American Idol: Top 3 Week

After the elimination of James Durbin, American Idol needed a week to remember with those left competing. As with most top three weeks, one song was chosen by the contestant, one by the judges, and one by Jimmy Iovine. The latter has usually been chosen by people such as Clive Davis, the production in general, and in one season, randomly in a hat. In seasons eight and nine, it was ditched altogether. However, the final three showdown between Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, and Haley Reinhart was a final three showdown that really needed to prove its worth, and I felt they still did a good job on that end.

In round one, where the contestants picked their own song, Scotty picked a song from Lonestar, Lauren a song from Faith Hill, and Haley a Led Zeppelin song. Haley took the round, and I actually agree that her performance was the one I remembered most from that particular round. She went big and had her father playing guitar, which I found to be interesting. For round two, Scotty took the round, successfully performing Jimmy Iovine's song choice to the best of his ability. While I liked the choice of "Rhiannon," for Haley, the arrangement could have been much, much better. I enjoyed the acoustic version from Didi Benami from last season and that was a performance that showed strong potential that unfortunately went out quickly. The judges picks, I must say, were good picks indeed. The best were those by Scotty and Lauren, but it was Lauren's performance of Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance" that capped the round. I really did like Scotty's performance of Kenny Rogers' "She Believes In Me." These are both good songs and they were selected for the right contestants. In this season, the judges decided as a group, though I would have found it really interesting had the judges chose as individuals and what they would have chosen.

The results show, unlike most of them this season, was actually pretty decent. I found Il Volo, an Italian trio, to be quite an interesting group. I found their performance of "O Sole Mio" to be quite good. Much better than many of the other result show performances. Well I know that I'll remember Il Volo enough to listen to more of their music. Then the final three went home to their hometowns, which brought heavy emotions, especially for Lauren, who comes from an area that was hit with bad weather. It was a pretty sentimental moment to see her reaction and her meeting with a young boy who saved his family.

As for the results, Haley Reinhart went home, which was what I thought was going to happen two months ago. Well, that's the way American Idol works sometimes. The final showdown will come down to Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, both are the country stars of this season, and they sure picked up a heavy southern vote to be together in the finale. When you come to think about it, it does seem like quite the pairing, and anyone of them could win it all. I'll be picking Scotty McCreery to win it all, because he is truly something that American Idol has yet to have in their champion. He seems like just the person to win it all and he's such a good performer who's fun to watch and see progress each week.

I'll be surely writing an article about the final result and will possibly have other "American Idol 10" material that looks back on such a good season that was filled with such good talent.