Idol-Talk: Season 10 - FINALE!

American Idol 10: FINALE
Air Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 [8-10:07pm]

The results are in, and we have a world record: Over 122 million votes were cast for the Top 2. And almost three-quarters of a billion votes have been cast over the course of the season.

The Top 13 perform Lady Gaga's "Born This Way." I'm not against this song or anything (I actually love it, in fact), but have you noticed that pretty much every show under the sun is featuring this song in some way? Glee performed it; it played during the closing scene of the Brothers & Sisters Series Finale, here at the Idol Finale, and many more.

James Durbin and Judas Priest perform "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law." Unbelievable performance! James is in his element and loving it!

Video: Randy Jackson - Season Highlights, including his signature catchphrase this year, "In it to win it."

Jacob Lusk and Gospel star Kurt Franklin perform "I Smile," with Gladys Knight joining in later on. I have no idea who this Kurt Franklin is, but it's obvious he wanted all the attention on him, didn't he?

Casey Abrams begins singing Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls." He kicks the couch next to him, which slides away to reveal Jack Black, who joins in with Casey. And they just let loose on their voices at the very end. You know, this performance was going really well until those women on the bicycles came out. That was an unnecessary distraction. And you realize that this song is called "Fat Bottomed Girls," yet those women were anything but (pardon the pun). And what's the deal with the bikes? Since this is a Queen song, that would have been more appropriate for their "Bicycle Race."

After Casey and Jack are finished, Ryan fills some time until they can get all the props off the stage.

The Top 13 girls perform a Beyonce Medley, including: "Single Ladies," "Irreplacable," "If I Were a Boy." Then out comes Beyonce to join them on "Crazy in Love." No Lauren among the girls. Maybe she needs to preserve her voice.

Video: Steven Tyler - Season Highlights. I loved this video package, because we all love the crazy things that Steven has said over these past months. Whatever I and everyone else has said about his lack of judging abilities, he's entertaining to say the least.

Haley Reinhart and Tony Bennett perform "Steppin' Out With My Baby." Couldn't they have gotten someone better than Tony Bennett for Haley? Like maybe someone more current, or someone that has the same musical style as her? What about Adele?

Video: Jennifer Lopez - Season Highlights, including the auditioners and contestants fascination and fawning over Jennifer's beauty.

TLC and Lil Jon, joined by the Top 13 ladies, perform "Waterfalls." Lil Jon was only there for a few seconds at the start; what's the deal with that? Speaking of which, I would have no idea who he is if it weren't for the Celebrity Apprentice.

Scotty McCreery and Tim McGraw perform "Live Like  You Were Dying." Jennifer's not at the judge's table (and her chair is gone as well); will she be performing soon?

Video: Auditioner Joe introduces clips of bad auditions, including the clip of the guy who did the flips and accidentally stomped on the camera man on the floor.

Marc Anthony performs "Aguanile." Sheila E's on drums. Thanks to The Next Great American Band (the ill-fated spin-off of Idol), I knew who she was. Later on in the song, Jennifer Lopez comes out and dances. What, no singing? Is it because she already performed on the show this year? Oh well.

Video: Casey Abrams, James Durbin (and Stefano Langone briefly) talk about shocking eliminations. At the end, Pia Toscano walks over to them with a 'Most Shocking' sash and tiara on. Loved this bit! Though, to be honest, it was James' elimination that was the most shocking. Sorry, Pia, but it's not you.

The Top 13 guys perform "Kiss," "She's a Lady" and "What's New Pussycat." Scotty joins in with them on "Green Green Grass of Home," "Delilah," and I believe another one I didn't catch the title of. Then out comes Tom Jones to join them on "It's Not Unusual."

Ford Top 2 Music Video: "Whenever You Remember." Throughout the video, clips are shown from all the music videos this year.

Video: Scotty and Lauren on the teacher that most influenced them.

Those teachers are each given their own Ford Focus. Then Ryan gives the Top 2 the keys to any Ford vehicle they want.

Lady Gaga performs "The Edge of Glory." It looks like she's on a mountain. When the song ends, she and her male companion drop off the edge. Get it?

Lauren Alaina and Carrie Underwood perform "Before He Cheats." They have great harmony together; great pairing! And by the way, I noticed Jennifer's back in her seat.

Video: The Top 13 talk about Scotty and Lauren, and joke about how young they are. Great bit!

Beyonce performs "1 Plus 1."

Ryan reminds us about Season 11's audition cities.

To promote Spider-Man: The Musical, Bono and The Edge perform "Rise Above." At the start, Spider-Man swings over the audience and lands in the aisle. He returns at the end, lowering down upside-down in front of Jennifer to recreate the infamous Spider-Man/Mary Jane Watson kiss. Jennifer goes along with it at first, peeling off part of the mask, then abandons before getting to the kiss.

Steven Tyler performs "Dream On." Jennifer's really into his performance. I was anticipating the high notes near the end, waiting to see if his voice still holds up on those kinds of notes, and he's still got it.

And now the time has come. Scotty, Lauren and Ryan are center-stage. The Top 13 and the judges are on the far sides of the stage.

"The winner of American Idol season 10 is...Scotty McCreery!"

Winner: Scotty McCreery [Correct Prediction]

Runner-Up: Lauren Alaina [Correct Prediction]

Scotty performs his debut single, "I Love You This Big," and goes down to hug his family, then back on stage to hug each of the Top 13 and judges.

End Time: 10:07pm - Wow, it ended exactly on time!

I'm disappointed that they didn't do anything to celebrate 10 years of American Idol.

Even though I haven't been the biggest Scotty fan, there's a part of me that says he needed to win in order to bring some credibility back to the show, since we need someone who has the best chance at being successful. And if his outrageous support is anything to go by, then he may get that chance. During the past two seasons, the runner-up has outsold the winner, and the winner's albums have had terrible sales. In terms of American Idol as an entertainment/reality show, the addition of Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez has reinvigorated the show. But when it comes to American Idol as a show that launches superstars, well...that's been missing for a while. With the decrease in ratings the last however many years, that means that album sales will go down as well; that's a given. But now that the ratings are stabilizing, will that mean Scotty's album sales will reflect that? Only time will tell. And just because his debut single, "I Love You This Big," went up to #1 on iTunes, that's not necessarily an indication of album sales. Regardless of what I think of his talent, I hope he does well, for the sake of the show's credibility.

Now, on to Lauren. Once James and Haley were voted out, Lauren became my favorite by default. Lauren has the potential to do well. She's in the vain of Carrie Underwood, which bodes well. But, to be quite honest, I don't believe she will have that level of success. With her, as well as with Scotty, she needs a great, catchy lead single for her debut album in the fall. It needs to stand out, and be one that can play regularly on country radio (and an added plus if there can be crossover to pop radio a la Carrie and Taylor Swift). I hope Interscope hooks her up with producers that have worked with Carrie, Taylor, or even Kellie Pickler (since she has had some catchy singles). And with her as well, I will be rooting for her to do well. Hopefully, during this process of making an album, she will gain a lot of experience that will help her to mature not only as a singer, but as a person, while still holding on to that bubbly personality.

When their debut albums come out later in the year, who will rein supreme? If I had to bet on it, I would go with Scotty, though I would love to see Lauren do better than expected. But, again, Scotty's going to have to beat Lauren in sales for the sake of the show. On iTunes at the moment, Scotty is doing better with his single. And how does this coronation song compare to the previous winning songs?

Kelly Clarkson: "A Moment Like This"
David Cook: "Time of My Life"
Carrie Underwood: "Inside Your Heaven"
Fantasia Barrino: "I Believe"
Jordin Sparks: "This Is My Now"
Lee Dewyze: "Beautiful Day" (cover)
Ruben Studdard: "Flying Without Wings"
Scotty McCreery: "I Love You This Big"
Kris Allen: "No Boundaries"
Taylor Hicks: "Do I Make You Proud"

I think I would put Scotty's single near the bottom. I preferred Lauren's over his. But it seems to be doing well, though I doubt it's because of the song itself.

Before I end this final Idol-Talk of the season, I want to take a look back over season 10 and see how everything stacked up. First, my correct prediction totals for the season: 18/25. These predictions are who, during the course of the season, did I correctly predict to make the Top 13, who I correctly predicted to be eliminated from then on, and who I predicted to win. Considering how unpredictable the show can be sometimes in the results, 72% ain't that bad.

Now, onto how many times I selected a performance as my favorite, from all the voting performances this year:

James Durbin - 8
Haley Reinhart - 5
Lauren Alaina - 5
Casey Abrams - 4
Scotty McCreery - 3
Jacob Lusk - 2
Thia Megia - 1

I think this seems about right. My favorites from the season (James, Haley, Lauren and even Casey) provided my favorite performances, according to this list compiled from my previous Idol-Talk blogs.

Now, let's go a little farther back to the audition and Holllywood/Vegas rounds. I always like to look back and see how many times I mentioned someone who eventually ended up making it into the Top 13.

My Favorites from Auditions/Hollywood/Vegas (that made it to the Top 13):
Naima Adedapo - 3
Thia Megia - 2
Karen Rodriguez - 2
Haley Reinhart - 1
Lauren Alaina - 1
Casey Abrams - 1
Stefano Langone - 1
Jacob Lusk - 1

Good/Average:
Lauren Alaina - 3
James Durbin - 2
Ashthon Jones - 1
Scotty McCreery - 1
Haley Reinhart - 1
Jacob Lusk - 1
Casey Abrams - 1

And there was one moment during the Hollywood/Vegas rounds that I thought Scotty McCreery should have been eliminated. Imagine that.

And finally, I've been tracking the Top 13's social media stats over the course of the season, only focusing on those who were still in the competition each week. But now that we have a winner and all is said and done, I'd like to track the entire Top 13 one more time and see how the order stacks up to the actual order (these stats were compiled during the first weekend after the finale):

1. Scotty McCreery - 526,455
2. Lauren Alaina - 291,843
3. James Durbin - 288,037
4. Casey Abrams - 205,930
5. Pia Toscano - 199,185
6. Haley Reinhart - 190,468
7. Paul McDonald - 146,499
8. Stefano Langone - 110,457
9. Thia Megia - 77,806
10. Jacob Lusk - 64,252
11. Karen Rodriguez - 39,512
12. Naima Adedapo - 39,154
13. Ashthon Jones - 17,082

Except for four names, everyone pretty much landed within one or less spots of what place they got on the show. Casey had a strong following, but was eliminated earlier. Same for Pia. Haley had the opposite happen: she placed near the top, but had a following around the middle (Jacob had a similar pattern as well). And only three contestants placed in the same spot they ended up being in: Scotty, Lauren and Ashthon. If you recall, Idol briefly allowed the Top 12 to have Twitter accounts last year, but that barely started before they shut it down. I don't know if they did it because it became obvious who was popular and who was not. If so, then why did they not only launch it again this year but keep it the entire season? With Nigel Lythgoe back on board, maybe that was his decision.

Well, another season gone. After these past four and a half months of mania, we can all relax now. But not for too long, because NBC's America's Got Talent starts back up (I'm planning on blogging that show as I usually do as well). Then come Fall 2011, it's the return of Simon Cowell (and Paula Abdul) in The X Factor USA. As I briefly mentioned in a previous Idol-Talk, I will be attending one of the Seattle audition tapings for X Factor in about a month. I'll be providing an On-The-Scene Report for that. Then American Idol will start back up all over again in January 2012 with Ryan, Steven and Randy all returning (no confirmation yet on Jennifer's return). And now, for the final time of season 10 - See ya then...