'American Idol' results: Who's in the finale?

May 20, 2011

Scotty McCreery lets Lauren Alaina sing last in 'Idol' finale

Teenagers Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery were still absorbing their status as American Idol's top two when USA TODAY's Bill Keveney spoke to them exclusively moments after Thursday's results show.

"I felt like I was going to pass out," 16-year-old Alaina said. "I was crossing my fingers and praying (host Ryan Seacrest) was going to call out my name. I feel so blessed to be here, I cannot believe it."

Scotty, 17, thought of his whole Idol experience.

"I had so many emotions going through my head. There have been so many thoughts coming through my head this whole competition. It's just been a crazy ride," he said. "All those memories of the first audition and thinking I was getting cut in Hollywood Week, all those memories were just flying through my head. It was a wild moment."

The two young country singers said they were far from certain that they would make the finale.

"Today, I was kind of telling people, 'Thanks for everything you've done for me,' just in case, because the top three was rock solid," Lauren said. "And I messed up (Wednesday) on my performance and I was unsure what was going to happen. I didn't thing I was going to make the top two. But I'm so glad that I did."

Scotty thought otherwise. "Lauren, she's been my pick for a while now."

As for his chances, he said, "You never know what to think. This competition has been a surprise. Pia (Toscano) going home and James (Durbin) going home. There have been so many surprises this season, so you never know what to think on any given night.

"Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever dreamed I would have made it this far," he said. "I told my dad in Milwaukee, in the arena (at auditions). I looked at him and said, 'Dad, what am I doing here? I'm in over my head. All these people can sing so much better than me.'"

In Tuesday's final performance show, Scotty will sing first and Lauren second. Scotty had the opportunity to pick the order after a post-show coin flip fell in his favor, but he gave Lauren the choice and she decided to take the latter position, considered by many to be the more favorable slot.

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'American Idol' flashback: Season 10's top performances

As the 10th American Idol finale approaches, let's look back at some of the top performances from this year's contestants. Culling my list to just 10 favorites proved more difficult than usual this year.

Early in the season, many people considered Season 10's cast to be one of the show's strongest ever. Whether or not history bears that out, it was a season known more for its week-to-week competence than for its cataclysmic meltdowns and insurmountable stumbles. The best performers did well almost every week, even the weeks where they went home. For the more consistent contestants -- Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina and James Durbin, for instance -- the difference in quality between their best and, say, their fifth best, just wasn't very large.

I'm not basing my list merely on vocals; I'm also taking into account the quality of the presentation and how important the performance was to the singer's standing in the competition. So your list will probably differ from mine to some degree. If it does, I'd love to hear about it. But here's my Season 10 Top 10, in reverse order:

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See photos of: Haley Reinhart, Pia Toscano

May 19, 2011

'American Idol' results: Who's in the finale?

After 95 million votes, the first person to make the finale is Scotty McCreery.

Are you surprised?

Didn't think so.

He wishes Lauren Alaina and Haley Reinhart luck as he takes his seat. The two women hold hands as they await the results.

Ryan Seacrest announces that Lauren will join Scotty onstage next week. "We say goodbye, but a short goodbye, to Haley," he says, as the crowd stands and applauds.

As a Nashville guy, I'm thrilled to see both Scotty and Lauren in the finals. But I have to admit that I'd grown to appreciate Haley over the last several weeks, and it's a shame to see her go out after a night where she performed so well.

Ryan asks her what she makes of everything that has happened to her over the past months. "My oh my," she says, looking around the venue. "This is the biggest platform any girl, anybody, could ask for. I rocked it out, and I had a blast."

She closes with her version of Bennie and the Jets, the song she sang on the night she came into her own as a finalist. She sings to the judges, then she walks into the audience and sings to Jacob Lusk and Naima Adedapo. It's a great performance, maybe the best exit of the season.

Never though I'd say this, but I'm going to miss that girl.

But now down to Scotty and Lauren, the youngest finale in American Idol history.

And it's an all-country finale.

Yee-haw.

Lauren Alaina returns home

Lauren Alaina flies into Chattanooga, Tenn., and appears Saturday morning on her favorite radio station, US101. She visits an AT&T store, then her high school in Rossville, Ga., where the mayor proclaims "Lauren Alaina Day."

"I missed you guys so much, you don't understand," she tells her town.

While in the area, she also sees just how much devastation the tornadoes caused in the area. And it's bad. She remembers going to a basketball game in a high school that's now basically rubble. She also meets an 11-year-old who saved his family, pulling his 1-year-old brother out from under a pile of bricks when he saw his diaper sticking out.

Later, she takes the stage at nearby Coolidge Park and dedicates Martina McBride's to the people affected by the storms. She also throws out the first pitch at a Chattanooga Lookouts baseball game.

"Being home reminded me of how much I love this place," she says.

After the clip, Ryan brings all the contestants to center stage, then tells them he'll announce the results. After the break.

Il Volo sings on 'American Idol'

Tonight's Ford music video is a day at the beach set to a cover of Uncle Kracker's Smile.

Now, it's time for Italian boy trio Il Volo, singing the Neapolitan classic O Sole Mio. The kid on the left looks like one of the guys from the Buggles but sounds more like Andrea Bocelli. The one in the center looks like a young Frankie Avalon with a strong, deep voice. And the stocky one's got a fantastic tenor voice. Wonder how voices like this would do on Idol? And what songs Jimmy Iovine would pick for them?

To the side of the stage, the three Idols are clearly impressed.

Scotty McCreery returns to North Carolina

Scotty McCreery returns to the Raleigh, N.C., area, where local radio station WQDR has renamed itself "Scotty 94.7."

We see the bed where Scotty packed his bed for Hollywood Week, which "seems like light years away."

At Garner High, where the alumnae include Clay Aiken, he takes the school baseball mound to see if he's lost any speed on his fastball. The emotion of the day overwhelms him, and, as the door to his limo closes, he hides his face behind his arm and cries.

He also visits the grocery store where he used to work. During his parade, he uses the Super 8 camera JJ Abrams gave him to shoot footage of the crowd. As he takes the stage for his hometown concert, Josh Turner shows up, saying he's going to surprise him. Sure enough, as soon as Scotty sings the words, "Baby, lock them doors and turn the lights down low," Josh walks up on stage.

"I've only lived 17 years so far," Scotty says later, "but this just might be the best day of my life."

Next, former Pussycat Doll (and X Factor host) Nicole Scherzinger takes the stage for a sexy performance of her new single Right There. She's joined by rapper 50 Cent.

See photos of: 50 Cent, Nicole Scherzinger

'Goldilocks Rocks' during Haley's return to Illinois

We've got an hour to basically separate one person. So expect a lot of product plugs, performances and, of course, hometown visit trips.

Haley Reinhart returns to a "rather nippy" Chicago. And it literally rains on her parade as she travels to nearby Wheeling, Ill. Still, the kids freak out, and she receives a key to the city.

"It's raining and you're all still here," says a grateful Haley, who signs everything in sight, even broken fingers. "I expected a couple of you to show up." At her high school, students hold up a sign that says, "Goldilocks Rocks."

She finishes the day performing with her family at Arlington Track, where last year's winner performed during his hometown visit. They sing Sweet Home Chicago.

"It went by quickly, but that captured so many great moments," she tells Ryan after watching the montage.

See photos of: Haley Reinhart

'American Idol': 'Who makes it to the finale?'

Jimmy Iovine begins tonight's results show with his comments about last night's performances. They're generally positive, and he sees a way that any of the three could make it to next week. But his final comment says it all:

"I have a very clear prediction for the finale: There'll be a guy in it."

Ryan trumpets the news of last night's 95 million votes -- 15 million more, he says, than last year's finale. That means, by the way, that last year's finale received fewer votes than last year's Top Three episode, which generated 88 million. The number of votes is also more than four times the number of viewers, some of whom didn't vote.

First up tonight, the Final Four venture to the offices of Bad Robot Productions to meet JJ Abrams and see scenes from his new film Super 8. One of the film's stars, Elle Fanning, is in the house, and she says her 6-year-old cousin's favorite is still in the competition. That's right, it's Scotty McCreery.

See photos of: Ryan Seacrest

Pro-Scotty McCreery radio forces speak up

After several country radio programmers got personal and ugly with their opinions about teen American Idol singer Scotty McCreery in Phyllis Stark's Stark Country column Tuesday, several radio folks with differing opinions chimed in. And so did the fans.

While Stark spent much of Wednesday being called things like "the a** end of a jackass" by Scotty supporters, the radio execs reserved their harsh words for folks like Arizona program director Buzz Jackson, who referred to Scotty as "creepy." Stark ran some of the responses in today's Stark Country newsletter, which she writes for Radio-Info.com.

"We were horrified at the personal attack on Scotty by the other folks in country radio," says Lisa McKay, the PD/station manager at Scotty's hometown station, WQDR in Raleigh, N.C. (currently renamed Scotty 94.7). "It seemed at best inappropriate and at worst really mean-spirited."

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95 million votes cast for Wednesday's 'American Idol'

Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina and Haley Reinhart pulled the most votes Wednesday for any non-finale show in American Idol history. The 95 million votes cast after the Top Three show was also the third-highest number of votes ever cast for an Idol episode. It's more than double last year's Top Three vote total.

According to preliminary ratings, Wednesday's Idol drew an average of 23 million viewers, up 23 percent from the same week in last season's competition.

The Season 8 finale between Kris Allen and Adam Lambert set the Idol record for the greatest number of votes -- 100 million. Could that record become a thing of the past next week? (Season 8's Top Three episode generated 88 million votes.) If so, which contestant does a high vote total favor?

Find out who'll compete in next week's finale during tonight's results show (8:00-9:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed, FOX). Il Volo and Nicole Scherzinger and 50 Cent will perform.

See photos of: Haley Reinhart

'American Idol' Top Three: The studio recordings

One bad thing about last weekend's hometown visits: They seriously curtailed the studio time for the Top Three. So, instead of being able to hear Scotty McCreery do Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not? and Haley Reinhart sing Rhiannon, we've got just three songs this week.

Haley Reinhart, What Is and What Should Never Be. The cool thing about having a woman cover Led Zeppelin is that Robert Plant pretty much learned everything he knows about singing from '60s female R&B singers like Barbara Lynn. So when Haley takes on the Plant wail, she manages to get all the benefits of singing like Plant while managing to sidestep direct comparison. This studio recording might be even better than Wednesday's live version. If anything, it shows just how fantastic a vocal performance she gave. The band sounds less effective the more it tries to sound like Zeppelin, but Haley sounds absolutely flawless. Might be her best vocal yet.

Scotty McCreery, Amazed. This ballad takes Scotty just far enough from his default mode to give fans a slightly different side of his voice. It's nice to hear him go for those big, high notes and hold them. And when you're courting a female audience, it's hard to lose with a love song like Amazed. Note to all the radio programmers griping in Phyllis Stark's column: Scotty may not be Richie McDonald, but if he gets material this good for his album, you'll be eating your words.

Lauren Alaina, If I Die Young. Maybe I'm overthinking my reaction to this recording, but I'll submit that Lauren was probably underthinking it. The Band Perry's tune, one of my favorite country songs of the past couple years, is a meditation on premature death -- "the sharp knife of a short life." Kimberly Perry sings it with a gentle melancholy, like she's mulling over the possibilities and isn't immune to a little self-pity. She delivers it like a cross between Taylor Swift and Alison Krauss. Lauren just barrels through it, wrecking its gentle, sad beauty. She actually growls when delivering the line, "I'll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom." It almost sounds like she's singing from the vantage point of a petulant drama queen stamping her foot and saying, "You'll be sorry when I'm gone!" But I'm willing to bet she just didn't really understand why the song works. Too bad for her: It could have been a beautiful moment.

See photos of: Haley Reinhart

May 18, 2011

'Idol' recap: Three for Three

Oh, the joys of live TV. Haley Reinhart and Lauren Alaina both had big stumbles on American Idol Wednesday. But while Haley's fall on the stairs during Led Zeppelin's What Is and What Should Never Be added to the excitement of her performance, Lauren's missed key change during The Band Perry's If I Die Young may signal her end on the show. One of the two women will almost surely face country teen Scotty McCreery next week, who just kept rolling along with three steady performance -- a pair of ballads and an uptempo contemporary country number. Find out the results on Thursday's show.

Here's how they ranked for me.

1. Haley Reinhart, What Is and What Should Never Be
2. Haley Reinhart, Rhiannon
3. Lauren Alaina, I Hope You Dance
4. Scotty McCreery, She Believes in Me
5. Scotty McCreery, Amazed
6. Scotty McCreery, Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not
7. Lauren Alaina, Wild One
8. Lauren Alaina, If I Die Young
9. Haley Reinhart, You Oughta Know

See photos of: Haley Reinhart

Haley Reinhart sings Alanis Morissette's 'You Ought Know'

The judges picked Alanis Morrisette's You Oughta Know for Haley Reinhart. "I'm digging it," she says. "I love her, she's awesome."

But from the start of the song, it looks like we might be watching Haley in reverse this week. Where for the past two weeks, she improved dramatically between her first and last songs, she obviously struggles with this one. The band's anemic arrangement doesn't help her, but she struggles with the wordy B section, which isn't in her comfort zone, range-wise at all. Fortunately, she rescues the performance with two stellar choruses. This was almost a great choice for her -- but she and Jimmy Iovine did better than the judges.

"Those were some amazing choruses by you," Randy says, though he acknowledges that she had rhythmic problems with the verses. Yeah, and Randy has vocabulary problems with the judging.

"There's nobody that can match you" in the choruses, Jennifer says. "I think we all heard the same thing in the middle parts."

See photos of: Haley Reinhart

Lauren Alaina gives JLo 'the goosies'

Lauren needs a stellar, Haley Reinhart-style comeback to preserve her spot in the finale next week. Will Lee Ann Womack's I Hope You Dance be the vehicle to give it to her?

Lauren comes out in a dress that makes her look like a cross between Cinderella and Loretta Lynn. She sounds better than I expected for this song, which doesn't have a lot of dramatic movement in its melody (it's all in the lyrics). Lauren throws in a few runs that don't add a lot to the song, but they help her performance. It's a good finish but probably not good enough.

She gives Jennifer Lopez goosebumps. "Those are not for sale; they only come out when somebody makes them come out," she says. "I'm going to dare to say that you won that round for me already."

"You're in the zone," says Randy, adding that, yes, Lauren is "in it to win it."

"You walked out here like you owned the Grand Ole Opry," Steven says. "Good going."

Scotty McCreery sings 'She Believes in Me'

Scotty McCreery gets Kenny Rogers' She Believes in Me for his judges' pick. He starts weak: Believe it or not, the first line actually sounds too low for him. On the plus side, he can't overdo the twang on this one. The grand piano and the string section add a needed touch of elegance. Again, he gets to use his upper range, and the song's message is tailor-made for his young, female audience: "If she was my girl, I could change the world." And he hits the last note with just the right bit of restraint.

"I do believe that's the first big chorus you've sung in a big way like that," Steven tells him. "You put it over the top for me just now."

"We all wanted to see if you could hit that big chorus for the first time," Jennifer says. "I guess you showed us."

"It's about you stretching yourself at this point," Randy says. "You were so sweet and tender in the front, you hit the chorus. Very nicely done, dude."

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Jessica Cauffiel Joanna Krupa