paul on the way Haley handled the situation with Tony Bennett who seemed to lose his way with the song and she did pull him through.

        I got the impression that they cut it short because it was not working and the dance bit was an ad lib.

      • Paul 2, I like Haley too. I just think Scotty will have a successful career in country music as long as he aligns himself with the right people.

        I want to go on record here, that I like Haley. I hope she does well.

    • She carried an 85 yr old icon and did a great job without making him look bad.

      • As great as Tony Bennett used to be, what the hell was AI thinking bringing him in tonight?

      • Well said Paul. It still worked with Haley and Tony though because it showed how much Haley understands Show Business, and she made it work–and Tony did an admirable Show Business job for how old he is. Just another time that the Producers’ hate of Haley backfired on them–Haley looked like a Classy Star being a willing partner with a Classy old Dude!

      • It was quite cute it looked like a nice, sweet duet between a grandfather and a grandchild. They both looked like they were having a blast. 🙂

      • Hey Pup, I hope you forgive me for being a little harsh with you on earlier post?! Sorry, I was actually upset with the Haters, not you! (using you to send them a message)

      • Whatever I do and wherever I stay won’t change the fact that Haley is horrible and SHE DIDN’T MAKE IT TO THE FINALE!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahaha… I am still celebrating my fellow Americans woke up and recognized TRUE talent!
        Shhhhhhhh… Haley is GONE, GONE, GOOOOOOOONE! 🙂
        Ah… life is beautiful, right poop? I mean Pup!

      • Cruela de Vil, er Babriela, er Gabriela:
        I think you should have been up to the mountain top with that male dancer for Lady Gaga. Seems to me you need a little fix. You’re foaming at the mouth, hon.

  58. Thanks, Branden, what you do here makes American Idol much more meaningful and enjoyable. Hope you’ll do this again next year. Do you also do So You Think You Can Dance?

  60. Soo, no one saw Steven Tyler mouth James’s name at the end of his song. You guys must know that this means AI said no to James singing with him. Oh well I just guess that means more politics and none of you strong out spoken people care.

    • Well, it’s late, you know. I never saw it. And I get it. And I’m glad he did that.

    • I care. I even told my wife to watch, that James would be coming out any second. It was total bull that they didn’t allow James to sing with Tyler. It would have been an awesome moment. AI is stupid.

    • I also missed Steven’s mouthing James’ name at the end. I wanted to see that duet as much as any on the last show. I was also hoping for some other duet repeats of some of the best of the season. When Steven first said that to James, did he mention he would do it if James was in the top two or was it about the final show? If he didn’t say top two, then it was a promise not fulfilled. I think Steven would honor his promise, so I have to think it was the producers who nixed it. And I, too, was hoping for James to at least be permitted to walk on while Steven was singing. This world is full of empty promises so I shouldn’t expect any different.

  61. Hi Branded! this is the first time that I will be posting a comment here but I want to tell you that I am a big fan of your reviews and prediction. You made me laugh and agree with your predictions… I love Scotty and Halley so its nice to see Scotty win this. Love to see your comment next AI 😀

      • Absolutely the best Idol yet………..Fantatstic job AINet and a BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO SCOTTY MCCREERY AI OF 2011. AMERICA LOVES YOU “THIS BIG”
        JRP

  62. I would like to go see them on tour then I’m afraid it wouldn’t be worth the price to see my favorites for the length of time they would perform solo’s or duet’s or if it would mostly be group performances that aren’t that good. The tickets aren’t cheap.

  64. Ya’ll wanna no somethin, This DUDE will sell more MAD magazines than albums if there smart enough to use his ALFRED E NEUMAN LOOKS on there cover. YEAH take advantage MAD MAGAZINE! The dude shafted the fat kid early on and the JLO PUERTO Rican connection makes me SICK! Has no place being AI ahead of HALEY, PIA or even Lauren! OH well another lousy SEASON OF IDOL! Why do I even care!

    • Didn’t your mother ever tell you that if you didn’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all? Suggest you try it!

    • Brick, time to go back to first grade and learn about homophones….. “no” versus “know”. I have a whole list that my 6 year old students learned if you need them.

  65. Heck i’m auditioning next season if McCreey can win ayone can! HAHAHHAHAHAHAH

  66. What did I tell you Branden????????? AND I WAS RIGHT!!!!!!!!! Yes AMERICA!!!!!!! YES! YES! YES!
    OMG, I am so happy, I am beside myself right now. I was at a social commitment and I had to sneak to the computer to see the results… I am sooooooooooooo happy!!! Scotty was my #3 favorite and I am so glad he won. His duet with Tim was amazing, and as cute as Lauren was tonight… Scotty is a better singer than her, PERIOD!
    My List for the top 13 went like this:

    1. Paul
    2. Pia
    3. Scotty
    4. James
    5. Casey
    6. Jacob
    7. Lauren
    8. Stefano
    9. Thia
    10. Karen
    11. Naima
    12. Haley
    13. Ashton

    I am SOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY one of my top 3 won!!! Congratulations America… you got it RIGHT!!!!!!!!

      • Paul IS the most original, charismatic great contestant this year, PERIOD! And I know a lot about music business. You (CRAZY HALEY FANS) like to talk about iTunes sales, well check out Paul’s band and their Billboard position once he started on the show. He is ready to have a tour on his own, he knows how to manage the stage and his soft voice is amazing! The judges said it, he was original and the one with the most definitive sound on the show. His “concerts” don’t sound like a bad Karaoke (like Haley) He was ready since he started, not like the others that needed to mature, or to find their sound, or to know how to perform. He was the PRO!
        So yes, Haley was #12 only because I didn’t like Ashton “horny” attitude towards Randy, it was kind of difficult to watch. But she sucked from the beginning and just because she growls and talks back to the judges don’t make me like her any better!

  67. Thanks Branden for your entertaining commentary this season. Although, I gotta say I really enjoyed tonight’s show!
    I loved seeing the Idol contestants…loved the banter between them. Oh, and I think Karen Rodriguez really stood out in the beyonce medley.

  68. We are celebrating like crazy in Venezuela!!! I’ll probably miss my flight tomorrow afternoon hahaha!!! We are glad all the laryngitis/mom hugging thing didn’t destroy Scotty’s chances to win. America got it right after all!

      • And you are obviously deaf and/or a rebel without a cause if you liked Haley. She was HORRIBLE!

      • Gabriela, I am not a Haley fan. I said my thoughts while she was on the show. However, I know when enough is enough. As soon as she got eliminated, I stopped completely. You got what you want, she did not get the title and hoopla. I even see no point in trying to sway people away from her now. People who like her voice/personality/looks will buy her music. People who did not like her voice/personality/looks will not buy her music. End of story.

  69. Pia is one gorgeous girl. If she aligns herself with the right people, she will be a rich woman someday.

      • Hey, coondog, don’t you know that P.B might stand for Past Bones ? Would you like to eat them too ?
        I had read your comment about “near water and busy highway alone”. Well, water is my second habitate, I can swim like dolphin. And I don’t fear at busy highway alone, because I can be categorized as a street fighter with a posture like Kimbo Slice 🙂
        Actually, … I am kidding. I really like jokes. But I think you are an awesome guy having a high sense of humor and quite smart too.

      • Ha, ha LateObserver! Bet you’re like me and Brick and didn’t know if anyone was still reviewing these sites! We were just having fun with you on the Mr. Bean and Mr. Bones conversation! Thanks for appreciating a joke (Liked your off the wall conversation by the way, Sorry, I just made a last post to Brick over there regards you and LSD–just joking though!). If you want, you can take a free shot at me on the SYTYCD site of Matt or Julie. I tried a post or two there, but it doesn’t seem to work the same. Pup was over there. Like I told Brick on Matt’s AI “Ratings Soar” blog re our comments above (PB and Kimbo Slice), these old blogs will kind of shut down where you can’t really post; or if it posts , it won’t stay there after a week or so; I don’t know really.

  70. Nice work Branden! I really enjoyed reading your commentaries and reviews. Excellent coverage – and crazy fun comments!

    Say – have you had any plans to have a “Idol withdrawl board”? I think a few people here might need it… My palms are getting sweaty already…

    See ALL Y’ALL next year! 😛

    Cheers,
    Northern Guy

    • American (corn-fed) idol way too many country music winners! Time for a new name!

    • Jared and Brick…Both of you are not in charge of AL… Write them …tell the you want chanfes…then dont hold your breath

  72. Well the end has come, and I can say I was throughly entertained this year as compared to the
    previous seasons. I think Randy, JLo, and Steven’s scouting for new talent was better, the diversity of genre was greater, and the calaber of those contestents that made it through was superior. I was liked Jovany Barreto, Clint Jun Gamboa, and Lauren Turner, even though they didnt make it into the top 10,(11)I was impressed.

    I loved Niamia and Stafano’s songs for the save, was blown away by the presence, power and performance of Pia, Haley, Jacob and James very early on, and looked forward to every Wed. night to see what “Crazy Casey” would do, and WOW’ed at the stunning stage presence of Screamin’ James Durbin!

    I make no apologies when I say, I fell in love with Haley. 🙂 From “Blue” to “Benny”, from “House of the Sun” to “Rollin in the Deep”, I was “hooked hard” and when it was over, I found it was, “I, Who Had Nothing” upon her elimination. Seriously, I cried, and I don’t cry very easily! But, in the end, it was the “dynamic duo” from the deep south to take the cake. Personally, I dont think either one is “better” than the other, but rather, really complement each other by way of contrast. Scotty with his bass and steady grace, and Lauren with her power and range. These are both, big hearted, well mannered young people, and IF this were a popularity contest based on personality alone, no two “better people” should have won. 🙂

    American Idol was a nice distraction from, “Obama’s birth certificate befuddle”, Our “participation-invasion” of Libia, and the log over due “Killing of Bin-Laden”. We were able to turn our tears away for a moment from, the “Tragities in Japan”, the “Floodings in the South”, and the “Tornadoes in the Midwest”. We witnessed the “Breaking of the Unions in Wisconsin”,the on going “Gouging of the Gas Prices”, surviving the “Crazy Rapture Scheme” of Harold Camping!

    All in all American Idol was a very welcome distraction from the daily dulldrums playing out in the drama of our lives, and along the way I met many of you fine people here on American Idol Net having enjoyed a place to either “vent” or “vindicate” my opinion.

    Thank you to Matt, Branden, and rest of the crew at AIN! 😛 Till next year, Don’t forget to support your favorite, I cant wait till the tour!

    “IM HOOKED” But then again, I’m just say n’ 😛

    • DB, I will so miss you and your posts! Everytime you’ve posted I’ve thought to myself, now that’s exactly what I would like to say if I had a way with words. 🙂
      Make sure you ‘hook’ Haley’s new album when it drops! 😀 I have a feeling that there’s a lot more that we haven’t yet heard from our girl! Really, I am just so grateful to American Idol for bringing people like you and I, and all her other fans, a little piece of Haley Reinhart, who under normal circumstances we most likely never would’ve had the chance to fall in love with her voice and her style of music/performing. <3
      Still hooked right along with ya!

      • Thank you Devin, its been good to read your posts too. 🙂 Nice meeting you, my friend!

      • Music Blogs > Reality Rocks > Why Haley Reinhart Will Make It To The ‘Idol’ Finale
        Why Haley Reinhart Will Make It To The ‘Idol’ Finale
        Posted Wed May 18, 2011 2:19pm PDT by Lyndsey Parker in Reality Rocks
        As Haley Reinhart goes up against chosen ones Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina this week in a battle for a spot in next week’s “American Idol” finale, it’s safe to say she’s the biggest underdog in “Idol” history–more so than Kris Allen (who was overshadowed by Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert for much of his season), Taylor Hicks (who at one time never seemed to stand a chance against Daughtry and McPhee), runner-up Blake Lewis (who went up against a triumvirate of belty divas in Season 6), or any other contestant. Haley was a Season 9 reject, and this season she was on the chopping block so many times early on, most viewers expected her to go right after Ashthon Jones and Karen Rodriguez. Many viewers probably still assume Haley has no chance against aggressively pimped country kids Scotty and Lauren. But they’re wrong. I actually predict Haley will make it to the finale.
        Why? How? Read on.
        1) She Has Celebrity Support – Haley has the endorsement of the much-worshipped Lady Gaga, who let her sing the unreleased Born This Way track “You & I” two weeks ago and clearly bonded with her last week. Revered Idols Kelly Clarkson and Adam Lambert have also enthusiastically tweeted their support, and I’ve always hypothesized that once Haley’s rumored love interest and occasional duet partner, fellow growly jazz Idol Casey Abrams, got cut, many of his votes would go to her. She also has at least one “Idol” big-wig in her corner: Universal Records’ Jimmy Iovine, who arranged to have her sing “You & I” and has frequently praised her on the show. But perhaps most impressive is the fact that this week, after hearing her game-changing cover of the Animals’ “House Of The Rising Sun,” the members of Led Zeppelin contacted Haley and gave her permission to cover their songs this week. (She’ll be doing “What Is & What Should Never Be.”) Zeppelin have only ever granted one other “Idol” contestant, Season 8’s Adam Lambert, such permission, so Haley’s in mighty good company.
        2) The Country Vote Will Be Split – I suspect “Idol” producer Nigel Lythgoe, who recently launched a country talent competition, “CMT’s Next Superstar,” once fancied the idea of an all-country Scotty/Lauren finale. And he may still get his wish. But the truth is, not everyone in America digs country music, so this means that non-country fans have only Haley as an option, while the country vote will be split. (Fans of old-school country & western are more likely to vote for Scotty, and pop-country fans will favor Lauren, though my guess is the unstoppable Scotty will prevail.) It’s also possible that some of popular eliminated contestant James Durbin’s votes will go to Haley, since she’s the edgiest contestant left (no, she isn’t Gaga-edgy, but at least she takes risks and flashes some leg on occasion).
        3) America Loves Underdogs – Haley has experienced the steepest upward trajectory in “Idol” history, the ultimate underdog story arc, metamorphosing from bottom-three cannon fodder to girl-to-beat. A few weeks ago, most viewers (including myself) would have been shocked to imagine Haley making the top three; it was in fact a surprise when she even made the top 13 back in February. But since “House Of The Rising Sun,” the rising Haley has had many pundits predicting that she actually has a chance of winning this whole thing. The fact that the judges have continued to berate her–over-criticizing her performances, while over-praising the others’–has only galvanized her sympathetic fanbase, who’ve rallied behind her and sent frontrunners like James and Casey home instead. Even Haley’s feisty attitude last week, when she finally stood up for herself and sassed back to her biggest critic, Randy Jackson, worked in her favor. (“Idol” viewers usually prefer contestants to be humble, self-effacing, and perpetually polite.) Haley’s hard work, from Season 9 reject to Season 10 top three finalist, has paid off, and that’s a story America can get behind.
        4) She’s Non-Threatingly Sexy – While “American Idol” has spawned its share of male heartthrobs (the bedroom-eyed Constantine Maroulis, ruggedly handsome rockers Chris Daughtry and David Cook, pelvis-thrusting powerhouse Adam Lambert, tween-friendly cutie Kris Allen), the females that have prevailed on this show have been girl-next-door types. Sure, maybe Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Katharine McPhee, and Jordin Sparks vamped it up later (did you SEE Jordin’s performance on last week’s results show?), but they were all fresh-scrubbed and rosy-cheeked while competing. Haley still has that girly appeal, with her small-town background and curly golden locks, but her sultry growl and sleepy eyes belie a certainly womanliness beneath her wholesome facade. In a pop age when hotties like Rihanna, Katy, Ke$ha, and yes, Gaga rule the charts–and on a show where her two competitors are an innocent lass who’s literally afraid to utter the word “evil” and a Norman Rockwellian all-American boy who seemingly spends his spare time playing baseball and eating apple pie–Haley’s subtle sexiness may resonate with viewers.
        5) iTunes Numbers Don’t Lie – Of the top 25 most popular “Idol” iTunes downloads this season (based on the number of iTunes song ratings and their star ratings), Haley has six of them, according to last week’s figures, with “House Of The Rising Sun” at number one, “Bennie & The Jets” at number two, and “Rolling In The Deep” at number three. (Her “Blue,” “I Who Have Nothing,” and “Piece Of My Heart” are also on the list.) Scotty has three, and Lauren has only two. Of course, this information must be taken with a grain of salt, since the rejected James Durbin also has six songs on the list. But the fact that the top three tunes are all Haley tracks has to count for something.
        6) She’s The Only Remaining Contestant Who’s Had A “Moment” – “Idol” producers and viewers love moments–those watershed performances that have everyone gabbing around the watercooler the next morning, and will be seen in “Idol” highlight reels for seasons to come. Lauren’s moment, sadly, took place before the competition even began, when she sang in the audition room with Steven Tyler. Scotty’s delivered some solid performances, but the closest thing he’s had to a “moment” was his understated “You’ve Got A Friend” on Carole King Night. Haley, conversely, gave two of the best “moment” performances of the season with “House Of The Rising Sun” and “I Who Have Nothing.” And that brings me to my final point…
        7) She’s Peaking At The Right Time – Lauren peaked way too early, then never quite lived up to the promise of her famous first audition. Scotty has been consistent throughout the competition, but we haven’t seen a huge amount of growth from him. Haley, on the other hand, keeps getting better; her two “moment” performances have taken place during the past two weeks, and it’s those performances that are fresh in voters’ minds. Remember when Kris Allen sneaked into the finale at the last minute with his top three week performance of “Heartless”? Don’t assume Haley won’t pull off a similar feat this week.

  73. Well Congrats to Scotty and I hope he does well. I hope the best for them all. Thanks for the great conversations and the fun. Ill miss you Oldster and Bunny we did have some heated debates on here. Branden and Matt thanks for all the fun stuff and the help getting me back to the site. I hope you all have great summers and Ill see you in January..

  74. Congratulations to Scotty. We picked him out during the Auditions. Not that I would’ve minded if Lauren won either! Great to see 2 finalists who could’ve won any time. And I was so disappointed when James got eliminated. Great season of AI.

  75. Guess what MAD magazines best free publicity ever! NOW for the renaming MCCREERY magazine!

    • You havent said goodbye yet..and you before anyone else should leave…go board your tricycle….TATA

      • Don’t worry Brick, I still Love you Bro! We had some sick fun a couple months ago, with some naughty Haley love that confounded a few of the late nighters. It’s fun to have fun, be it Scotty (Alfy) or Haley!

    • Cool to see ya back Coondog i’m a fan bro, yeah we know what fun is the others don’t get it!

      • That doesn’t make me wrong Brick. Look, I don’t know you personally, you may be a great guy/gal, but your posts are retarded.

      • heh,heh, Devin Lee still the Peacemaker! Still a bit upset you swatted my Coondog tail for having a ‘Haley Moment’ on the purple velvet couch! LOL

    • I agree with you brick and you are not a retardad, as my opinion

    • I am only concerned with his sister : very lovely, she is my type. O, I wish I were still young 🙂

  77. Tonight’s show was so fun. I used to watch Xfactor over in the UK, the production was not nearly as good. not even close. guess that’s why they are moving here, fox probably can put forth more money.

    • Tonight’s show was boring as hell. 100 year old geriatrics was the best AI could do? Damn, Tom Jones looked like death warmed over and Tony Bennett couldn’t even remember the song lyrics. Beyonce should have only been granted one song. And don’t get me started on the Marc Antony, JLO piece of crap.

      • Not a Haley fan–but–What Were They Thinking?? Haley did the best she could with what she had but this pair up was ridiculous!!!She deserved better.

      • Frank, I mostly agree with you about the guest stars. Each performer had a transparently monetary reason for being there. That’s our world.

        I disagree about boring; it wasn’t in the least. (I kept wondering, “what next?”) What it WAS was a mishmash. A something for everyone kind of show without a cohesive theme.

        Marc Anthony was only there because of JLo. His performance consisted of a lot of disjunct single notes. JLo dancing behind and around him was just plain indulgent. Blah. The “most beautiful woman in the world” really seems to believe that that title means anything. Maybe her behind shimmy would have been good in a nightclub act, but on this stage at this time, with these Idol contestants? Just kind of tawdry to me.

        Tom Jones (I barely recognized him behind the tan and white hair) did surprisingly well (though I was never a fan)– as did Steven Tyler (he was really good–hard to believe he can still hit those notes)!

        Though I could tell from reading posts here that Jack Black is known as a singer (not just an actor/comic), I was astonished at how good his vocals were. He was really good. And the number with Casey was really fun! (I didn’t know that Queen song, and I read that Branden thought it was a mess; regardless, it was a treat to watch them perform it together.)

        It was a pleasure to see and hear Gladys Knight. Judas Priest must have been a real kick for metal fans (they were fun to watch and hear) and Bono (it was just okay for me–because the music wasn’t really suited to the show) were a bit more contemporary.

        I really like Beyonce and I liked her earlier number with the top girls singing with her, but I positively hated her “Make Love To Me” number. Inappropriate lyrics for the show and, to me, it seemed to go on interminably.

        I kind of liked that Tony Bennett was on with Haley. We all know she is a powerhouse who can sing anything. So I didn’t care that he wasn’t in the radar scope for the younger generation, and I didn’t care that Mr. Bennett forgot the lyrics.I thought it was an honor for Haley to do a duet with this legendary man. It was sweet, lovely moment if not an outstanding ‘musical moment’–though, if everyone is honest, they would agree with me that Haley was perfection in the classy manner in which she related to him and sang with him.

        Not a country fan, I was surprised how much I liked Tim McGraw! (I can see why Scotty is a fan.) He has a super voice!

        I also really liked the number Carrie sang with Lauren. Carrie looked and sounded really, really good! (I’m not her biggest fan.) Lauren was having a hard time at that point, you could tell. But the performance was still fun and enjoyable, thanks to Carrie’s professionalism.

        Wonder what happened with Charice and Pia? Pia, as always, was just kind of blah for me.

        I liked the sense of humor displayed tremendously. (I love when people can laugh at themselves.) So I really liked the “most shocking” bit. Casey was so much fun to watch. He has a real flair for comedy! Also liked the “judges” bit.

        What I liked most: Hearing the top 13 sing–and marveling at how well some of those cut sounded–Karen Rodriguez, in particular. Paul sounded so much better (maybe his voice had a chance to recover), and Stefano and Thia (both good performers, too!) also sounded terrific.

      • @Pup:

        Top notch review of the show and wonderfully written – and sparkled with fantastic words like tawdry and interminably!

        I bow to your literary prowess!

      • Great Post Pup! I agreed with every part of your analysis on the singing groupings, humor bits (Shocking!), and I too thought Beyonce’s song went on and on and was boring and a bit too much of in your face “making love” for the family audience (we expect that out of Gaga I guess, so I flossed it off as being ‘artsy’).

        You didn’t mention the rap crap, crotch grabbing (TLC?). You must have took that cue for a bathroom break, as I used it to get off my treadmill for a water break.

        Anyways, loved your summary above. And I see that you (like Adam) could be an emergency fill-in for Branden if he ever needs a ‘sick day’! Well done Pup!

      • PuP what did you think of Lady GAGA? I totally agree with you about the rest…JLO was bad

      • Wow, thanks, Devin, NG, Coonie and Lee! I really hadn’t intended that to be a summary. Just kept on remembering what struck me the most.

        Coonie and Lee, to answer you:

        1. I actually do like some rap. And I like the mix of rap and pop; makes it more palatable to me sometimes. It wasn’t the rap part of the TLC performance that I went numb on so much, but the entire first song. Eh. Loved, loved, loved their second, though (Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls). What a great song! And performed beautifully!

        2. I think Lady Gaga is actually a very smart young woman with a great voice. And I am sure she has figured out (somehow!) that what she does on stage sets her apart and invites a segment of the population to be her fans. (I know gays adore her. And I love her song, “I Was Born This Way,” which I guess is a theme song of sorts for that community. But that message can extend to many, many others.) So, this preface is an homage to that part of her. I was actually embarrassed to witness her performance Wed night. It showed no respect for the audience–and she’s too smart to beg ignorance about that. So she just didn’t care their her sexually explicit performance was bound to alienate the moderate viewer.

        I certainly didn’t find the non-singing performance side of it artistic; it was just plain crude to me. No, I definitely do not want to watch 2 people humping (or pretending to) on AI.

        One standard writers are taught in rhetoric and business writing classes is that you should present your message in the style, format and tone that meets your audience’s expectations. Why? Because that helps writers to win over their audiences’ acceptance.

        That standard may not apply as precisely in the entertainment business, but I have to tell you, the format, style and tone that Lady Gaga uses to sell her songs isn’t working to win me over. (That only goes to prove, at 63 and a moderate, I am not her target audience.) Btw, I do like her voice!

        I’ll get much more forceful if I am critiquing her as a performer on AI: her performance was obscene, imo, and AI should never have approved it. I blame AI more than Lady Gaga, however.

      • Oh, just wanted to add that I know “Waterfalls” is an old song. Just was so good to hear it again. I actually downloaded it from iTunes, too!

        And, Coonie, I read about it, but I guess I missed the crotch-grabbing. (Was that just Jacob, or was that the rapper, too?)

      • Great post again Pup. I guess they didn’t crotch grab that much–I just don’t like much rap! And, I read someone else say he liked it because of back story on L someone and Aids death, so I understand. I actually am “intrigued” by Eminem’s rap sometimes, and even some of the witty (yes dirty language!) rap of a few others. I just need the rap to be funny, witty, or/and good music I like; and for me there’s not enough out there for me–or I can only take so much! But, I respect your opinion there.

        Oh, also. I really agree that Gaga is very smart, talented–mainly smart and I’m always interested in what she does, though she should respect her audience on AI more–that’s really the producers fault though; we know they hinted to her to make it controversial. I’ve commented that I thought she actually gave helpful comments to help contestants regards stage presence and what show business is, and you can’t play “innocent” forever! (same as my opinion always was with Madonna–I like Gaga and Madonna for the show biz geniuses, but when they spout their politics I get mad just because I’m different–of course if they agreed with me I’d love them double!)

      • Brick, you always cut right to the heart of the matter! Ha,ha. Apparently he was at “i-hop” having the latenight breakfast after too much bar ‘hop’-ping!

      • Hey… I think he was on the same planet as we are all on. The only difference that seemed to separate him with us was that he probably had a device called “AI Time Machine” but he just didn’t know exactly how to use it properly that he even,at this time didn’t know that Scotty had won.

  79. Scotty is great, but somehow i still think James is much better than Scotty. If we could start again, i’d hope our finalists were J & H. Sorry ? :-??

    • Doesn’t matter who won … I agree that James and Haley were each better as a total package. They got the exposure they needed from the show, so once they get to cut a CD (and they both will), they can go as far as their fans will take them. And other than the Idol tour, they won’t be under Idol’s thumb about what to sing and how. Much better for both of them!

      • Yep let me do their thing then They didnt win and wont do much go do your thing Haley and James

  80. the finalist are lightweight singers. if they made albums it will not sell well.

    • hate to burst your bubble buddy but Scottys song CD just came out here about hour ago and sold out already waaaaa now bitch about something else you know

      • @almravago

        I am a Filipino and very happy for Scotty. Speak for yourself.

      • My friend speak for yourself only. I am a true blooded FILIPINO and I am very happy for Scotty.

      • Maria – are you related to MARA? 😉

        Wife never misses an episode…

    • That’s just dumb.. howeverm Thia sounded awful good, like she grew up in 2 months

    • Nope, i strongly disagree that Filipinos are not happy that Scotty win. From the start, Scotty did really had great performance that made him got the title. We are so happy that he made it to the finals coz he is our bet. Well Lauren also performed well but Scotty dominated the funs who are country lovers.

  82. good luck to all of the idol contestants, It was great entertainment and the talent level was very high my only criticism was that the “judges” should be more critical and not just cheerleaders, the serious contestants were looking for criticism that would help them perform better and the only celebrity who took that seriously was lady gaga which made me see her in a different light with more respect for her seriousness.

  83. American Idol has totally lost it. I know of the final outcome from internet as I wasn’t even interested in watching it life. Two of the most predictable and boring singers in the final. To stay alive against Simon’s new show American Idol has to reinvent itself.

  84. scotty tu siempre fuiste el ganador… super felicidades desde Venezuela….. a comprar tu disco……

  85. well i see all the folks who didnt see there favorites win are at it again. Get over it they lost

    • For real they have to get on Idol chat to say they arent watching no more What a crock of pee They watched last night didnt they same ones who were saying they were done last week–really Yours lost– get on with life and dont watch who cares??????

    • Yes, he does! Last night, when I was downloading Haley’s songs, I stopped and “re-listened” to many of the former contestants singles available on iTunes. James’ songs were the only other ones I truly enjoyed. I will be purchasing a few of his, too. Glad the contestants get a piece of that pie, too!

    • WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
      WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
      WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
      Give you ur blankie to cry in

  88. i hate the winner…it’s unfair! that cowboy country boy sucks!!! you said it right The space, scotty is as light as a cotton!!! judges, what are you thinking man!!!

  89. Congratulations Scotty!!! And Congratulations to you also Lauren. You are both great singers and wish you both a Beautiful Life. God Bless

  90. tasteless judyp!!! best idol ever??? hahaha…i regret watching the used to be a great show now a pathetic show ever!!! worst idol ever!!! your record will not prosper cowboy…

    • Wow alron ur a hater man. He can sing, can u!? Hes not gonna sell well? The votes were 120 millions assbrick!

      • Done sold out of his hit song that went on sell this morning here in NC Must be alot of folks that buy music they hate youre jealous

    • Another air head…doesnt have a clue…the cowboy will be rich by the time your 10 days older

  91. I think last night was so bad that I will not watch it next year,they should have had James and Haley in it,but know you had a cry baby and a tennie bobber so not good,it needed to be on the disney channel.

    • You know whats on Disney Channe???…Are you old enough to watch Disney??? Guess you have to check with Mom…

  92. Congrats to Scotty!!!! Although I’m not the biggest country fan, Scotty epitomizes the true American Idol representation – A natural talent, fun to watch, a TRUE gentleman, very humble, a genuine face of America, and at such a young age to be so professional and down to earth!! All of the top AI contestants will go far……my only regrets is that I didn’t purchase a ticket to the tour concert coming near me…..I’d love to hear them all over again!!!

  93. Im happy Scotty won he is a good singer. And Scotty doesn’t want to abandon Lauren so he is going to record duets with her. That is awesome

  94. yes i was thinking that scotty and james will be in the final and scotty will wins but scotty wins it dosnt matter now yes hahahahah yes
    exellent scotty
    very good as i thought

  97. Sooo proud of Scotty and Lauren. Remember people, they are just 16 and 17. For those of you have criticized them both so harshly, I would say to you….lets see you accomplish what they have at such a young age. Lauren and Scotty have been my picks since day one. I could not be more proud of America. Two EXTREMELY talented young people, who are wholesome,caring,loving,and who have a great love for God.They both represent what American youth should be.

  98. So that was it. SCOTTY is the American Idol 2011.. Congratz Scotty!!

    i really enjoyed all the perfomances except for TLC. My favorites were Steven Tyler’s Dream On and Beyonce’s One Plus One.. Stefano’s part with their Tom Jones number was good. JLo is beautiful when she was dancing while Marc Anthony was singing.. I laughed my heart out when Ryan said now we know what they do at home..:D

    Only the top 6 had the chance to have a duet. I didnt get what Casey and Jack Black did. I agree with Branden on a duet between Pia and Celine Dion.

    The skit about who has the most shocking exit was really hilarious. I know that’s scripted but i was really laughing the whole time.:D

    Thanks to BRANDEN, MATT and ASHLIE RAY for all their comments, updates, news on AI 2011. It was all worth reading.. Keep up the good work guys!!

    So till next season!!

  99. Pia Toscano was the most talented singer on the American Idol this season. The problem Jennifer Lopez was very Jealous.

  100. Good show but where was Lee DeWyze last years winner and no duet for the final 2. Too much promotion and not enough idol contestants. Good job Scotty!

    • They didn’t invite him because his album sales are bad. Poor form, AI, to diss your own. Poor form.

      • Maybe they could have actually revived his album sales and Idol’s reputation by putting him on with a good song and performance!

      • Perhaps you have read (since our postings) that Lee DID get an invitation to attend–to hand over the “trophy” to the winner. This occurred just one week before the finale.

        Lee turned them down because all other AI winners have been allowed to sing on the show. They weren’t making that accommodation for Lee. He thought the invitation was too little and (way) too late.

        I gather Lee has some personal issues with Nigel, too. Because the story ended with a quote from Lee to this effect (not verbatim): ‘There’s not much about the guy that would make me want to sit down and have a drink with him.’

      • Interesting Pup! I don’t blame Lee for his turning down the cheap honor since he didn’t get to sing, but I actually agree more with AI (a rare case!), because to most of us, Lee is boring. I hadn’t heard though; thanks for sharing. But I can’t end without saying I respect Lee for turning down the offer since I did something similar about an end of job gift that for me was obviously a degree lower than what others had received.

  101. This week they actually did a really good job with the skits and the contestants-talking-about-the-finalist segments. Actually funny

  102. @Frank near the top – if you don’t like music maybe you should pick a different show to watch. Regardless of how they run the show or who the guests are it is still a vehicle for a dozen young people to try to get ahead in the musical world and I, for one, enjoy seeing the new talent each year. Paul MacDonald was one of my favorites and if he had been in the bottom 6 he probably would have gotten a duet with someone. Congrats to Scotty and Lauren!

    • I love music. Just not all stuff that claims to be music. It’s just my opinion, right or wrong.

  103. After watching the finale last night, I would have to say that James Durbin was definitely the winner!!!

    • James did not sound good….than pairing Hailey with Tony Bennett…aaagh!
      James and Hailey should have been able to do solo of their best songs..or their new singles.
      Until next year…maybe!

  104. Wow. After reading this blog for the entire season, I have come to one conclusion: Whoever writes these articles on this website is completely tone-deaf, doesn’t like actual performers, and they are the worst judges of actual entertainment out there. Who can say that Jack Black and Casey Abrams “murder[ed]” Queen’s “Fat Bottom Girls” in a negative sense of the word “murder.” If Branden meant that they “murdered” it as in “slayed it” then he would have been correct. All season long, Branden criticized the best performers and praised the worst ones. Casey, James, Haley, and Paul all were the top performers, the most versatile, and the most talented in the bunch. Yet, week after week, they were the ones on this website that were given the harshest reviews. Haley, James, and Casey all killed their performances last night and proved why they should have been in that finale instead of toddler Scotty and baby Lauren. Seriously, the single that Scotty gets to put out proves just how mentally challenged the guy is, and the producers are. “I Love You This Big” sounds like something a five year old would say to their parents, or somebody that has the IQ of a 5-year old. Congrats America on making this the worst winner possible on this show out of the other potential talent they could have gotten. Feel free to write your hate towards my comments if you want.

    • Sure, I’ll comment Warren, first off, Branden for the most part has been consistent on reviews. Granted you have your opinion, but Casey “Butchered” that song, and vocals were off, missing entrance into the chorus, twice, had pitch issues, and did not harmonize well with Jack Black, who is borderline as a decent singer. Stop it, watch it again live. I thought it was entertaining, yes, I did, but really was not strong, clean or high quality.

      Would have rather them sing Blue Brothers or something jazzier with the bass and just something different. I do believe the artists you mentioned all have very interesting character qualities, and specific styles, and with that comes polar opposites, either love them or hate them. I personally was not in favor of Lauren making the final two, but she did. Scotty’s song wasn’t picked by Scotty. The Idol producers picked that.. do you really think he wants to sing that? Look, I’m not into country, but he has a charming demeanor, solid vocals, highs and very lows in his character of his voice, just as Paul, Casey, Haley, and James all do.

      • I do agree that they should have done Blues Brothers as well, which would have been much cooler. Casey overall was great with his performances, including last night. He was out there having a blast with one of his heroes, who yes doesn’t have the greatest singing voices, but has sold millions of records (making it into the Top 35 of the Billboard 200 when both CD’s were released). It still was a stronger performance then Scotty singing with Tim McGraw where he looked lost and confused for most of the song. Of course Casey, Haley, James and Paul are all the characters that are “Love/Hate” in this Season. Seriously this season turned into an utter disappointment when we got two babies out there in the Finale. In the future, instead of doing themed weeks or anything like that, they should pick an artist like they did in the past, and make the contestants take one of their songs and turn it into their own genre that they want to sing. Think Kris Allen and Kanye West’s Heartless, or Adam Lambert with most of his performances, Casey did it with Maroon 5’s Harder to Breathe, and even touched on it with Elton John’s Your Song. Scotty never once made a song his own, and usually stuck with the “If it AIN’T Broke, Don’t Fix It” mentality, even though it doesn’t show the artist that he can be.

      • This comment: In the future, instead of doing themed weeks or anything like that, they should pick an artist like they did in the past, and make the contestants take one of their songs and turn it into their own genre that they want to sing.

        Perfectly stated. I have been preaching that ALL year long how annoyed I was at the choices..

    • I loved this finale why cause everyone of these kids were great and preformed their hearts out.To me they are all winners and to put any of them down cause your favorite didnt win is hateful.Every one these contestants has a future and wish them all the best.

    • really? you read this blog for the entire season? why, if you disagree with Branden so much?
      IQ of a five year old? tell that to the producers of the show who made carrie underwood, kelly clarkson…..

      • “IQ of a five year old” ? IQ doesn’t change with age. If it’s 120 at age 5 it will be 120 at age 30. IQ measures one’s cognitive capability, not how much they know.

    • Warren, really? Not since Carrie Underwood has Idol chosen a winner with such tremendous career potential. Other than Scotty, the other finalists were talentless. The judges were horrible and dishonest. If not for Scotty, this season would have bombed.

      • I have to disagree with you there Duke. The other finalists were not talentless. I was happy Scotty won, but many of the top 11 have talent.

    • Its a little late to bash the winners…I guess it makes you feel better to commit your nasties to writing the slurs so everybody can read your post..you are so pityful….very immature…

  105. Wow! I was so happy Scotty won because I was so nervous that Lauren will win because all three judges were saying so! congratulations Scotty!!!

  106. Branden, first of all your article was the worst piece of crap I have ever read. I enjoyed the finale. I recognized the talent and everyone did a great job. The whole show was very entertaining and was non-stop. Lots of people say they won’t watch Idol anymore, well I won’t check this site out anymore because you are ridiculous.

    • Agree. The article was a piece of crap. Pretty sure he must be tone deaf and miserable.

      • Yeah agree.it was great show american idol 2011 finale.Congratulations to all participants,specially Scotty who wins & Lauren as runner ups .May God bless you all

    • You’re both Idiots.. if that is what you have to say, then disappear and stop posting.. Otherwise state YOUR opinion of the show, styles and what YOU think.. to debate on here instead of trashing the writers.

      If not, ignore these idiots

  107. yeah, branden. i need to watch Pia again and again :'(
    but noprob, im sooooooo happy and i was crying when Ryan said, “S…..” aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh! okay, whatever you said guys, im really happy tonight.
    SCOTTY, marry me!! :p

      • You’ll be biting them words in about a month or so Dan the man- You seem to know it all comment king. Go get a job At least Scotty will be working

        YAHHHHHH SCOTTY GREAT JOB PERFECT WINNER THIS YEAR

    • Another “White Guy With Guitar” for the fourth year in a row. I so wish the show would score them like Dancing With The Stars. Maybe then we could balance it out a little better

  109. Congrads Scotty. You did good, althought Haley had the better voice she just could not project the humbleness it takes to push her through to the top. The humbleness and appreciation to the fans you and Lauren both project, won you American Idle.

    Hey, if I was you I’d pick the the new Ford Rapture for the gift of any Ford product of your choice.

      • You must be related to another Dan…you both are very sarcastic…come on now….if you are not an adult…act like one

      • It’s a joke, relax… lived in NC for a spell.. everyone drives trucks! It’s a joke buddy.. and don’t lump me in with that other Dan at all, he is ignorant

      • The Rapture is a truck, you need to look it up. Its the baddest truck on the market at $80K.

    • Scotty said on our Hometown Tv News in Garner,NC he was getting a truck and so was Lauren. Scotty already has a truck now so guess it will just be a newer one!! Good job scotty-You damn sure deserve it.
      He said twin trucks is what lauren told him. I think she is the one in love real bad!! But shes sweet, cute and if they are happy good!! They will def do duets together.

  110. okay, the real American Idol is not just mk us sing together with him/her, but, we can laugh, cry, and crazy about him/her. Scotty did it. Season 10, is the best season i’ve evr seen. it’s complete with WOW talent, drama, and surprise. im crazy about this season.
    SCOTTY FOR PRESIDENT 😉

    • Thank God and people who voted for Scotty’The reason for this season was to see Scotty win and have Lauren there with him as his right hand girl.. It was a good show except for Lady fufu. Uch.AI I know you could have done better,with the guest but hey what you saw was what you got. But Tyler can sing and Jack Black was goooooood. I enjoyed it and I am proud of Scotty and lauren,Ok you two show the doubters what you are made of and hit the big time,stay true to yourselves but have fun. God will be with you all the way.Love you both. Grandma.

  111. That was a packed in show, overall I say it was pretty good. Lots of I wonder what is next was coming from me. Scotty, glad you won; I thought you deserved it, and you did it, now go make music! I thought the duet with Mcgraw, I thought Scotty sounded better than him actually. But I’m not a country guy, so I wouldn’t know. Really wanted Scotty to sing that trademark Baby lock them doors.. just to start and finish that way.

    I thought James and Judas Priest was pretty damn good, he easily will be a front man on a heavy rock band. Probably not everyone’s taste of music but he nailed it big time. He’s got serious pipes.

    Haley with Bennett, she has a serious blues/jazz/soulful voice, and let me say this, it was sultry and she controlled her vocals perfectly, to not over power Bennett. Wonderful job, very Squirrel Nut Zippers style, very cool stuff and sorry people, Bennett, granted he is older; he needs the respect of an outstanding performance for decades.

    Jack Black and Casey was entertaining, but really butchered the singing. They easily could have done a much cooler, slick Jazzy song, with bass thing that would have been so much better. All I was thinking was change to the blues brothers.. That would have been fun!

    Carrie and Lauren, wow what a difference. Carrie is just really good; she looked great, very beautiful and has serious vocals. Lauren vocals couldn’t match probably due to the vocal strain. However, I do think that type of style is a good one for Lauren, pop/country.

    Like the Marc Anthony salsa with Sheila E, very fun, upbeat, and even didn’t mind Jlo shaking her ass, but that wasn’t needed.

    However, not sure much on the Tom Jones, that was hard to watch, bad medley in total. ON all fronts, and Stefano failed on the Prince song unfortunately, wanted more..

    Jacob’s performance was barley watchable. Sorry he simply needs to learn how to harmonize.

    The Girls medley on Beyonce was outstanding I thought, special note to Thia, she sounded really really good, like she has grown in 2 months. That style of songs would be good for a few of them, Ashton, Michelle, Thia, Naima. Beyonce is one leggy diva, but her second song could have been removed for something else.

    Lady Ga Ga, that was horrid, sorry. She rips off Madonna type music, and people buy into the crazy outfits. Tone it down and just sing.

    Steven Tyler, awesome dude, well done, your getting older and you have those pipes still. Outstanding. Wanted more.

    Did I miss anything?

    Congrats Scotty.. you were very consistent all year long.

    • All well said. I only disagree about Jack and Casey: It was meant to be over the top and was downright hilarious aka Tenacious D and The Pick of Destiny. I finally get Casey and his mentality for once. And I liked it.

      • OK, I see that on the over the top, it was clearly entertaining, I’ll agree there! Thanks for the note

    • Oh real Dan…I agree with you on lots disagree vehemently on others. Scotty did not sing it better than Tim…his voice cracked on the high notes…but I I’ve him props for his smooth vocals when singing low. He WILL sell records. I personally enjoyed the beyond medley…loving Karen Rodriguez in that great voice…too bad she was eliminated for being Hispanic…I would have liked to see some more of her. On the whole, I thought the show was amazing. Lady Gaga…well she is who she is and she is an amazing singer. Check out her acoustic version of Edge of Glory on YouTube….I wish that version was on the CD…so in that respect I guess you are right ” just sing”. I liked the Tom Jones medley, although Stefano did his part no justice? But the real downer in that medley was when Scotty came in pure cornpone twangy country version of Green, green grass of Home. I almost fell over…it was awful. thank heaven the harmonies started right away. Tom Jones…wow…The man can sing but, alas, his age is taking a toll on his voice. I noted his breathing issues during the performance. I think Lauren struggled so much because of her vocal cord injury. Of course, Carrie is amazing. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening of entertainment. In the end a very nice young man won. I watched an interview with he and Lauren and the difference in the way they present themselves is incredible. Lauren seems younger than her years but she is sweet as candy and you can’t help be enchanted by her childlike giggles. Scotty, obviously mature and well mannered. Branden, I’ve enjoyed your articles even more so when we agree, though. LOL! Hope there are not too many typos in here. See ya next year!

      • Thanks Cecil.. I only see one thing you disagreed with me on! ok, I won’t judge Scotty vs Tim mcgraw,(whos obviously a mega country start) as I’m not a country guy, but generally, Scotty to me when I heard it sounded well rounded, highs and very deep lows..

        Oh and Stefano.. yes, Prince is an exteremly good singer with his style, Stefano didn’t hit the high notes, was what I was saying.. the rest of that medly, completely agree with you as you stated.

        Lady G – humm, ok, I will check that out, thanks for the tip, all her other music I have heard has not be all that good. Some of it is catchy, madonna style, but I was specifically speaking about last night’s thing, awful…

        Thanks again for the note back!

    • Good Job, Dan! I agree with most of what you said. Mostly, I enjoyed the night’s performance. It was fun!

      A few side notes to your comments:

      James/Judas = fun to watch.

      I agree about respecting Bennett and I thought Haley did a good job in a hard pairing of talent.

      You are right about the Black/Abrams song, but I didn’t care. They were a blast to watch.

      I’m sure Lauren was WAY intimidated by Carrie. And who would blame her?

      Marc Anthony is cool. I enjoyed it and what is not to like about his wife joining him. That was entertaining!

      The Tom Jones medley was just too busy. I’m going to go back and watch it again to catch some of it I missed. It looked like the guys were just wandering around back there. (Stefano didn’t nail it but it was fun to see him try.)

      Jacob needs to STAND STILL. His moves are so spastic. He is not fun to watch.

      I also have a special note to Thia. Thia, you looked fantastic. You didn’t just grow vocally, your moves were better and you seemed to really enjoy doing the songs! Kudos!

      Ga Ga is so wonderfully talented and very intelligent. I hope this isn’t her niche. I hope she keeps looking for it. That song was great for SNL, but not so much for AI.

      Scotty did a great job all year. I disagree with the people who didn’t like this season. I thought it was very exciting!

      Fun!

      • Thanks for the note back! Liked seeing a smidge of valdiation in my thoughts!

        I did think the Casey Jack was very entertaining, very.. just sounded bad! So many other choices…

        Oh on Carrie, yeah very good point as Lauren’s idol, good point

        Thanks for the note!

      • OK, RIGHT,I guess it speaks to how non-memorable that was! OK, Spidey thing was fun, interesting, but I don’t know Bono needs to stick to power U2 balads.. I like his voice there, he’s talented. I don’t know who the other singer was, but he wasn’t too bad! Sounded pretty good. Overall tho, ahhhh not my fav.. so many other things could have replaced it

    • Damn – forgot TLC! First, I loved TLC when they were popular, I thought it was done, pretty well, but souned a smidge lipsynced unfortunately, hope it wasn’t. I do wish they did on the video screen behind them the late Left Eye’s mid-rap in the song.. would have been a touching tribute. Otherwise the girls did a great job joining them for the chorus

      • Agreed with you on most all above Dan except this. I hated the TLC thing, and took my bathroom/water break. I’ve noticed a lot of other folks have nonmentioned the TLC thing. But enjoyed your thoughts on all the rest!

      • No worries, hear ya.. just had meanign at the time it came out, after L was foudn to have Aids, it just was a really strong message, and tied to her death.. sad.. but I appreciate and understand your point of view.. Could see that it was a little on the lame side

      • Real Dan…if there is an opening next year for a writer of the AL news….grab it

  112. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome, honestly. Though, as a country fan, I’d have been happy either way. To those who truly believe in their gut that Scotty won’t sell – I’d like you to take a minute to consider who was on stage with him last night, being Tim McGraw. Now, if you dislike country, that’s all good and well. To each their own, right? BUT Tim McGraw is a powerhouse, a country music mainstay, and a part of one of the most powerful couples in country music. If THAT connection right there doesn’t say that there is something good in the cards for Scotty McCreery, who Sheryl Crow also wants to work with, then nothing does. So, enjoy your day of endless agony since evidently having a country singer is the end of American Idol as -you- know it. This is a great winner for many!

    • Scotty is NOT at pro level yet but shows a lot of promise that he will get there soon. The big problem is Scotty needs to find HIS style and not copy others and that can take time to work out.

      • I agree with you B-Scott. I am a country music person and I wanted Lauren to win, but either one was fine. I was at the show last night and all of the performers were great. There were some that I didn’t care for but thats my personal taste. Someone said the final from Adam and Chris was better…I do have to agree with that one. Alot of performers that were great.

  113. Branden, I think you might be the most negative journalist I have ever read. I guess it’s your style. Good job last night Scotty and Lauren.

    • I think Annie/EW is the most negative blog writer I have ever seen and Branden is really nice and positive compared to that woman. Though I was disappointed that Branden didn’t mention James/JP performance at all, for me it was clearly the best one..

  114. Branden : Did you really think that Lauren could win even giving the audience unbeatable performances the other night? This competition was defined a long time ago by tons and tons and tons of young girls with a cellphone in the their hands used as weapons over and over against any other talented singer in the contest, in favor of Scotty.

    I’d like to see those phone bills.

    • alot of people voted for scotty not just teens. thats what some of you do not get. scotty appealed to a great mass, young and old, male and female.

  116. I agree with some of Branden’s points and disagree with others, like Casey Abrams and Jack Black’s murder of Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls”, he is right but it was one of my favorites of the night.

    Scotty and Lauren show last night that they have the talent to make it but also showed they are not at pro level currently. Scotty’ first album will be iffy but once he learns what HIS style is he could be great. Lauren will do well with Disney, they will need a Miley replacement soon, as she and her fans are getting old.

    • Jack Black has a movie opening Friday..some thing about a panda…was a good promo for movie

  117. You could hear Lauren over Carrie most of th song!! lauren has stronger vocals than Carrie, but they did sound very good together. Lauren is going to make it big too.

    • The problem is that for her to get those strong tone she uses a lot of air, the need to breathe alot makes it hard to do long runs or hold notes. This leaves Lauren sounding bland, without vocal color, so she has to pick songs where that is not as big a problem and powerful tones it more important.

    • CJ.. ahhh no, not true.. Carrie’s vocals were more powerful, and for most fo teh song they were not singing together… Listen again. Also note: Carrie did the ending… I think Lauren’s vocals are a little muted given the strain. and Exactly B-scot, very well put

      • Well go back and listen one more time , at one point i could hear Lauren way more than Carrie.

  118. James rocked the house last night. All i can say is thank god he was there to entertain!! Wow James is a fantastic performer and his voice is amazing!!

    • James needs to find or build a strong band, in metal the music is equally important as the singers, unlike country were singers rule and music is more an after thought.

      • That was the reason I watched was to see James. He rocked the house like he always does. Hope to see a lot more of him.

    • Didn’t you see-they both got any Ford car of their choice. Are either of them old enough to drive?

    • i think the’ll fall in love. i see it. Lauren kissed him last night, and it was not an ordinary kiss. O God
      they will be GREAT country couple 😉

      • Getting involved romantically at this point would be career suicide for Scotty. His demographic is young girls, who will lose interest if he’s “Taken”. Besides, Lauren will go home after the tour and he’ll go to Nashville. So, that’s going nowhere.

  120. I agree with you CJ. Brandon- I totally enjoyed last night’s show-very entertaining. It was great to see James(my favorite) and I so enjoyed Lady GaGa’s new song. She sold some CD’s in my living room. The guys were okay with their song together. Give them a break Brandon- they don’t have much time to practice. It was entertaining, considering.

  121. Scotty gets a 7yr management contract with 15% for Idol, a recording contract for atleast 1 album with marketing of it, paid commercials with Ford and Coke, highly paid performances at Disney theme parks.
    He will make about $1M from it for the first year but far less after than unless his album sales well or tours a lot. Scotty plans to move to Nashville and go to college, likely after his year is up.

  123. I thought there was a great deal of talent all season on Idol. I thought Scotty McCreery was aptly chosen. He and Lauren will make great Country Stars who stand for good Christian values. Maybe there is a positive change towards wholesome entertainment happening in America? There was certainly some unwholesome entertainment on Idol last night…not impressed with the tawdry or sensationalist/bad boy bad girl stuff…The two finalists let some light in…it felt warm and good…thanks

    • You know that’s nice Kate…but honestly, I am so sick of all the religious rhetoric on this site. I’ve been at a few sites that ban religious and political rhetoric and request that the posts remain on target. If people want to use this forum to set forth an agenda and discuss “morality” and religious ethics then I suggest we invite people with opposing views such as atheists, buddists, muslims, Jews, agnostics, hari krishnas, and nihilists. If you just prefer Scotty’s voice …well that’s great. As far as the rest is concerned, who gives a darn.

      • Cecil, I am with you. I find the posts about religion to be tantamount to prosthelytizing. Keep that to yourself; no need to make a show of your beliefs. Just live by them. That is more appropriate.

      • Pup…Great post… wish I would have said that…but I probably would have to look up “prosthelytizing”…..LOL. Living by one’s beliefs is indeed more appropriate.

      • @ Singalong: You proved my point exactly. Arrogant. Presumptive. Rude. And definitely not carrying out the spirit of any (sane) religion.

        You have no idea about my personal beliefs, because I have not shared them.

      • Singalong…God tells us to reserve judgement! That is up to him, NOT YOU, and I’d be careful if I were you. He would not appreciate you trying to condemn any of his children, especially for just stating their opinion that an American Idol blog is not place to spout off about religion. I am a Christian, but some Christians almost make me embarrassed to admit it…

      • Clap clap Cecil.. your an outstanding thinker.. exactly.. great post of a retort..

      • Judging others seems to be a favorite pastime for some of the country fans who ‘congregate’ here. Notice I used a small “c” on christian because real Christians tend to know that judging others and sins of pride are the most slippery slopes to the hell they believe in. In fact, was it not said in the bible that pride was the single most detestable sin? Was it not the sin of Lucifer himself, which made him think he was equal to God and caused him to fall? Was it not pride that created the devil and hell in the first place? Food for thought…

        Generally, I get the distinct impression we’re dealing with a mixture of morally sound country folk and white-trash mouth-breathing Walmart shoppers with an impressive gradient of all those in between.

        I mean, since we’re judging people and all…

      • Sigh, here I have to go again. It seems all you Haters or folks with liberal Christianity want to allow shows and bloggers to freely comment about sexy moves or fun crotch grabbing being cool, but if someone with different morals wants to comment that they like less of that stuff, and more conservative values–then we need to deploy the Censors to stop the Christian’s “Hate Speech”? I guess I forgot that Free Speech only applies if you want to remark how much you enjoy wild and crazy moves and lyrics, but if your opinion is to go the other way, then you better shut up? Sorry, I’m not going to be part of that Appeasement crowd that doesn’t let Conservatives or Christians speak up when their values are being trashed.

        So, if you Haters really want less Religion and Morality discussions, STOP trying to censor bloggers that make casual comments that are no more proselytizing (correct spelling, no “h”) to you Haters than to call it Christian bashing because of the bits of profanity or crude joking (Coondog guilty!) that goes on here. STOP your Zero Tolerance nonesense if you don’t want the Long Morality Discussion!

      • Now hooooooooold on there Coondog.

        Christians are not under attack here (not in my posts anyways). Hypocrites are. You should applaud people who take the time to differentiate between practicing Christians and psuedo-Christian hypocrites because few people actually take the time to do so. Every good Christian knows (or should know) that God hates the sin of pride more than all other sins.

        God said of Lucifer: “For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.'” (Isaiah 14:13-14)

        What a dumbass. And God fired his big red butt down to hell. Why? PRIDE BABY!

        Haley has been ripped apart here by people claiming to have “country values” (whatever the hell THOSE are) or Christian values or both. GodIsLove is probably the only one claiming to be a Christian who has spoken out against this hypocrisy.

        So instead of calling everyone who speaks out against hypocrisy a liberal who supports smut (which is horsecrap), why don’t instead point out the errant ways of some of your self-proclaimed fellow Christians? They’re the ones you need to fear the most – they’re the wolves in sheeps clothing my friend.

        As for the Long Morality Discussion to get your definition of morality in a big online debate, well I’ll pass. I have a fantastic moral code of my own – and it does not involve judging complete strangers. If scripture is correct, the only one judge of you, me and Haley is God Himself and nobody else. And last time I checked, “Scotty Fans” are part of nobody else.

        Peace.
        And Cheers.
        Northern Guy

      • Actually, I mostly agree with all you wrote there Northern Guy. Really well written, and no I’m not setting you up for a zinger. Love your totally backed up point regards Pride as the worst sin with the Lucifer downfall story from the Bible.

        Pride starts most of the arguments here, but of course part of the purpose of this site is to brag on your favorite contestant and state why!

        I would like to add to your argument on Hypocrites–regards Christians. Most Christians would freely admit to being hypocrites by society’s standards (and God’s). We know what we should do–be it pride or any other weakness–but we can’t always live up to that standard. But, I admit to being a hypocrite. And believe me, true Christians judge ourselves as harshly as anyone else. But it’s easy to not be a hypocrite when your standards are either much lower or nonexistent!

        I appreciate your points. You illustrate the sin of Pride brilliantly. I especially liked the way you point out that it was Lucifer that committed the first sin, not Adam and Eve–though they were the first Humans to do so!(see, you’re proselytizing too!).

        And you’re also correct in identifying true vs quasi-Christian. Unfortunately, the truth is, Christians are just like everyone else in that we vacillate in what we want to be and how we live our lives–just like everyone else, be it exercising, dieting, or trying to earn a diploma, etc.

        Anyways, like many others who periodically explode with their thoughts on here, I just needed to throw mine out there some. As even The Great Brick has said, “Can a guy have an opinion on here?!” LOL So, most of my ranting is done, except for a few hot retorts (since I know my own weaknesses).

        By the way, did anyone notice Old Coondog started getting all UPTIGHT only since his beloved Haley was eliminated?! Bet you all regret making that happen now, huh?!

      • Coondog:

        Well, I guess sometimes we just need to clarify our positions and what we’re basing our statements on. Very often, people discover they have more common ground than was seen during a debate based on too little data.

        I think when I look at people, I don’t look too deep into what the tenets of their particular faith is. Oh, they’re Baptist. Luthern. Orthodox. Catholic. Don’t matter to me. It’s how they life their lives – what kind of people are. If they work hard, and are family oriented and don’t have booze bottles and pornography lying around and their kids are well raised and well mannered, then I think they are good people. Some would say if they’re not doing the specific things “to be saved” they are going to hell, but then again I avoid fundamentalists who are saved who have taken it upon themselves to help God decide who’s going to hell and who is saved. Scary stuff. I think these “human judges” walk on very thin ice and the thin red line between righteousness and pride. And that, my friend, is certainly not for me to judge either.

        But when someone is claiming to be “with God” and then begins judging others, I think it’s safe to say that this is rather hypocritical. Pointing out when two people are committing adultery, by the letter of the law for a specific faith, is not hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is judging these people while having one’s own weaknesses of the flesh and keeping these transgressions hidden for the duration one is taking a righteous stance.

        That is hypocrisy. And calling people on it is more of a warning for them rather than a “boost” for some kind of righteousness of my own. I know what I am and what I am not. I’m just a man who struggles with his human weaknesses and frailties daily. Most days I win, other times I fall flat on my face. But I get up and always keep trying and I try to not let the Devil guilt trip me into being a bigger sinner. I know I am a sinner. My job here is to not sin anyways despite being born of sin and constantly plagued by the human condition and the lure of carnal knowledge and wordly pleasures.

        Good versus evil is indeed a battle. And the battle ground is our hearts, minds and souls. And it’s a lifelong process too.

        That’s my 2 cents.

        Cheers Brother.

      • Well said Northern Guy. Or should I call you Debbie (“2 cents”) LOL. Just letting you know I saw your last comment. Appreciate the feedback. Catch you later. As I’ve reported to some, I may check out the SYTYCD site as I’m always intrigued by the quirky talents there–I saw the 2 hour audition show the other day; lots of funny moments and cool moves.

  125. There should be a lot of good new talent emerging from this season, and I think sometimes it’s better not to win. Then they get a better chance to do what they really want. If any get out there and make big money, AI keeps a pretty tight hold over what they can do. I’m glad we had a country winner this season and would be nice if both Scotty and Lauren kept on singing together. Too bad they have to turn the finale into a huge showcase for other singers. A few guest performers wold have been enough, then give the Top 10 or 13 another chance to get some attention. I was disappointed they didn’t let Casey and Haley do another duet. And I guess ST didn’t like the idea of sharing the stage with James, so it was Judas Priest instead. I would have preferred the finale to have more songs from the seasons contestants so I might have a few more songs I wanted to download. This season just went by too fast, but I’ll be watching the Voice and SYTYCD next! Great job everyone (except the judges…..)LOL Still wish we could have voted them off……
    See you back next year….

  126. Lauren admits to kissing Scotty on the lips last night and said “he might by my boyfriend … ask him.”. Both plan to move to Nashville and go to the same college together.

    • ohhhh. I do not think, Lauren should be in love with Scotty, I do not think this guy wants to commit now that needs its fans to dream with him.

      • I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Scotty is headed for college in Nashville, while Lauren will be back in high school in Georgia. Puppy love doesn’t last.

    • Cute…will they go to college now,though? Or will they be touring, recording, etc?

    • I’m sorry to burst Lauren’s bubble then, ’cause Scotty confirmed that they are ‘definitely’ NOT in any sort of relationship in an interview. It seems to me that Lauren is the one crushing on Scotty, always going after him and Scotty being the gentlemen he is, is too polite to shrug her off. I sort of pity him ’cause she won’t go anywhere out of his site, and the way she kissed his cheek near the end…. ouch, like she grabbed and forcefully did it.

      Congrats to Scotty for winning the competition! Its so hard to believe that someone I’ve been supporting ever since the beginning won the whole thing. Lauren is a good singer too, but I just can’t stand her personality… a bit fake and thinks that she’s so funny, no offense.

      P.S I think Thia and Scotty would make a cuter couple. I mean, come on, Scotty seems to be the kind of guy who would go to the more disciplined, shy, well-mannered and quite kind of girls… like Thia. And their hugs in the end were very sweet and cute too. Thia doesn’t have to force Scotty in anyway, while, otherwise, Lauren pretty much glomps on him 24/7.

      Anyway, they are all good friends…. so lets hope they will remain that way. And we’ll see the girl scotty chooses, whether it is Lauren, Thia or someone else. Instead of spreading rumors, I think we should all respect them.

      Once again I congratulate Scotty for his victory and a special note Thia. Thia, you look beautiful as always and your vocals seems to have grown much better. You are such a sweet girl. Pia is beautiful too and one of the most, if not, the best, singer not to mention, a motherly figure to all the contestants with her charming personality, and all in all, this season was great. So many talents…. Haley with her unique, raspy voice and the growling Casey who reminds me of a Grizzly Bear. So cute. James who make everything sound so live and making us feel as if we are really in a concert…. and Stefano with that cute smile, Jacob and Paul with their funny dance moves, which are amusing to watch. Don’t get me wrong, they are great guys…. so many great people with the talent and the potential to win…. I wish good luck to all of them and can’t wait for the tour!

      • Funny, lauren is always acting coy and trying to make everyone tease her and Scotty, where as Scotty is always having to confirm that they are not in any relationship. He is always like, ‘Nah… we are not dating’

        Didn’t you guys, like, see the interview where he said that they are not in any sort of relationship with Lauren? I think this Lauren girl is crushing on Scotty big-time where as, he doesn’t seem to feel the same way. And the way she forcefully kissed him…. poor dude, Scotty. Anyway, congrats on winning the competition!

      • I love the idea Thia Scotty and the two are sweet and gentle character, I would like to hear duo Scotty-Thia. Sencillamente Lauren baby with her character, I do not like Scotty with Lauren, well I think the fever of fanaticism and attacked me, jealousy maybe?

      • I think they are a bit too young and for all I know, and predict, Lauren is the one crushing on Scotty. Not Scotty going after Lauren. This girl won’t leave Scotty alone at all, and I personally think she wants the media and the paparazzi s or whatever to spread rumors about them both dating. I mean. why else would she act so coy and make it a big joke? Its not funny…. making Scotty always have to say that they are not in any relationship. Lauren, you must be stupid to not take the hint that Scotty is directly rejecting your advances and he does not feel the same way. He has already told you you guys are like bro-sis, so back off girl and leave Scotty alone for goodness sakes. He is not looking for any relationships at the moment. He is too much of a gentlemen for you. A guy like Scotty deserves a more soft-spoken, modest sort of girl. Not a girl like you dear…. so just pls, kindly back off and leave him alone.

      • I agree Beatriz! Thia and Scotty would make a much, much, much better couple! They both have the same, gentle personality and Thia is so sweet and pretty and Scotty is such a gentlemen and so handsome! he would be blind to go for Lauren over Thia!

        SCOTHIA4EVA!!!

      • Scothia4Eva will be our reality show, who will be the next Scotty’s girlfriend?, I’m about to candidate!! 😉
        Leaving jokes that Scotty will have a long way to go and there his fans (myself included), we will accompany you on that path, I love scotty!!!

      • Thank you, I never really read huge comments like that but I agree with everything you said.

      • yeah i know what scotty said but also saw the grin on his face when he said it. they are teenagers just having fun. if it turns out to be more that , more power to them. falling in love is all part of growing up. this is a great time to them, i hope they enjoy it,and stay as down to earth as they seem to be.

      • All these young ladies are wishing they had the access that Lauren has to Scotty….agree he is not ready yet…so hang in there…dont give up

      • @Lee:

        Ha ha ha. Exactly. Lauren haterz are wishing they were Lauren about now – giving Scotty McHotty smooches on the back porch, just-a….

        Swinging!

        Oh, bad song! BAD.

    • Haha… no way Scotty likes Lauren B-Scot. You must be living in the past if you didn’t see his interview where he said they were not dating. Lauren is always chasing him like a love-sick puppy which is disgusting and somewhat amusing at the same time.

      Scotty should totally go out with Thia. Thia is hott and her personality is more lovable than that of Lauren’s. Thia and Scotty matches way more. Also, there was this rumor going on in FB where they said Scotty’s team member told someone (I do not remember her name) that Scotty had a crush on Thia. Why would they say it unless its true? And why Thia when Lauren is there too?

      • I’m not prepared to see a girlfriend deScotty now (grrrr), but Thia would not be bad, she is sweet and she is looks focused. Lauren, I think it will be tantrums when Scotty this with their fans ….. mmm 🙂

      • Was I the only one that heard Scotty say “I love you baby” when he hugged her last night??? Ii know they’re too young but geeze no more bashing on Lauren !!! Please !!

      • He also said I love you to James. I don’t think he was speaking romantically to either of them.

      • Oh my god!! That is so true! Why the heck would Scotty like a gal like Lauren when there is Thia!

        Thia and Scotty Makes a cute couple, love you both<33

    • Every teeny bumpkin girl on the planet wants to dream about running off and marrying Scotty. A girlfriend now would spoil the dreams of 100 million teeny girls with a crush (read: 95% of his fanbase, save for a few bumpkin soccer moms and grandmas). And this would be bad for his career.

      Scotty needs a manager NOW.

      I think Bob Rock would be perfect… Look what he did for Metallica!

    • My Goodness; there are an awful lot of Scotty spokespeople out here today, not to mention Lauren bashers!

      What do any of us know what has been going on between them? Yes, Lauren planted one on Scotty’s lips last night but I didn’t see him object or push her away.

      He’s 17½ and she’s 16½ and how many out there had their first dates, girl/boy friends or crushes when they were that age.

      For those who are not that age yet, you have a lot to look forward to and it is all part of growing up.

  127. I am happy for this result is my idol Scotty, here in Peru could see the show live, so now I have enjoyed it as a good fan of Scotty follow their career success

  128. Scotty won!!! Enuf said. I was so afraid that the “sympathy” vote would push Lauren over the top. I enjoyed the show even though it seemed to forget that children were watching, i.e., Beyonce and Lady GaGa. Again, congrats to America for getting it right when it came down to the two finalists!

  129. congrats my darling i’m very happy for ur success.good job….i love u.scotty i’m ur vivid fan always and forever.byeeeee

  130. Funny, lauren is always acting coy and trying to make everyone tease her and Scotty, where as Scotty is always having to confirm that they are not in any relationship. He is always like, ‘Nah… we are not dating’

    Didn’t you guys, like, see the interview where he said that they are not in any sort of relationship with Lauren? I think this Lauren girl is crushing on Scotty big-time where as, he doesn’t seem to feel the same way. And the way she forcefully kissed him…. poor dude, Scotty. Anyway, congrats on winning the competition!

    • Remember guys that Scotty hugged Lauren last night and said, ” I love ya baby” or something like that.

    • I didn’t see him pull back when she planted one smack on his lips and it went on for more than a few seconds.

      What if they are together? Who cares? He is 17½ and she is 16½ and most teens at that age are experiencing their first flings so if they are – good luck to them.

      Seems to me that the Country scene is one that likes its’ artists to be in stable relationships so I don’t see it as a negative if Scotty has a girlfriend.

      Scotty sang with Tim McGraw last night and his being married to Faith Hill hasn’t damaged his or her careers and the love of their fans.

  131. Scotty… you are awesome! All the best for you, man! CONGRATS!

    Also, Thia is single. Might wanna check her out sometime. She’s pretty!

  132. I’m so happy Scotty wins. He was also the best and ever accepted the judges conseils. He never had a bad response for them. Congratulations Scotty of my family from Venezuela

  133. Does anyone else out there think that Beyonce’s ‘make love to me’ was completely inappropriate for the age group watching the show not to mention the age of the finalists? Do they even know what that means?
    Disappointed and disgruntled former Idol Fan choco chip signing off….

      • I so agree with you. Lady GaGa’s performance wasn’t age appropriate either. I wish everyone would back off of Lauren and Scottys relationship. They are REALLY YOUNG and will always, if nothing else be friends.

    • I was wishing somebody, make that ANYBODY, would “do the deed” to her just to shut her up! And speaking of “the deed”, I was expecting the Gaga to to do hers with her male “dancer?” dude. And what was with him? All he did was climb rocks and paw her. Good job for my ex husband; ’bout all HE can do, too!

      • Ha,ha Debbie. I’ve been that bad boy like your ex my first go around also! Agree mostly with what everyone here is saying. I gave the Ga Ga routine a slight pass for at least being “artsy” (and every guy wants to do a ‘dirty girl’, even us weak Christian types!). But the Beyonce thang was just too much in your face (making love) and yet terribly Boring! Is that possible?!

        And in the interest of confessing my Coondog sins in light of earlier Morality discussions, I even momentarily betrayed my normal healthy Haley lust when The Haley-Hater in Chief J-Lo displayed her leggy wares! Forgive me Haley!

        Oh, and for all my Haters, by definition all Christians are confessed hypocrites, we strive to be “pure”, but it’s an unattainable goal due the Fallen Nature of Man. Just wanted to forego the anticipated Censors and drawn out discussions regarding Hypocrites.

    • Even without the suggestive lyrics, I thought it was horribly oversung, and wayyy too long. I thought she would sing “make love to me” until the cows came home!

      • Devin, I replied to your nice post on Page 2, #23….

        P.S. I felt like I needed to cover all of my dogs’ eyes for the Lady Gaga performance! ha ha

      • Coondog! You deserve more than a newspaper swat! You deserve a frying pan on the head! You just ruined your reputation. If you said you peeked at Pia or Haley in their panties….more power to you! But Lady Gaga???? You did not do your eyes a favor! Not exactly a pretty body or face or hair or anything! As my first graders say, “ewwww, icky!” I know you can do better than that…Haley Berry? Angelina Jolie?

      • Angela, I accept the frying pan “money shot” to the head, only because I was still bad in Cecil and Northern Guy’s post next page! (Cecil called it the “money shot” of what Norther Guy termed “Ga Ga’s Va-ja-ja” Eeeewwahh!) But I did atone for it on the following page saying I’ve run away from smelly she-hounds (B’s) of the Ga Ga Genre!

    • Let’s see; Scotty is 17½ and Lauren is 16½ so, yes, I believe they both know what make love to me means, whether they have experienced it or not.

  134. Hey guys! Lets vote!! Ok! “Who do you want Scotty to be with? Lauren or Thia??”

    Hey guys plz vote and let me know!

      • Hey Lauren, You cant OWN PPL like that!! And i think Thia and Scotty would make a better couple than Lauren and him! So i say Thia

      • i think this whole discussion is kind of ridiculous, but i will say lauren is a good match for him. their personalities go good together, he is the laid back person, lauren is the bubbly just have fun type. opposites do attract.

      • Did you notice Lauren tickled Scotty just before Ryan read the envelope? Kinda like a little puppy

      • Thia of course! She’s so sweet. Lauren would do well with a mature cowboy type right now that could really appreciate her healthy curves (I mean that in a flattering way).

        I agree that this is such an off the wall topic that it’s fun to engage in. Anyways, Lauren would match well with a 22 year old Trace Adkins look alike who would also respect her and date her–even mentor her through the early music years– for a couple of years romantically (dinner and movies, concerts) before getting more serious (2nd Base). Don’t need no Hating here, we all know that girls are about 5 years more mature than guys at 16.

    • I can’t believe I’m even saying this…Thia’s laid back kind of chill personality would fit with Scotty’s better than Lauren’s over the top kind of ditzy personality. However, Scotty doesn’t need a girlfriend, he needs to focus on his career. Idol has gotten his foot in the door of the music industry, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work and perseverance to actually become a successful recording artist.

      • I agree, there are many pretty girls outside waiting for Scotty, the guy should worry sing better and keep their fans happy …;)

      • Yes, I agree, but Thia and Scotty do not Mach. In any relation one has to be more outgoing and not the same personality because the relationship will be boring. I think Scotty likes Lauren, Not Thia. See nobody talk about Thia before if they are doing this now is because they are very jelous of Lauren

      • If we talk about characters other girls than the balance inclined Haley, would add more shine and $ $ $ $ to the issue, is now well Thia, Lauren ….. I find it very absorbent, I think love….. 🙂

      • @Guille, what are you trying to say? I can’t make heads or tails of what you’re writing.

      • how do you say that Thia is not outgoing? She’s a typical teenager. She’s very pretty and talented. she must be having enough boys coming behind her

      • careful folks, Cecil is still trying to censor any conversations that don’t align with his thought processes. He even resorts to using the Lord’s name, something he normally reproaches!

      • Coondog …who is talking to you? I have never even bothered to read one of your posts! I just think whether Scotty likes Lauren or Thia is a silly topic. As for saying oh Lord…I meant no disrespect and it is no different than saying Gee or Jeez which are both forms of Jesus…also OMG, or Oh God is all over the site. I apologize to any that were offended by my vernacular. And again…if religious rhetoric was banned from the site we wouldn’t be having this stupid disagreement. I won’t respond to you again.

      • Chomp, chomp. Coondog hates the taste of Crow! SORRY CECIL. I was still growling from some earlier conversations! I was out of line there (it just seemed funny at the time!). I did wrong you.

        But Dang! You never read my posts, and then the ONE time you read it is when I’m being a CoonAss?! Haley off last week; now this!

        Actually, I’ve been a bit conciliatory in my Relook Replies. Like many others have done here, I had to get some rants off my chest! And I did point out in an earlier Reply to Northern Guy that, did anyone notice that Old Coonie got especially UPTIGHT after my Beloved Haley was voted off!? I bet you all regret that decision now, Huh?!

      • OK, coondog …don’t choke on that …No problem…I’ve tasted a bit of crow in my life, too!

      • OK, Coondog…don’t choke on that …No problem…I’ve tasted a bit of crow in my life, too!

    • I think it would ruin his career to be with anyone right now. Bad move to piss off all the teeny boppers that voted for him. They want to be able to dream that they have a chance with him. Sales, sales, sales……

    • Her full name is Thialorei Lising Megia so she could always do a Lauren Alaina Suddeth and drop her family name, have a bit of fun and re-name herself – say Thia Loreli.

  135. Can we please get over the whole “James/Pia/Casey should have won!!!” garbage? The show is over. They didn’t win. If you really like, buy their album if/when they make one and stop whining about it. If you have that much of an issue with the voting system, write a letter to the producers and do something about but kindly stop whining after every single show. It’s not a perfect system, but they are all talented once you get to the top 12. And the show appeals to teenage girls so just accept the fact that they will vote for the guys they think are cute. If your favourites are talented enough, the show gives them enough exposure that they will still make it. So just watch the show and enjoy it for what it is.

    I’m very glad Scotty won, I think he is extremely talented. But I would have been equally happy if Lauren had won. They both have a ton of potential and I think will be very successful.

    And let the dating thing go! They are kids! If Lauren, has a crush on Scotty, big deal! She has also said that they are just really good friends (on Twitter, someone asked her). Do we really need to be saying Scotty should date Thia instead? Seriously people!

    Congratulations Scotty!

    • Thankyou well said 🙂
      Congratulations to Scotty for the win and congratulations to rest of the 12 that will be on tour good luck to them all.

    • Hey Lynda, if you don’t like what we are talking about, then dont comment.. no-one asked u to comment anyway.

    • Linda, Scotty’s fanatics are concerned, because they like the fantasy and drama, if Lauren or Thia occupy the heart of Scotty, now?
      Haley would honestly prefer to give a little spice to the matter!

  136. I just heard Scotty’s new song on K102 radio in Minneapolis, MN. I don’t like the song, but his voice sounded great on the radio.

    • a country song i guess. can he do a rap song? if he did it. i’ll vow to him. and reggae too.

      • Scotty do Rap? That is not who Scotty is. Scotty is a country singer, and a damn good one. Personally, I hate rap. I do like Reggae music though, but leave that to guys like Bob Marley. (I know he passed away, but guys like him)

  137. Seeing all the hypes on Scotty on the site,I can’t help but thinking you girls like him merely because of how he looks.Imagine if you swap the place between Scotty and Jacob.Jacob’s face with Scotty’s voice and Scotty’s face with Jacob’s voice.Will you still love Scotty?Or instead you will cast your love on Jacob?

  138. I like AI and I’ve watched since the Carrie Underwood finale … I think some viewers maybe expect more than
    for the most part, amateurs , can deliver. I look forward to the premier of season 11 and I think even the naysayers do to … and as i told my kids there only teens .. I think they both will have success along with some of the other top 13

  139. Just watched the show and so glad that he finally won!! The mama-crying-manipulation totally didn’t work!! Congrats Scotty!!
    I really enjoyed the show, specially Jack/Casey was really really great. The girls and the boys wow totally sweet. Lauren was so under Carrie, unbelievable, they made her looked so stupid compared to Carrie. And James performance was really made me think he is the one who should be the AI. I am so happy to see this season.
    Last but not least, thanks for matt and branden who shared this blog.

    • Strange,wasn’t Scotty’s mom crying too?So his mama-crying-manipulation worked,huh?

      • Lamz … Lauren had a vocal cord injury, try a little kindness…it will only hurt for a minute.

  140. This supposed “relationship” act between Lauren & Scotty, as well as between Haley & Casey, could very well be just an “act” to add sensationalism and more notoriety, which in turn adds alot more $ to everything for everybody involved!

  141. Scotty is such a talented young entertainer and he will have a long sucessful career. Congrats, Scotty for being named “American Idol.” They got it right……….

  142. I must say, overall Idol did a decent job, pretty solid talent this year.. but Idol need to contiune to change some format issues, like having the Idol change the song and make it their own.

    Judges.. overall thought they were rather weak ending the year.. pretty good in the beginning, thru selection and hollywood week.. then tailed off.. I do hope they change them out, maybe even yearly..

  143. Keep dreaming girls—-didn’t you hear one of the first things he said was”her and me started together and we will stay together” and when going down the congratulations line he hugged her and said “Love You babe”. You can tell there is a special bond between these two just by how they look at each other.

    • Hey you know what? Scotty told everyone that he is not in a relationship with Lauren alaina! They are just like brothers and sisters. he said that! Sheesh! Why would Scotty like someone like Lauren when there is Thia?

    • Dack I heard the same thing. Thank you !! They are young adorable teen-agers , let’s wish them well.

    • Conspiracy Theory! You think Scotty made Lauren’s throat sore the same way Casey did to Haley before he left the show? (just from kissing, Haters!)

      • I love my Sister and tell her that when I see her or write to her. I also love my wife and tell her so every day and we are Grandparents
        so I don’t get your point.

  144. ohhhh please! Scotty won? my God!i think he doesn’t desrved it. i’m not so impress with his talent. how crapped is that. people who voted him doesn’t know the real meaning of talent. and i think next season we have a new set of judges.

  145. I want to know when we can not only vote FOR someone, but AGAINST someone as well. That way we have the power to cancel out other viewers votes!!!

  146. YES YES YES YES I knew Scotty would win I am so happy for him and I am also Happy for lauren making it this far I know they both will make it far in the bussniss

  147. glad i recorded those 2hours, so that i cud watch 2 minutes. absolutely a waste of my time this yr

    • That is exactly what I did! I watched James, Casey, Haley and Steven. Beyonce is a great singer, but after her performance with the Girls rule song, I didn’t even both watching what she did at the finale. Lady Gaga can really sing, but again, over the top on performance. The performances those 2 did are great at a concert since that is what you pay for. But like most people watching AI, I watch with my children. And when they tell me that its not appropriate, I know I’ve done something right. So, for all those complaining, dvr and fast forward. Solves that problem. 🙂

      Gone is the day where people on the radio can actually sing without all the tech ‘fixes’. Did you know there is a microphone that ‘fixes’ your voice as you sing? And why do the single singers have to have other singers/rappers sing with them? I don’t consider those duets. This is why I enjoy watching American Idol. It’s just their voice with nothing ‘fixing’ what we hear. True talent.

      Next season, I’d like to return to a final where the Idols are paired with a star that matches their own voice. That is why I enjoyed James and Hailey’s songs. Her’s was amazing.

      And please, constructive criticism for the hopefuls from the judges. Keep your favorites to yourself and let the public vote based on their own opinions. Hoping the powers that be put a limit on the votes from each phone/cell/computer.

      I’d like to wish ALL the contestants the best. Could you stand up in front of a camera and sing your heart out? lol…I couldn’t do that. They all did amazing in their own way. So, best wishes and I look forward to the Cd’s.

  149. weel, that’s finally over with. now we can all concentrate on the important things in life…the bachelorette and reruns of ghost hunters

    • Are you serious? White Collar, Covert Affairs etc. are about to start on USA. Yay! Summer!

      • Love both those shows and there are a few others that look to have potential starting soon.

  150. Branden, in behalf of all your fans (including me), thank you for making american idol even more interesting (or filling in for the boring moments)this season. Good luck to you and I hope to hear from you again.

  151. I guess next year the show should be called American Bumpkin and all the evil performers (read: “not country”) won’t be invited to perform.

    “Making love” is vernacular used in about 1,000,000 different songs that are all played on the radio – but I did think Beyonce begging for it on stage was a little over the top. Personally I enjoyed it and told the wife I would volunteer for the job if I were not a happily married man. She told me not to worry because Beyonce has standards.

    Lady Gaga is over the top as well – I think she is just trying to be the “no fear sports” version of Madonna – and she is topping the charts and selling millions of albums. From Lady Gaga Wiki:

    Her contributions to the music industry have garnered her numerous achievements including five Grammy Awards, among twelve nominations; two Guinness World Records;and the estimated sale of fifteen million albums and fifty-one million singles worldwide.

    Lady Gaga intends to piss off uptight religious people – and sell records to their rebellious children. And she does it well.

    So you bumpkins may not like Beyonce and Lady Gaga, but a good chunk of the American Idol viewing public does – and the producers clearly know this. Yes, country music is generally more pedestrian than today’s “edgy” pop music. But until the show becomes “American Hee Haw” I think you might just have to live with it.

    • I was thinking about why they have all this progressive type entertainment (eg: Lady Gaga, Judas Priest, Beyonce etc.) on this show when clearly the people who seem to be watching are the country people voting for the teen, country singers. A lot of people I know would have watched had they known the “surprise” guests on last nights show were going to be on.

      • I think it’s clear when the top two are country singers that the vast majority of viewers are country fans. I think a couple more notable country performers in lieu of Beyonce’s mating howl and Lada Gaga’s “Sex on a cliff” thing would have been a lot more in line with the way the season went. But, Idol is still Idol and perhaps the producers were sending out a subtle message: You can vote in a country king and queen, but pop is still the Idol mainstay. Or maybe I’m reading into this a bit too much!

      • First are any country artists in the Top 100 on charts. Gaga is at 3, Jlo is 6th and Beyonce is close by her.
        I think Jimmy has contracts with many of the performers and push up sales.

      • @ B-Scot: You are correct. All the mentors Jimmy brought in are part of his record stable as are the majority of the guest artistes.

      • Right but the pop stars were like Democrats at a Republican convention. The stars were both country, but the Idol “theme” stayed pop.

        I don’t dispute the facts given here, but I just think it would have had a little more continuity and relevance had there been more country headliners.

        Cheers,
        Northern Guy

      • Lady Antebellum, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldeen, Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift and Brad Paisley are all in the top forty of Billboard’s top 100 right now.

    • Oh Northern Guy, I gotta respond–
      I don’t figure me as an “up-tight religious person”. Hee Haw-ish, Country-bumpkiny or pedestrian-like. I just bore easily watching women rolling around on a rock or “wailing for some nailing”. Don’t those poor little things ever GET ANY??

      Oh, and hat’s off to your wife!!! Sounds like she has a “good-humor sense”. Hee-hee!

      • She HAS to have a good sense of humor… she’s married to ME after all! 😛

      • Oh Northern Guy…you are eminently readable. Your wife sounds wonderful. Personally, I like Lady Gaga although, that particular performance was a little over the top for Prime Time. Her BBC concert series acoustic version of the same song is 100 times better as it allows you to appreciate her soaring vocals. She can sing. Kids nowadays are exposed to more sex and violence in all their video games that they play endlessly than they saw in two hours yesterday. I’m not getting into the bumpkin stuff, though. Here’s what I think. People will buy Scotty’s music. It may not be the same ones who voted for him, though…because one recurring theme in the comments was “I’m not a country music fan, but I like Scotty”. So will people who are not country music fans continue to buy his records? I’m not so sure. But diehard country fans most likely will as long as he puts out some decent music.

      • @Cecil:

        Well thanky-kindly ma’am!;)

        I truly have no beef (pun intended) with country fans and I have a few country artists I like and I’ve been to a number of country concerts. I have no issue with most religious people either. I just use the term “Bumpkin” to tick off Haley Haters, Country God Warriors and Southern Bible Bashers – who all seem to think they have the upper hand on morality and salvation.

        Fortunately, most are too thick to even argue with at all so it’s really not a problem! 😛

      • I agree Northern Guy; fun posts here! Good reading, and I got a kick out of your line Debbie, “wailing for some nailing”! A Devin Lee newspaper swat for both you and Gaga!

      • Hey Coondog… btw, read my rebuttle to your rebuttle on page 5!

        Cheers,
        Northern Guy

      • Got it. It was great! Hopefully you read my reply (I did apologize to Cecil above!).

    • OK, I qualify I AM A COUNTRY BUMPKIN, and proud to be if I think that Lady Ga Ga is one of the most disgusting human beings I have had the misfortune to have encountered in the music industry. I will continue to stick to my Country Values. Hee-Haw looks more appetizing all the time!!!

      • I am also dack, but I’ve done confessed my weakness to those booty shakes of JLo, Gaga, Beyonce–Sigh, Sorry! (oops, I forgot those Triple Hs–Healthy Haley Hips!)

      • @Dack: I appreciate your making a stand and being a proud bumpkin.

        I’m NOT a *real* country bumpkin (although I have country roots and like a fair bit of country and bluegrass music) but even so I DO AGREE that wearing a swimsuit and fishnet stockings and putting ones va-jay-jay up in the air while playing the piano is rather tasteless. I just think “Ewww – put that thing AWAY would ya?”

        But it’s not Lady Gaga’s fault for being so famous doing what she does – it’s society’s fault for making what she does in such incredible demand.

        You and your bumpkin kinfolk may not support her, but she’s sold 15 million albums. Sorry man, mainstream society is sort of perverted.

        And of course, nobody is saying that everyone needs to accecpt this material and show it to their kids.

      • Hey, Northern Guy…Idol could have chosen to shoot from a different angle for that 30 second segment but they went for the “money shot” which by the way was one of the furthest things from sexy I’ve ever seen. Love Gaga, though. She’s a freak!

      • The money shot of Gaga’s va-jay-jay was gross and needless. This is not Saturday night live – it’s a show being watched by young people. She is a role model for young people whether or not she wants to accept (or understand) this role. Being yourself and expressing yourself as an artists is very important. But having decency and dignity is as well. She’s an amazing vocalist and performer, but she could be equally successful without the meat suits, sacrilidge, and crotch shots.

        Or am I kidding myself and mainstream society really is really that desensitized and morally bankrupt? Coondog – let’s go down to the water brother. I gotta have me a wash.

        Cheers,
        Northern Guy

      • LOL Northern and Cecil regards “the Money Shot” and the Va-Ja-Ja? LOL. Coondog needs the Water also–not to get clean, I need the water hose in the yard! Remember I’m a Horny Hound! (I’ve always said I’ll be lucky if I’m the last one through the Pearly Gates!)

    • Two types of music I never liked – country and opera, yet I rooted for Scotty since the auditions and Lauren over Haley as it got down to the final 5. They are just really talented, you don’t have to like country to see this. I was an 80’s punk rocker, always liked loud music, Billy Idol was my idol for years… and now as a wife and mother, I just loved Scotty, great example for American teens to follow. All of my friends were rooting for those two all season as well because of the talent and what they project in their performances.

  152. A perfect ending to a perfect season….NOT…..
    The finale was OK….nothing like I was hoping…..It started out on a high note with James singing with Judas Priest but it was kinda down hill after that…It had its moments but nothing really exciting like in the past….(Season 8 to name one)….

    The season started out with the most talents and diversified group of singers EVER and it just fizzled as the season progressed….JMHO…..Well there is always next Season (I think)…..

    Enjoyed this site very much….loved your column…loved your honesty…..I’ll be seeing you on the Big Brother & The Voice sites…..

    Happy Summer to all the bloggers!!!!

  153. i think alot of people including the producers of the show, forget how big country music is. why they had to showcase R&B or Rap is beyond me. i went and channel surfed rather than watch that crud. why didnt they stick to what america likes to see? i dont know. rap is not mainstream and neither is some of the other icky muzak they showcased. and it also didnt win votes.

    • You’d be surprised how many white, southern college kids listen to rap. It seems to be the music played at most parties.

    • I suppose it depends on where you’re from. I know in the heavily populated East coast cities- R&B, rap and Rock ARE mainstream. Country music is not.

    • Last year country music was 12% of record sales and down 13% already this year. Hip Hop and Rap were the biggest sellers last year by far but down big this year while Pop and R&B have really picked up. Adele has both the #1 album and single for the last few weeks, with Katy Perry and Gaga close behind.

      Country has strong mainstream base but they are not the ones buying new songs every week.

      • If you look at the trend in US and world right now female bluesy rock, Pop and R&B singers are far out selling female country singers while male country singers fighting over a small market.

        True the country singers get alot of award and fame, while making a very good living but still only a small part of the industry as a whole.

      • Exactly. The whole world doesn’t revolve around country music. And when you look at a global basis, it doesn’t even register hardly a blip. Even though she didn’t win AI, I think you may see contestants like Haley outsell all the others, inc luding the country winners. Haley’s itunes, are now charted on the itunes charts along with the others and Haley now has 4 songs in the top 100 on itune charts, Scotty has two and Lauren has one.

  154. I think youth won this year, with the country vote keeping them in through the early weeks.

    You noticed that Lauren’s outfit sure changed after all the voting was done. If she had dressed like that a week or two before then she would have been gone I think.

  155. I think the fanalie was great and I was happy to see Scotty win! He’s one cool dude on stage and he displayed that from the beginning to the very end including his thanks to each of the top 13 just before the lights went out. Country is the soul of music and will always be here no matter the the ups and downs of rock, rap, etc. One thing you don’t hear on country is filthy language and the other crap that goes with that on stage or in videos. That should tell you something. A great winner, great finale and great season. Can’t wait until number 11! We do owe a lot of that to the judges and of course Ryan Seacrest. It was also great seing Ford, Coca Cola and AT&T being the supporting sponsers that are truly all-American! Thank you!!!

  156. I really enjoyed American Idol this year. There was such an amazingly talented group of performers that for once I actually looked foward to each week’s perfomances. It was nice to see a variety of music types. I was a Sotty fan from the very beginning and was very happy to see him win. I’m sure we will be seeing more of Lauren on the country music scene.

    My only complaint would be that since American Idol on during Prime Time and many families watch this together that they need to stop having Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez and other performers that perform in such a provocative, sexually oriented way!!! This is disgusting and our youth do not need to be exposed to that. Beyonce and her final song should have been censored before allowing her to perform!!!

    Great Job to the judges for chosing the performers that they did for this season!! BRAVO

    • I totally agree with you that AI should not have had Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and Jennifer Lopez perform the way they did. Our youth need positive role models. That is one reason why I was so excited when Scotty won. Scotty is an excellent role model for our youth!!! I can not wait to buy his CDs!

  157. i believe this years idol was all about popularity and scotty won that also every performancce he had there was nothing wrong he was very consistent in what he was doing he’s a country star and nothing more and he was very strong about that so congrads to scotty and everybody else they will all make something of them selves if they want that career until next year

    • I am happy for Scotty, he work hard but to me he sounded to much the same week after week and if I remember right he did one song 3 times early on.
      I know some people voted for looks, sex, character, values or music style, where as I when by what I liked in their singing. Not sure one is a better reason than another but just my way I guess.

  158. I am looking forward to seeing what x factor brings to fox. Will it destroy idol? what do you guys think?

    • It may be good, Simon Cowell had a part in producing American Idol for 9 years, so maybe it will be a little similar to idol and a little different because Simon kind of runs the whole show rather than having “part” in it.

      • KC; Why would it destroy Idol? X Factor is a fall show. They will not run during the same months.

    • There are 4 judges and 4 categories for the contestants and each judge takes one of the categories and mentors the contestants in that category.

      The categories are – or were in the UK last year when the changed the age ranges:

      1. Male Singers 16-28
      2. Female Singers 16-28
      3. Groups – no age specified I don’t think
      4. Anyone over 28

      There is an initial stage that does not involve the judges where the producers hold auditions (not shown on TV) and select the best in each category that will sing in front of the judges.

      Initially they sing to all the judges and they select 6 or 8 (the # last year) in each category to go forward. Then a judge is allocated one of the groups for the remainder of the competition and has to train and mentor them.

      They have what they call a bootcamp where the judges/mentors work with the acts in their category and narrow them down to half the number, which will be 3 or 4 because it has varied in the UK version.

      Then they all move into shared accomodation, much like Idol, and the live shows begin.

      In the early rounds, the bottom two have to face the judges for a sing off and they decide who goes home. There is usually a lot of banter between the judges trying to defend their contestants, which is fun – sometimes.

      There have been a couple of occassions when the bottom two were from the same group and I know both Sharon Osbourne and Cheryl Cole, who replaced her, refused to vote to throw one of their contestants off the show so it became a 3-way vote.

      If there is a 2-2 deadlock between the 4 judges then the oone with the lowest public votes goes.

      When they get to the final 5 then the one who gets the lowest votes goes and there is no judge involvement in the decision.

      Like Idol, the winner gets a recording contract and some of the others may get one as well and there is also a post competition tour.

      Probably the best known winner of the UK show, as far as the US is concerned, is Season 3 winner Leona Lewis who was mentored by Simon and subsequently managed by him.

      That about sums it up as far as the procedure goes and the big difference is that X-Factor puts a lot more emphasis on mentoring the contestants.

      • I think the commercials for X-Factor said the age started at 12 or 13! I remember thinking, “OH NO! Here we go again with a kid’s show.”

      • Yuk is right. I don’t care how amazingly talented a 12 year old is, adults do not want to buy a child’s album. Also, kids get into an exploitation problem with too much money coming in, parents spending all of it (John and Kate plus 8), missing schoolwork and school experiences, and just being thrown into a cut-throat adult world. I am really disappointed they did this. If a 12 year old is talented now, they will be talented at 18. It can wait! Why can’t these children be left alone to do what they should be doing….go to school!

    • Check out The Voice in the meantime. Next week is the last of the “battles” between 2 contestants, which is kind of odd but funny in some ways and then they will each have 4 contestants to go into the finals so there will be a total of 16 contestants left.

      They are broken up according to which judge picked them initially and then they get a lot of help and mentoring from the judges and their guest mentors.

      The judges/mentors are:

      Christina Aguleira
      Cee Lo
      Adam Levine
      Blake Shelton

  159. When my 13 y/o uber sarcastic daughter thinks the performers were too over the top, I KNOW it’s over the top. Beyonce asking to get laid, repeatedly, made me want to rent her and her husband a room, OFF stage…Good grief. (Since she seems sincerely in ‘need”, I have to ask where IS her husband?) She also has experience with American Idol and knew the contestants so there’s no excuse. Lady Gaga, well, we know where she’s coming from as Northern Guy aptly explains. Still, she also had met these contestants and given THEIR preferences, a part of me found it almost disrespectful. I saw Scotty’s parents and wondered if they thought “Oh thank GOD it’s over…oh wait, he won…crap.” B/C the longer he’s out here in LA, the more he’ll be “exposed”, so to speak.

    I’m a semi country music fan. I wasn’t awed by Scotty or Lauren although they are both likable and neither of THEM, will bump and grind on the finale next year. For the record, I’m NOT crazy about the idea that now, American Idol doesn’t value versatility at all. That’s what Haley & Pia, probably the best vocalists in the contest, got hassled for throughout. I don’t get it. Why elect a singer who only has a narrow range and call them “The American Idol”? In fact, the country music industry just started their own show! Just food for thought. OH, and next year I predict that the voting methods WILL CHANGE, or the name of the show will have to be changed to “Tween Idol”. It’s getting a little tiresome to see 4 guys in a row win…really, America? Still, I’m a fan b/c I can watch this with my kids and have us all learn about each other’s music. That’s something.

  160. One other thing…anyone else getting tired of being overtly manipulated by the judges?

    I mean, bad enough the judges were SO effusive in their praise, (except with Haley) that it was hard for them to distinguish from mediocrity and excellence. They never once gave Scotty any feedback that wasn’t positive and that’s NOT really helpful to him. SO I felt that the judges were steering votes and to my surprise, a lot of it seemed to work. They were harder on the women singers, and if you re-watch the feedback given, you’ll see that’s factually accurate. That, and the fact that so many tween girls vote for males anyhow, makes it silly at times. We lost 5 females in a row, like last year, before the worst singer finally got booted. Invariably that mediocre singer was male, this year it was Paul, before that Sanjaya, Tim Urban. Andrew Garcia, etc. Think about it, there are NO comparable females.

    X factor? We’ll have to see. I still think AI has a future but it’s not alone anymore. The Voice is cool, and so is the X factor.

    • You have to realize there was ALOT of politics behind the scenes this year, since Idol is being sold for $509M after the season maybe next week I guess.
      I think the producers would have liked Scotty and Haley finale but James’ power voters were angry at Haley, so voted hard for Scotty and Lauren.

    • Yup, you’re right Spitfire about all the judge and AI manipulation of voters. But we’ve covered that silliness for weeks of voting discussions. Too tired now to rehash, but you’re right!

    • Ryan summed up what we all feel and that is Randy needs a new script writer. It wasn’t so bad when he was with Paula and Simon and last year with Kara and Ellen because he was “The Dawg Dude.”

      This year he became the #1 Judge and just spun out his 5-6 clichéd comments and I am sure that he said that at least 8 of the final 13 were “In It To Win It.”

      Randy – FYI – everyone who gets to the final is in it to win it.

      JLo I think has got what she wanted out of Idol and that was to get back in the eye of the music world after being dropped by her label last year. I doubt if she will be back next year. She is also rumoured to want to start a talent show for the Hispanic Community.

      Steven Tyler is a character – of that there is no doubt – and proved last night and a few weeks ago when he sang with Carrie Underwood, at a CMT Awards Show, that he still has it at 63. Whether he will be invited back or want to come back – who knows?

      If he does, he needs to be more helpful to the contestants and not say everything is beautiful and they nailed it because everything was not beautiful and they all did not nail it every time.

      • Oh! Come on Northern Guy, where was the bleep with the American Idol logo covering it? 🙂

  161. Among my friends and relatives, each one had chosen his/her favorite from the top 13 aside from predicting winners. Someone chose Pia, two were for Haley, another two thought James would win, but a twelve year old boy favored Scotty and I agreed with him. I admire all the names mentioned and the rest of the top 13 but I felt that Scotty would be American Idol of 2011 not because of pure talent but for everything that he is, from looks, demeanor, and voice. The X-factor which had worked for the 3 winners of the previous seasons also contributed to his triumph. As for the show, I really enjoyed the performances of the contestants with or without artists. I found the finale very entertaining, and for me to enjoy it, I had to put aside judging any aspect and anybody. However, I wasted my time watching Lady Gaga. I would rather watch American Idol than hear her sing or watch her.

  162. The worst American Idol ever!!! I stopped watching when James was voted off!!! At that point it was “Country Idol” I am not a country music fan.

  163. How about the 41-year old hoochie-coochie girl. What the heck was that? I thought I was watching a human sacrifice to King Kong on that island.

    • Ha,ha. You’re right also Joe! But Lady Gaga is entertaining–if not possibly inappropriate for the AI forum. She is pretty savvy regards marketing her image, and I actually thought she did a good job mentoring (half of that just being the entertaining show business part for AI). Though she was crude (her image), I still think she gave some good pointers to the kids for how to manage their stage presence.

      • They humped and bumped right off the cliff! There’s gotta be a subtle message about lust and promiscuity in there somewhere…

        The guy was supposed to be acting like he adored her and wanted her terribly but he seemed afraid to touch her. Perhaps rubber gloves would have lowered his inhibitions…

        OUCH! Burn! Poor Lady Gaga. Being so promptly judged by us all!

      • OOPS!

        Thought at first you were referring to “Lady Lopez”. Well, she IS 41 and was certainly “coochie-ing” her “hooch”!!! Gotta keep it simple for me. Too many sexy gals “wantin’ sum stuff” for me to keep track of.

  164. It was a great results show.. Lauren couldn’t do as I expected. Hope her strained vocals were a barrier. Other than that it was great! I loved how contestants performed rather than acting as backup singers to the Stars.
    Judges sucked in live shows but there was real talent this season! I don’t think winning matters at this point. Let’s see how the top 11 going to do in future.

  165. His single I Love You This Big is #1 on itunes. And I know every country station on the east coast of NC has played his song at least twice today. I have loved his voice from the get go. Proud to say he represents NC very well.

    • But in the much bigger general pop market for itunes Haley has 4 tunes in top 100, Scotty and Lauren have each two. World does not revolve around just country, especially on a global basis where it accounts fir just a blip

    • I think idol purchased enough itunes for Scott and Lauren to top the charts, being #1 make the show look good and helps sale more songs while pushing the stations to have to play it.

      • CONSPIRACY NUMBER… number 9? What number conspiracy is this? I lost count…

      • Every Idol Coronation Song comes in at #1 and often the other one is #2 or #3 and it is obvious that lots of people are going to purchase the singles from the two finalists.

        Interesting stat from the 10 seasons.

        The finalists have sung the same song in 5 Finals and females are 4-1 when that happens. The only time a guy won was Season 8 when there were two guys in the final. So Male vs Female with the same song is 4-0 to the gals.

        In the other 5 Finals where they have sung different songs, a guy has won all 5 although in 2 of them, it was an all male final.

    • Good for Scotty and NC. The Coronation Song each year does tend to top the i-Tunes charts the day after its’ release s that is not surprising.

      I am sure that during the tour, they will have some of the top Country Songwriters working on Scotty’s first album and that will be the acid test. Hopefully, it will be as big as folks are predicting because – Scotty aside – Idol and 19 Productions need a big seller from an Idol winner.

      🙂 Does NC have anything but an East Coast? 🙂

      • Yes. It has a breathtakingly beautiful mountain region where the youngest Vanderbilt chose to build The Biltmore Estate. Near Asheville, it is America’s largest home. There are wineries and fabulous grounds.

      • @ Templar – I know, I have been there and was just yankin’ the posters chain because when you say “Coast” it usually refers to the land next to the sea/ocean.

        When I first came here 26 years ago, my job in Government work took me all over this great Country and I always took the time to drive and see as much as I could, especially when I stayed over weekends.

        It has always amazed me that I have been to more places in the USA than most Americans I know and there is so much beauty to see.

        Some of the places being hammered by the Tornadoes are ones I have spent time in and around and it is heartbreaking to see what has happened these past few weeks.

        I wish Idol had pushed the Tornado Relief Fund a bit more last night because it seemed to get lost a bit during the Jacob Lusk/Gladys Knight duet and they could have left the details up at the bottom of the screen or had Ryan mention it again.

  166. O resultado foi coerente, ele foi o melhor candidato em cada rodada, e, era dito pelos professores que ele era o candidato veterano. Parabéns, voz maravilhosa, bonito, simpático e agora ídolo.

  167. Ahh – guess it’s true, rock and roll is dead – when Brandon does not even mentions James Durbin with Judas Priest performance on the final show. 😉
    Btw, that was my show highlight. 😀

    • @Bluepill. No, “rock and roll is here to stay”.
      James and Judas Priest were awesome. Steve Tyler also. They brought the show to life and then it just fizzled out and grossed out.

      • Exactly! I was just poking Branden, and many others – Guess she’s not a hard rock/metal fan 🙂

  168. Oh Thank God others see it like my family and I do. The performances and songs last night were totally not age appropriate for American Idol. It was disgusting . I am sooo happy Scotty won and YES, you are so right, he is an excellent role model for our youth and I too can not wait to buy his CDs.

  169. I found it ironic that on a night when two teens who are both Country Singers were the main focus that we had the over 60’s (and in one case mid 80’s) parade of guest performers.

    Why they had the Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and JLo sets, I have no idea. What is annoying is that both Gaga and Beyoncé have great voices but they feel they have to go overboard and it makes no sense. This is the 2nd time in a few weeks we have seen Gaga on Idol in her “bikini” and – Lady – you ain’t got that good of a figure so focus on your singing.

    It was appropriate that the top 6 got to do some duets and it was nice to hear Thia given a little exposure because she has a great voice for 16.

    Casey was funny – as expected – and thank God he didn’t kiss Jack Black. 🙂

    Jacob did a good job but the message of a relief fund for the victims of the Tornadoes was not put over very well and should have been repeated or stressed by Ryan.

    James was really pumped up. The problem is that the genre is not current and he may fail if he insists on going that direction.

    Haley’s spot with Tony B was cute. He lost his way in a couple of spots and Haley actually pulled the vet through and did it with grace. The “dance” part did not seem rehearsed, judging by the look on Haley’s face when he started it. Something tells me she will be doing a duet with Mr. Bennett on his Duets II Album.

    Lauren looked like a star struck teen (which she is of course) when she was singing with Carrie Underwood but she got into it and it turned out just fine.

    Scotty did himself proud with his duet with Tim McGraw who obviously works out. Not sure how Scotty would look with a Tim McGraw hat on 🙂 but he sang well and showed a bit more umph than in some of his Idol porformances.

    Someone really needs to give him some mentoring on what to do with his hands, especially the arm across the stomach bit. Tim McGraw looked leisurely and cool and sang with little or no effort. That is where Scotty has to get to and I am sure he will receive mentoring and training while on the tour.

    Steven Tyler showed us he still has it and JLo showed a little more of her booty than I needed to see – but did prove that she is a much better dancer than she is singer.

    One surprise, after all the hoopla since she was eliminated, was that we did not get anything other than back up singing from Pia.

    All-in-all, not a bad night and none of us had to wait until the end to know the winner – duh!!

    One last comment about Ryan’s shout out about the votes cast. He said: “We had a World Record 122 Million votes cast”

    As John Clease responded when asked what was the main difference he noticed between England and the USA where he now lives; “Well, in England, when we have a World Championship, we tend to invite the rest of the World!”

    You can get your Idol withdrawal pills OTC at your local pharmacy.

  170. i thought the finale was the best ive ever seen. my
    husband cant stop talking about it. WOW. we are country music fans, but Lady Gaga, Steven Tyler and
    all of the performers were excellent. the sets were way beyond anything the music award shows put on. it was spectacular in my opinion and i cant wait for the next season.

      • I agree with you both!! I loved every minute of it. It is refreshing to see people who emjoyed it instead of constantly talking about something they so obviously watched.

      • It was the best American idol seasons Good Luck for Lauren she have a beautiful voices.

  171. As critical you are of this show I think you should stop watching it. The final was pretty spectacular and yes I’d like to have seen more western stars but that’s probably I don’t like Ga GA. They did have 2 great country stars, though, and I enjoyed them.
    All in all the top 4 should have been Scotty, James, Pia and Lauren, in that order.

  172. scotty congratz on win u deserved it…
    and congrats on being #1 on itunes right now..
    this young man is very liked in america and the world,his facebook and twitter were already huge and he picked up 60,000 facebook fana and 40,000 twitter fans yesterday alone to eclipse 215,000 on both acounts,he even beat out Opra winfreys last episode on twitter by a huge margin

    again gratz scotty on your most deserved win!!!!

  173. Thank you Branden, after the show, I love reading your comments, you are so funny, you say it like it is, YOU make idol more enjoyable for the rest of us.

  174. I would like to take a second to defend Lauren Alaina. I see that this site has sort of become a bash site for her and I think that she is wonderful. I see so many comments about her being too fat, too young and immature, a dumb blonde, and falling all over Scotty too much. I mean come on, it is ridiculous. The girl is 16 years old and has had to put up with so much and yes she was the next to the last one standing and did so very gracefully. If you go and read her exit interview you will see she addresses her weight and how she has lost 16 pounds by running every day (a healthy habit…you go girl). She says in her interview that she is going to continue running to get to the weight that she wants to be and not what everyone else wants her to be. I commend her for that because stepping up to do something about your weight at 16 years old instead of not being motivated to do something about like other kids are is great. She talks about how she has been labeled as immature and that she cries alot. Her response was she knows that she cries alot and people have a misconception about young people, but that she is not going to change who she is for anybody at all. Once again, I commend her for at 16 accepting that yes she gets emotional but it is her and she is not going to change. There are grown people who cant accept who they are. She also goes on to state that this has been a growing experience for her, which I felt like it would be anyway. She will grow from this and come to a point where the crying would stop but will do so when she is ready. And guess what? No tears on the finale or result nights. She addresses her and Scotty several places and says continuously they are just friends. And my feeling is Scotty himself may feel something because he has stated that there relationship is something very special and in my opinion when you have just won American Idol, you dont bring up someone’s name and say you have been there since the beginning and will continue to be together until the end unless they mean something to you. I mean I wouldnt bring up anybody’s name like that and her name was the first one brought up!! He also said in his interview he wanted to do a duet with Lauren Alaina as people he wanted to work with on his album…..not anybody super famous but Lauren. Secondly, people critiqued her performance Wednesday night forgetting that she still has voice issues. To me she sounded great but to each is own. As for her only singing and not being an artist: Lauren Alaina has written two songs, the titles of which are on Wikipedia. Lauren has signed to Interscope and has an official website: Laurenalainaofficial.com.

    GO Lauren. To me you are an American Idol and I commend you for taking all the criticism and only making it beneficial to yourself. The way you are looking here lately, you are gonna be spectacular!!! P.S. Motivating these kids to achieve there dreams is what she should be doing instead of knocking them down. I mean come on, there are so many youth out there who head in the wrong direction. Why not support youth who want to do right? And that includes Haley, Pia, Casey, James and all the others who were bashed this season. Good luck to you all.

    • It’s so true she is a very beautiful young girl she going to have a wonderful future as a singer.Congratulation Lauren.

    • Hey Lisa, a lot of those comments do come from young girls as you can tell by the language usage and content….but sadly, some of it does come from adults which is sad. She’s a cutie, that’s for sure. Maybe it is just the comparison with Scotty’s obvious maturity that makes her seem so young. But in reality, I think she pretty much acts like a 15 year old girl…which is what she is.

    • Lauran is a typical teenager…she is cute…great personalty…she didnt deserve those posts putting her down…and she has a great talent…lots of envies out there…and i dont think she would treat anyone like she has been treated

      • Yep, I agree. Lauren’s song is number 3 on itunes and just passed Scotty’s who was at number one earlier while she was at number 3. He is now number 4. She is only behind Adele and Pitbull. I feel she will be successful.

    • Maybe if she smoked cigarettes, dressed in sleazy clothes, did drugs, and had a “f–k you” attitude and a purse full of condoms more people would consider her to be mature…

      I like the sweet, innocent Lauren who is perfectly mature for her young age! I think too many 16 year olds are mature beyond their years these days… if you get my meaning.

      • I agree on that Northern Guy… I was actually charmed by Lauren’s schoolgirl personality. They are both great kids, Haley too dispute run ors to the contrary.

    • Very well stated. I agree and am offended by people who use the greatest of our American rights ,freedom of speech, and waste this priviledge to critizise someone as wholesome as our Angel Lauren Alania .Where were you raised??

  175. Gabriela I’ll help educate you Devin Lee was replying to PUP who was replying in turn to Ritta and not directly to you. I would say you could learn a lot from Coondog and Devin Lee they have great posts.

    • are you talking to me?

      ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?! Ha, ha Brick, thanks for the shout out. Back atcha! –Oh , I was referencing the BING commercial with the two girls sitting in restaurant. She does a good job acting out that skit, startling everybody. (not even related except in commercial enjoyment–like Geico Foghorn–but I love the new commercial with the fine “scream acting” of the girl regards the tarantula on the I-phone thing on table!)

  176. All this talk of Country Music reminds me that the guy who ended up in the #3 spot last year – Casey James – was signed by 19 Productions and also by Sony Music Nashville. Sony Music was the Company Idol used prior to this season when they went with Interscope-Geffen-A&M.

    Anyway, if anyone has been to the Sugarland Incredible Machine Tour, he opened for them – at least for the March 2011 segments.

    His debut album is due out later this year so it will be interesting to see how that does.

    The thing I remember most about Casey was that he was probably the best guitarist we have ever seen as an Idol contestant.

    Hope he does a lot better than the two who beat him out of the final because their debut albums bombed. Good luck to Casey.

    • That is so nice to hear – I like him but really thought he should have been singing country instead of the bluesy sound. Completely enjoyed his finale song with Bret Michaels (which had a sorta country feel).

  177. I didn’t think it was necessary for Lady Gaga to have a guy laying on top of her. I agree with David. The bra and panties needs to go. She looks fat in them. I did actually really like the song. J-Lo what was that? Do we care if she can vibrate her backside? I am very glad Scotty won. He did a great job with Tim McGraw. I was wondering about the arm thing also. Glad to know someone else noticed,too. All in all it was fast paced and entertaining. Good job AI!!

    • “The bra and panties needs to go”

      Nooooooooooooooo!

      Oh, okay I know what you meant now. Phew.

      • Ha,ha Northern Guy, your initial thought (Nooo!) would be even too much for Old Coondog! And believe me, I’ve seen my share of smelly, 4-legged she-hounds in heat like Miss Gag Gag! Luckily my coon hunting legs allowed me to escape (most of the time that is!).

    • If you just listen to Lady Gaga, she sings pretty conventional pop and dance music and has a good voice.

      If you have ever had the chance to watch one of P!nk’s concerts, as I have, she dresses provocatively but her show is uncredible and very tastily done.

      I have the concert she did in Australia a few years ago on tape and can watch it over and over again and never tire of it.

      There is nothing tasty about what Gaga does – based on what I have seen and that is the pity of it all.

      Anyway, horses for courses and it would be a boring world if we all thought the same way about everything. 🙂

    • Sorry, I did not mean she should take them off, EEKS! She needs to put more on. I think she might be pretty under all the make-up and strange headgear she wears.

      • she’s just wannabe a fashion icon, and okay, her voice is damn good and unique. but, i think her performance last night is not a good one. Sorry.

    • Personally, I think many groups today (such as Lacy GaGa and Black Eye Peas) have little talent and need visual stimulation in their performances. As they are so weak vocally. But, I agree. Wearing next to nothing has little place on a family show, such as American Idol.

      • I absolutely agree. Very little talent, not really very glamorous — it’s all smoke and mirrors,

        As a contrast, the two kids this show was supposed to be all about were very refreshing.

    • I didn’t watch the whole show but it would have been nicer to see JLO performing one of her songs. I’m not a huge Lady Gaga fan, but I thought she did a good job. The performance was a little salacious yes, but at least she’s not pretentious. I mean her style is quite eccentric and flamboyant but she seems like a good person who cares about her fans, and is also apparently religious. Also I really can’t help but think some individuals on here are alluding to racist names, anyways.

  178. scotty’s voice was the big gift of God to him..if u were also gifted..why dont you try to do what scotty does..

  179. I used to watch this show starting in Season #1 when my kids were in the room at the ages of 4 and 6. There is no way any parent could allow that to happen the way they have changed the content to more of a late night
    nature. I didn’t even want my teenage daughter and son to see the crap that they have shown this season with “shirtless guy”, Lady Gaga, and Beyonce’s “Make love, make love, make love” song. funny how the cameramen love to show that children are in the audience. Funny how they know that the age of the viewers and voters has gone down to a very young age. Funny how they choose NOW to get more racy with their guest performances.

    • agree 100%. makes me sick. the ‘entertainment’ people are robbing our children of their innocence while parents simply sit back and allow their kids to listen to the music and watch the videos. it’s shameful, for certain. we are raising a society with no moral absolutes. very sad.

      • ITA, too.

        I know little of Lady Gaga’s performances in general, but from what I have read and from what I have seen in watching the two shown on AI, they are all in-your-face provocative sexually–meant to make eyes pop.

        While I think the Wed night performance (probably never changed from what she does at concerts) was meant to be sexually shocking and in your face, it actually was not really sexually arousing. It had a definite nihilistic feel. The humans were not important in the scene, only the “act” was. No love, no real connection. Just the “blast off.” Pretty crude.

        For those who want to watch that kind of thing at concerts, go ahead. But to promote these kind of performances on AI shows (let alone the finale) shows it couldn’t care less about 99% of its viewers–their bottom line is to capitalize on the opportunity to advertise their artists.

        The production number had to be embarrassing for these contestants–with their families present, shocking for families at home watching the show with their kids, and just straight-up tasteless.

        AI producers revealed themselves to be the ultimate manipulators–by using their morally and ethically base choices to set before us a table of muck.

      • And, when I think about it, for AI to play up the mistreatment of Jaycee by other contestants–as a telescopic lens into certain contestants’ “character flaws”–and then dump such performances on the public on its show—well, that takes some (alternate slang expressions here) nerve.

    • I’m going to play the Devil’s advocate here and say that I really didn’t think that the performances by Lady Gaga and Beyonce were that crude. Yes there were some sexual connotations, but society is changing as a whole and it’s quite ubiquitous. In the past, expletives were completely forbidden on TV shows and music videos were much less lascivious. Back then TV shows were more tame and “innocent” exuding a sense of rectitude. However, times are changing and by keeping children away from these realities it’s not going to solve anything. Children will not grow up corrupt just based on what they see on Television, parent’s can still teach a child what is right or wrong. I mean honestly you would have to be pretty naive to think that your children have not seen worse then that. They are going to find out about those things by a friend, movies, other TV shows etc. it’s just the way society is today.
      I’m not condoning the subversion of children’s innocence but at the same time I don’t believe we should stop our children from listening to contemporary music and videos. Unfortunately, most current music has some kind of mature subject matter whether it alludes to sex, drugs, violence, etc and it’s something I’m sure our children are already aware of. For instance, I’m sure your children already knew about Lady Gaga before they saw her on the show. Throughout the season, Steve Tyler has been making many sexual, though jocular comments and female contestants have been attired in revealing clothing at times. One could easily argue that in today’s society, there are so many reality shows omnipresent which in a sense is corrupting children. In the past children preoccupied themselves with outdoor activities more often, now children are becoming languid, sitting in front of TV’s and other technological devices. So yes, depravity seems inevitable, but parent’s do still have control over their children. I mean you can easily change the channel after you see how Lady Gaga is dressed.

  180. I guess being kicked off at #9 didn’t do Pia too much harm.

    According to Ryan Seacrest, she was paid $100,000 to do a Private Concert a few weeks back and Jimmy Iovine is pushing Idol to let him release her first single, which is called “Counterfeit.”

    • He’s a reviewer and a critic.

      If he were pleased, he’d be out of a job.

      Doi.

    • I don’t mind that Branden doesn’t seem to like anything about American Idol, that’s his prerogative as a critic. What I don’t like is that he can’t tell us why he doesn’t like this or that. He merely says “it’s boring.” I’m sorry, that’s not good enough. He needs to explain, as a critic why some of the numbers are not sung well, are not entertaining, or whatever. Was James Durbin boring? Was Scotty McCreery boring? Yeah? Ok, why is learning hcritic in so we need to give him a chance to grow. Calling him a faggot is downright stupid and offensive.

  183. 26/05/2011
    I am so glad to see Scotty won. I think this was the best idol season- I never missed a show. Both
    Jennifer and the cute rock singer made it so interesting to watch. I guessed it was their experience in the business. They were kind to all who tried and funny at times. I am 58 years old and now that the show is over I will have to find other boring show until the next season- hope these judges stay on.Love the show.

  184. Great stuff – always loved his voice right from the beginning! Well done Scotty!!!! South Africa loves you!!!! Best of luck for the future.

  185. Branden, I think Lauren’s voice was better than Carrie’s voice there : more powerful and beautiful. She just needs some coaching and experience to improve her vocal/singing technique, including her breathing control.
    And I agree with opinions of some reader here about Lady Gaga’s and JLO’s performances; those should be removed in this family show : irreverent.

  186. l was pleasently surprised when Scotty won, i think he was a refreshingly different Idol. Lauren voice was great & i loved her but i dont think there was anything thing really different about her. i am happy we got some one a bit different this time. Scotty is sixteen but he rocks.

    • Scotty is 17½ and the 2nd Youngest winner by 2 mths behind Jordin Sparks who is still the youngest at 17yrs and 5mths.

  187. Well, it is my viewpoint the Scotty will have the biggest post idol career of ANYONE this season, because there is something VERY unique about his voice and because country music is what sells the most CD’s in this country, these days. He will be no Taylor Hicks as far as pot Idol sales goes, I can promise you that. Oddly, Scotty was not even close to being either the best singer or performer this season. My favorite was Haley in that regard. As I loved the slight growl she had. Gave her a bit of a bluesy, soulful edge, if you ask me. Just like many counrty fans like a slight country twang. But, I have doubts how marketable she would be. Same thing with James … talented performer. But, maybe not that unique or marketable. But, time will tell if I am right, thought I suspect I am. Anyway, congratulations Scotty.

    • Country Music accounts for about 20% of all CD sales in the USA. “Pop” Music is still tops – by far – and worldwide, Pop dominates CD Sales.

  188. will Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina have a special relationship?
    because i see that. they’ll fall in love each other, and when it becomes reality, they’ll be a GREAT country couple!
    what’s ur opinion guys?

    • Regina,I hope you right. Another Young George Jones and Tammy Wynette,They do not sound like them,but they can do their own thing with music and they are adorable.Both of them have a lot of talent and the world needs kids like them to set an example for the rest of the young kids that do not want to Lady GOO Goo.What a shame AI would allow such actions on stage,They should be Ashamed they would allow such actons where young kids are.Guess if you think you have it ,Flaunt It.

      • IMO You guys don’t understand Scotty at all. He couldn’t be any farther away from romance with Lauren. Every post finale interview he’s had, he’s stated they are just like brother and sister, No romance. She’s crushing on him, not the other way around.

      • Lauren certainly bas a crush on Scotty. However…I do believe he is kind of smitten with her, too. (I love you baby…is what I heard him say to her during the finale.) However, I don’t think he is ready to commit to a relationship…so much going on. And, aren’t they just the cutest together!!!

      • @Templar: heeeey, i said maybe. and i think, yeah they will. hahaha. in some interviews i saw that lauren just ‘laugh’ and couldn’t say anything. its a great news hehe

    • I know some people hope to see a romance here between Scotty and Lauren. But, trust me, it so will not happen. As even decent young men, like Scotty are not physically and certainly not romantically attracted to chubby girls, such as Lauren. And I think it can safely be said that Lauren will be way beyond “chubby” in a few short years. I know that is NOT what you full figured music fans want to hear. But, it is reality.

      • And so you girls don’t see me as picking on just “chubby girls’ … I do not see this so called romance between Haley and Casey either. As Haley is hot and Casey is well, so not.

      • yeahaha, scotty-lauren and haley-casey. why not? casey is a chubby guy too. and we dont know Scotty well, yet. maybe he loves herrr…… ah, maybe. and i hope 😉

  189. I love u this big Scotty!! Yayy now I’m, 34, in love again .. Sorry my husband, kidding … Can’t wait to hear Scotty’s first album. Go Sscotyyyyyy!!

  190. When did they have time while preparing for the finale to go back home and invite their teachers and have their schools get the Ford Focus promotion? It was my understanding that the week was packed with practicing and school for Scotty and Lauren.

    That would mean that that segment took place during the week they went home… BEFORE anyone voted for a final two.

    Was Haley’s favorite teacher in the audience and not shown? Did her former high school have the chance to win up to $10,000 for test driving the Focus?

    At the time that the offers were given, they had “no way of knowing” that Haley wouldn’t be in the finale, because the votes between she and Lauren were close, and most polls actually put her ahead.

    • Well, when I first read your post (and I’m a Haley fan all the way), I first thought, let it go. It’s over.

      But I thought about it some more and realized you were right (even if it does sound like sour grapes).

      You’re right about the timing. Given that kids were all around when those videos were shot for the invitation from Scotty and Lauren to their teachers, it appears that did happen during the homecomings.

      So . . . either Haley’s favorite teacher (obviously, her high school chorus teacher) WAS in the audience and not acknowledged on camera, or — he got a car, too, and that was not publicized for the show. Hmmm.

      • Yes, I’m not about the sour grapes because I think that in the long run, Haley’s going to be extremely successful. The voting is over, then winner is crowned. That’s not an issue.

        A rigged system, however, is a huge issue no matter who it favors or doesn’t. The fact that we hadn’t voted yet become the key issue because they make it sound like votes determine the top two.

        The timing of the teachers/cars deal makes it seem like voting doesn’t really matter. This would stink no matter whose fan I am.

        Any of the top 11 have a future that is theirs to make or not, but this is something that is not sitting right, even though on the face of it, it seems like a very good thing. It’s even better since I’m a high school teacher and I know what school budgets are like, and because I just bought my second Ford and I really like the company.

        Something just doesn’t seem right about this story unless they were presented 1) as contingency plans (all three filmed the same shot with the understanding that only two would go once the final two were announced), or 2) Haley had the same deal, just not publicized.

      • One question, yes, I agree with your summation. But it would have been beyond rude on the part of AI/For Motor Company to film an extended invitation that might be “yanked back” if the contestant didn’t make it to the Top Two. If they did that, then civility has indeed, died.

      • You’re right pup, so that only leaves the one option. So the question remains, did Haley also get to invite a teacher to the finale and have her school get the chance to win $10,000?

    • Haley got to invite her mentor to the finale at her homecoming as well, and yes…we also received the $10,000 from Ford which was very generous of them. Her invited mentor was the band director who brought her into the jazz band as their vocalist (where she also sang in Europe with them). He was still invited to the finale but did not receive a car. Hope that answers your question.

    • Ok, Scotty wins!!!!!!!!!!! I’ts because Scotty was the best! Thanks America! Congrats Scotty! God loves you, & so do I!

  193. Of course some of you are still disapointed by the results
    but the vote speak by itself(122 million)WOW!
    For me all the contestants have something special to offer,
    in her/his style,but the show want us to vote «for the best» and you agree to go this way.
    Each week I vote for all contestants,they are young and for me each of them deserved to win.
    Scotty is a very likeable young man,well educated,mature,
    with strong values,nice smile and talented,I may understand why people just loved him so much and will go on
    to follow him for years to come.
    I am deeply sad that the show be over,I will mis them so much.

  194. Dear Branden and Matt,

    Thank you so much for the review that you put on this site from the very beginning of the season, it’s always focus and never bias, I did enjoy all the posts in this site but sometime people did the bashing to some other contestant with no reasonable reason, I felt sad about that, about how come people able to be that mean to others over something that hey don’t even know anything about the contestants…..but still great site to monitor…

    I like all the contestants in this American Idol season 10 2011, full with talents…..and congratulation to Scotty McCreery……..my idol is PIA but Scotty McCreery also blew me away witth so many songs after PIA voted out.

    Scotty’s song: ‘I Love You This Big’ is really a big song, and I won’t be surprise if this song will become the No: 1 song in US chart for some quite a long time,…….it is good song, calm, touchy, soulfull and hey…..it’s a country song!!!!!!….Just blew me away…

    The way Scotty handle the winning announcement were so touchy…..he was crying on his knee….still can’t believe that he had won the American Idol, this Boy is a Special One folks……he’ll be the next country legend in the making…….

    That’s all I want to say……I’ll see you all again in the next season…

    For Branden and Matt,…….billions thanks for all the good and brilliant efforts that you two put here…….I ADMIRE THAT A LOT……

    GOD BLESS YOU…

    NewPlayer from Indonesia Sign Out…….See you alll soon in the next season… 🙂

    • Couldn’t agree more! I’m so glad he won. Can’t wait to buy his music and help support his career. He is a star in the making.

  195. This is the first time my daughter and I have watched American Idol. Although we enjoyed a lot of the contestants, there is somthing special about Scotty. We would watch the others perform and then it would be his turn, and I would realize I would be smiling from ear to ear. I would look over at my daughter and she would be smiling too. There is somthing about him that makes you feel good about yourself. I think he is going to have a great career, and I for one will be buying all his music. I know my daughter and I will miss seeing him every week so will be waiting to see him in concert. I can’t believe he is only 17 years old. He is only going to get better!!

  196. I thought the final show was FANTASTIC and BRILLIANT. Steven Tyler is the breathe of fresh air the show wanted and thank goodness boring Simon has gone.Steven is outrageous, funny and should be kept and Fox should put together a DVD of Everything Steven said it would sell millions. JL well no words can say except STUNNING!!!

    As Randy I just wish he would use some other words then DOG when talking to a girl, like Hey Babe.
    Cant wait till January to the next season and will someone buy Ryan a colourful tie rather then black.

    I hoe that Scotty keeps to his word about Lauren and they do stick together as a group and have the same manager because they deserve it, it will be good to see them back next year hopefully together.
    The country music is safe in their hands I think!!

  197. No he shouldn’t have won it should of Ben lauryn lauryn lauryn and lauryn Scotty is just and ordinary country singer

  198. Jennifer Lopez You are not the best American Idol Judge. The final show proves that you are Jealous immature and let’s faced YOU ARE NOT THE BIGEST STAR ON THE PLANET. From the beginning to the end your performance was “Look at me people look at me”.

  199. I <3 YOU THIS BIG SCOTTY!! dont forget to hear his single guys, i love it so much :*

  200. I am so thrilled Scotty won American Idol what a great representative for America.Not only does he have the most gorgeous voice,Johnny Cash had the same effect,he is such a lovely boy and I wish him every success for the future I only hope I can find his CDs here in the UK

  201. I think Jennifer let hubby do his thing, so she doesnt get the bash when he gets her alone…SAD..
    Go Scotty, your voice is a dream .What a future tou have. Blessings xx

    • Well, I think you are wrong Mark Anthony is starring in a tv series …he doesn’t need his wife to get him gigs. Besides that, he sings a heck of a lot better than JLo…a LOT better.

  203. We have to wait an extra day to watch Idol in Scotland but def worth the wait this year. I picked Scotty in week 1 and he didn’t disappoint. His duet with Tim McGraw was stunning

  205. Of course I bought Scotty’s album and single but yesterday, I heard it on the radio for the first time. If I had any doubts about whether I liked Love You This Big…they’re over…I love it that big. He sounded amazing…it was beautiful. Scotty will have a huge career in music. I am extremely happy for him.

  206. Yesterday, I finally figured out (duh) that I could download iTunes on my PC and order songs! (I thought I had to have an iPhone or a MAC). Well, I am now the proud “owner” of 7 of Haley’s songs. I couldn’t be more thrilled!! Love, love, love each one. I think I like the Led Zeppelin one (What Is and What Should Not Be) the best. Just unbelievably fantastic.

    I couldn’t find Haley’s “Fallin'” in the list of available iTunes, which surprised me. But I sent an email asking about that.

  208. Scotty you deserve to be an Idol no doubt.
    I’m sure Scotty & Luaren love each other more than the others were in top 13.
    Hope they’ll be a couple.

  209. I have tried exercising and dieting but have never noticed my cellulite reduce in anyway. I think I am going to try out some gels and creams and other techniques for getting rid of cellulite as I am running out of options.

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