American Idol finale: Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery close on a low note

Round 1: Lauren chose Carrie Underwood’s, “Flat on the Floor,” for her first round. The performance was lively enough and her voice didn’t seem to be compromised during the song but like most of the songs on Tuesday night, it certainly didn’t seem finale worthy. B

Round 2: Carrie Underwood chose, Pam Tillis’s “Maybe it was Memphis,” for Lauren and it proved to be a perfect choice. Lauren sang the song beautifully and it showed some of the range that made her such a standout in auditions. A

Round 3: Apparently contributing to the demise of Haley Reinhart by choosing “Rhiannon,” wasn’t enough for Jimmy Iovine. This week, he presented Lauren with an original song that has the dubious distinction of being even worse than Season 8’s “No Boundaries.”

The song was an ode to mothers and what mother wouldn’t swoon over lyrics like these?

“She’s a rock. She is great. She’s an angel.”

Come on Idol, just because it was written for a 16-year-old doesn’t mean it has to sound like it was written by a 16-year-old! Lauren tried to buoy the appeal of the song by entering the audience to hug her mother as she sang. She did what she could with what she was given. C

Aside from the country music, awful winner’s singles, and a random performance at the end by Taio Cruz, there was one redeeming quality in this year’s finale: the judges were given only a limited window to talk. As you may have guessed, both Lauren and Scotty were brilliant, amazing, wonderful and in it to win it . . . but here were the judges breakdowns of the night:

Randy Jackson:

Round 1: Scotty

Round 2: Lauren

Round 3: Lauren

Jennifer Lopez:

Round 1: Scotty

Round 2: Lauren

Round 3: Too close to call.

Steven Tyler:

Round 1: Lauren

Round 2: Lauren (But according to Steven it is only because Lauren’s prettier than Scotty.)

Round 3: Lauren

Predictions:

Both Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler predicted the win for Lauren. JLo told her after the third round that, “With that song, you may have just won it.” And then Steven added, “As far as I’m concerned, the first time I saw you I thought you were my American Idol and I think America is going to find that to be true. You’re it in my eyes.”

Although agreeing with the judges is not something that has been easy this season, they might just be right this time.

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