American Idol: Finale

American Idol 10 has finally come to a close. Though this was the first season not to feature Simon Cowell, the show surely didn't lose its spark. This season truly had a wide range of talent with a diverse cast of finalists, making for an excellent season indeed. While Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Tyler were far more laid back as judges, the talent was surely strong. As long as the show has good talent, then that alone should be enough for a good season.

Now let's talk about the finale. The song choices included their favorite song of the season, a song chosen by an Idol of theirs (George Strait for Scotty and Carrie Underwood for Lauren), and the song that would be their first hit if they win the show. Scotty did best on his first performance, Lauren did narrowly better on her second, and Lauren did better on her third performance. The third performance from Lauren was an anthem to moms, thus it surely tugged at people's heartstrings, especially those who are moms. This meant that since Scotty did better throughout the majority of the season, that the grand results were going to be strictly even. I was thinking about casting my votes, but I liked both finalists equally. This meant whether I voted or not, my votes were going to offset and the only difference would be that more votes would be in play.

The final show was fairly entertaining. The performances included Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Tony Bennett, Judas Priest, Gladys Knight, Kirk Franklin, Jack Black, Beyonce, TLC, Lil' Jon, and Tom Jones singing with one or more of the Idols, and Lady Gaga, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, and Bono and The Edge singing on their own. The finale, like always, was filled with its fair share of filler. As usually, Idol has to find a way to fill up two hours of time. They do this with performances, sound bits from the judges, a review of the worst contestants, and everything in between.

Congratulations to Scotty McCreery for being the winner of American Idol 10. Looking back, I saw that he was a clear front runner to win the entire competition. While the Hollywood week was a bit rough for him, though Hollywood week is a brutal week for just about anybody, he really shined during the live shows. He was able to find a way to take any song he sang and turn it into his own style. He showed that he could take Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and James Taylor songs and turn them into country ballads, and then kick it up another notch with songs by Elvis and The Coasters. He showed a ton of versatility when he needed to do it most. While Lauren Alaina had a strong final night, overall, Scotty deserved to win it all.

I may consider doing a list of my top ten performances throughout the season, but I'll to really think about that one. Otherwise, it was a great season and great to be able to break it down for you on my end. American Idol 11 will be something to surely look forward to.