The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

Posted: 22 May 2011 01:04 AM PDT

This year's top two American Idol contenders epitomise a season that's more than just a little bit country.

SO, a cowboy or a cowgirl? This year's American Idol finale, which takes place at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California, is going to be a teenage hoedown: 16-year-old country girl Lauren Alaina versus 17-year-old cowboy Scotty McCreery. It's a fitting end to a competition that had, from the start, a heavy country vibe. So, who will America vote for? Let's take a look at the competition, which saw the elimination of 20-year-old bluesy vocalist Haley Reinhart from Wheeling, Illinois, last week:

Scotty McCreery

America sure loves country boy Scotty. That he would be one of the finalists was a no-brainer. The teenager from Garner, North Carolina, has sailed through the competition, escaping not just elimination week after week but also the dreaded stools reserved for the bottom three each week.

Oh, except for freak week, of course.

I dub the quarter-finals freak week because not only were two of the competition's strongest singers in the bottom two, the strongest contender (in my mind) – James Durbin – was sent packing! There is no doubt that James would have given us an awesome show had he been in the finale.

But let's not cry over spilt milk and let's not take away from Scotty what he has achieved. It should have been a Scotty-James finale, for sure. We've lost James but we still have Scotty so let's focus on the present.

So, yeah, Scotty is America's favourite and not without cause. I admit that I wasn't a fan of Scotty for the longest time. I liked his voice but I wasn't blown away by his performances.

Sure, he managed to shine during Motown week when he gave an impressive rendition of Stevie Wonder's For Once In My Life but it wasn't enough to get me off my feet. He was a little boring for me and not that versatile – there was no surprise to what he would sing every week because, well, he sings country every week. Is this Farm Idol, for crying out loud?

But then, during Carole King week Scotty sang You've Got A Friend and I liked it a lot. And the following week he did Montgomery Gentry's Gone and I liked that a lot too.

The tide was changing. I began to actually enjoy watching Scotty. It helped also that he began moving around a lot more on stage (his whole body and not just his eyebrows!) and he's loosened up quite a bit.

And then I thought: so what if he's hardcore country? Different strokes for different folks, right?

My point is that Scotty sings well and he's getting stronger week by week. Unlike many of his contenders (except James, of course), he's managed to consistently choose songs that bring out the best in his voice. Sure, he doesn't really take risks (unlike James) but he delivers solid vocal performances all the time.

Will he win? With Idol, you never know. It's up to the voters and so far they've been pretty inconsistent. They voted for David Cook (yay) but they also let Adam Lambert walk away without the title (boo). They voted for Kelly Clarkson (yay) but they also voted for Taylor Hicks (sigh).

Still, my prediction is that Scotty will win.

Lauren Alaina

The gal from Rossville, Georgia, is a cutie. What Scotty lacks in personality and stage performance, she has – in abundance. Her repartee with Idol host Ryan Seacrest? Love it. Peaches Seacrest – her nickname for him will stick with me for a long time, I think. But Lauren's got much more than Southern charm. She's got great pipes too.

Lauren's been a strong contender in this season's Idol, just like Scotty.

In the early rounds of the competition, when most of the Idol-watching world were raving over Pia Toscano, I thought Lauren was a much better performer. No doubt Pia's got a great voice and she can sing ballads like no one else in the competition. Trouble is, that's all she did. Sing ballads.

Lauren, on the other hand, took chances and most time, those chances paid off . Not many singers can actually pull off Aretha Franklin's (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman but Lauren went ahead and tried, and did a pretty good job of it too. She's got a big, strong voice and she chooses songs that showcase that voice well.

Remember her rendition of Miley Cyrus' Climb? Wow wee kazowee! Music producer Jimmy Iovine's comment that she sang it better than Cyrus was spot-on (if a little obvious). Her performance of The Supremes' You Keep Me Hanging On? Very nice!

But my all-time favourite Lauren performance remains her rendition of Elton John's classic Candle In The Wind. What a performance! She looked beautiful and she sounded even more beautiful. Her vocals were powerful and the changes she made to the song were subtle and tasteful.

Lauren's problem is confidence or rather, the lack of. When she gets good reviews from the judges, you can see her glow. Like a kid in a candy store, she looks. She doesn't get criticised much by the judges but when she does, you can see her almost retract into an invisible shell. And, sometimes, she lets it affect her performance.

Country girl has to toughen up for the final showdown.

Season 10 Idol bits

OVER 125,000 auditioned.
Last week's "top three" performance drew 95 million votes – the highest ever for a non-finale episode.
Lauren Alaina, 16, and Scotty McCreery, 17, are the youngest contestants ever to battle it out in the finale.
The finale and concert spectacular will feature special performances, surprise guests and a Top 13 reunion before America's vote is revealed.

Catch the top two performance show of 'American Idol 10' on Star World (Astro Channel 711) on Wednesday, 6pm (live via satellite), with a primetime encore at 8pm. The 'American Idol Grand Finale' (results show) airs live on the channel on Thursday, 8am, with a primetime encore at 6pm and 8pm.

Over on 8TV, the top two performance runs on Thursday, 10pm, while the grand finale/results show is on Friday, 10pm.

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Sabtu, 21 Mei 2011