Another American Idol season is in the bag. And judging from preliminary reports, Scotty McCreery had last night's title in just that. So even after a last minute push of desperation on behalf of the judges and producers, Lauren Alaina was just unable to bridge the now confirmed wide gap between the two young country crooners.
As usual, there was a ton of pageantry and this was perhaps the glitziest Idol final ever, as well as one of the most star-studded. Everyone from Season 4 winner turned country superstar Carrie Underwood to Tim McGraw to Bono and The Edge of U2, Jack Black, Judas Priest, Tom Jones, Marc Anthony, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Gladys Knight, and Kirk Franklin performed. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that their own Steven Tyler, legendary Aerosmith frontman, killed it as the final star encore with a rousing version of "Dream On" before finally moving onto the true business at hand. Tyler displayed some of his own overlooked musicianship by ripping up the keys as part of his sterling rendition of the famously awesome melancholic intro to the classic Aerosmith tune before abandoning the ivories for his trademark scarf-bandana-whatever-the-hell-it-is-that's-always-on-it microphone.
What really hit me last night that has often been lost on me, and probably millions of other viewers, is that the finale of American Idol every season truly is a celebration of art and music and about those who are already well established mingling with the those who are supposed to be ascending into their stratosphere of success, both artistically and commercially, and while there is a lot of typically overproduced theatrics and a lot of the actual music is not always so appealing, it does represent what is supposed to be not so much of a changing of the guard ceremonial quality to it, but certainly an initiation into a very prestigious fraternity of very special artists and collaborators.
This was definitely a season to remember, certainly after the expectation going into the season was that it'd be not just another season to forget after last year's mostly lackluster class, but also on the heels of Simon Cowell's departure, Ellen Degeneres (supposedly) resigning, and Kara DiGuardi being fired, that it would start to lose both its identity and steam. (You can catch DiGuardi, starting Monday at 10:00 PM on Bravo's new songwriting show Platinum Hit.) Perhaps our expectations were so lowered that the bar could only be met but the talent this year was in fact genuinely deep and unique. It's just a cruel irony of the season that two of the more stoic, albeit even more ironically because of their incredible youth, ended up being the two finalists. Of course, given how country crazy our country has become, it really should have surprised none of us that we ended up with two fairly safe country music singers.
I will be writing blogs over the next several days, and perhaps even weeks, about this incredible Season 10, the good and the worrisome, and what the finale means for the show going forward. For now, let us take pleasure in the fact that Lauren Alaina proved herself to be much more emotionally composed and gracious well beyond the call of duty in last night's finale, and that both of these kids have good careers ahead of them. Funnily enough, not even 24 hours since Scotty was crowned, I'm feeling far less convinced that either one of them will definitely be bound for superstardom, especially after hearing the sharp discrepancy of vocal range and talent between Lauren Alaina and her personal idol, the great Carrie Underwood, during their duet and it might have easily of inadvertently served as a harsh reminder of just how hard it really is to stay viable, current, and successful after an Idol stint is over. With Underwood you could see why she was able to make the transition from American Idol to where she is now. With this year's two finalists, it's not so sure, but I do think they both still stand to reason to have a much better chance than most to make it beyond the Idol stage. And both of them, albeit Lauren much more than Scotty in each case, still have some maturing to do; in general and with their voices.
Perhaps the singular moment of last night was not even on the broadcast itself, but online on American Idol's own website, where they showed the pre-finale red carpet show with former Idols Didi Benami and Brandon Rogers. As everyone was waltzing into the building before the show started, the show's handlers pulled the two young finalists over to their fellow Idols, for a quick interview and when the two had microphones in their hands, Lauren couldn't resist playing interviewer herself with Scotty. Finally, there was enough of that, or at least for their handlers, and you could see Lauren's handler pulling on Lauren's arm to get going. It took about 15 seconds for it to work and even on the heels of the biggest night of their life, the two teenagers, particularly Lauren, reminded us all that they are still indeed just that - kids. And for all the incredible star-studded performances last night, for me this fledging moment will certainly prove to be the most endearing one of them all.
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