American Idol is a winner

Scotty McCreery brought home the crown but the real winner of the season is American Idol. The show was touted as being on its final gasps these past few years, what with lackluster winners, departing judges and declining ratings. But look at it now. The 10th season of American Idol saw its most star-studded and most suspenseful finale yesterday. The show was so big that it really felt like the pop icons made sure they showed up to save this bastion of American music from losing its audience.

American Idol in 2011 was a time of many firsts. It was the first time for judges Jennifer Lopez, who is not only beautiful, but also articulate and lovable, and Steven Tyler, who was not only colorfully-lingual, he was also sexy and knew what he was saying. These two plus the original Randy Jackson, gave Idol, its most exciting line-up of contestants ever. It was also the first time when the total packaging, and not just the singing ability became the yardstick for the finalists.

It was the first time when jazz, metal and gospel shared the stage with the usual, pop, rock and country fare. It was the first time when country competed with country in what was the youngest match-up in Idol history. Winner Scotty is 17 years old, while runner-up Lauren Alaia is only 16. America was happy about having them as future Idols as evidenced by the high ratings of the show as it moved towards the finale and the large number of votes cast.

Host Ryan Seacrest announced that American Idol will soon hold auditions for its 11th season. That means the show has truly survived its trying days and will be on the air for many more years. I would love it very much if J. Lo and Steven would be around again as judges, plus Randy of course. What would Idol be without him? Hopefully, Season 11 will be even more exciting. However, I do have doubts though if they can top the star power of this year’s finale.

J. Lo danced with husband Mark Anthony; Lady Gaga was down to her undies with The Edge; third placer Haley Rinehart stepped out with the sprightly 85-year-old Tony Bennett; the guys of the Top 13 got to sing with Tom Jones, who seems to have recovered nicely from his throat ailment; Beyoncé ruled with the finalists of Season 10; even the beleaguered Broadway musical Spider-Man did a promo bit with no less than Bono and The Edge. And wow Steven’s solo of Dream On proved he still has the great rock chops that made him a star. I can’t wait to

The country singer gets a congratulatory hug from runner-up Lauren Alaia

find out who will be around next year.

But of course Season 10 belongs to Scotty. That he is a good singer was always a given but I do not think that the voters took that into consideration during these past few weeks. I think they chose the contestants that they like, the nicest and most appealing and whose singing makes them feel good. And those were Scotty and Lauren.

I think the clincher for Scotty was the judges’ choosing Kenny Rodgers’ She Believes In Me for him during the final three competition. He already had a lock on the votes of the young girls and country music lovers, but with that song, he widened his reach to include the 50 year-olds and above, most of whom have the time and the money to spend on casting the votes.

Besides, Scotty is all American. He is somebody who is right out of a school primer who probably had a dog named Spot or Rover. How could they not vote for a wholesome kid from a nice family, still in high school, who played baseball and worked in a grocery store and reminded them of their country idols. Hard to go up against that. He had teflon all over him. And they even had him singing with Tim McGraw last night and a first single titled I Love You This Big.

That was a great finale to a great season that has left me thinking about what now to do on Thursday and Friday evenings. I hope Star World has nice replacements lined up.