American Idol: Lauren Vs. Scotty

Tonight is the 10th season finale of American Idol and one thing is for sure . . . we're going to have a country star taking the title! Last night in the finale, my pre-season pick, Lauren Alaina, squared off against America's boy next door, Scotty McCreery! According to Idol's Facebook fan poll (posted BEFORE the show yesterday), Scotty was the winner by a country mile! But, last night, most agree that Lauren had the better night! So, what does our Idol expert Steve Thompson think? Who will be crowned our next American Idol tonight at the big finale?

From Steve Thompson:

Well, here we are after four months of waiting. Regardless of who wins or loses, I'm guessing both of these kids will have careers-- I'm just not sure if it will be the superstar variety that Idol has craved.

The first round went to Scotty in my opinion simply because Gone was Scotty's best song outside of the Josh Turner catalogue. But it wasn't a victory of landslide proportions. He just had more confidence in his selection than Lauren did.There are those who may think you can't really judge two different songs in this fashion-- and they probably haven't paid too much attention over the last ten years.

The second round went totally to Lauren. For reasons that are unclear, Maybe It was Memphis was a song they couldn't clear for Carrie Underwood back when she was on the show. So Carrie picked it for Lauren. George Strait may have erred by picking one of his own songs-- Check Yes or No just didn't have the same appeal either vocally or lyrically.

The third round? Aside from the fact that I Love You This Big sounds like a Cialis commercial, I think Lauren had the edge here as well. Thing is, the emotional content of her song may not be enough to shake the resounding popularity of Mr. McCreery. Ironically, Lauren's song originally appeared on the failed Kristy Lee Cook CD of a few years ago. That's ironic, Alanis, because Kristy Lee Cook was one of the weakest country singers ever on Idol.

So? Who won? No one really shot themselves in the foot, so it's going to come down to who voted. I suspect the Durbin fans and the Haley fans sat this one out-- this is entirely the country fanbase at work. Scotty wins by a landslide even though Lauren edged him out on performance-- but no one hurt themselves. Remember: Lee DeWyze will not be singing on tonight's show. Fish or cut bait? You decide.

We'll see tonight after a two hour show for a two minute result.