'American Idol' final two chosen

'American Idol' final two chosen

If you had any doubt whether country or rock was our national anthem, 95 million “American Idol” voters put it to you plain and simple, the way they apparently like it.
Mama, let your children grow up to be cowboys and cowgirls because that’s who’s going to the finals of the top-rated Fox music competition next week.

On the "American Idol" results show, the final two singers were picked and a girl was sent packing . A new "X Factor" host Nicole Scherzinger also performed her latest single, Nicole Scherzinger right there with rapper 50 Cent.

In what seemed pre-ordained from the start of this 10th season, a pair of precocious teenagers are the finalists for the “Idol” crown, making it an all-Southern affair. North Carolina’s 17-year-old deep-voiced crooner Scotty McCreery and Georgia’s 16-year-old cheerleader next door Lauren Alaina might as well form a George Jones/Tammy Wynette duo right now because, as you can clearly sense, they’ll be fixtures of the Grand Ole Opry for decades to come.

McCreery captivated the “Idol” judges and public from the beginning with his mature-beyond-his-years rumble, as well as his light-hearted humor and self-deprecation. He literally grew before our eyes, from an All-American high school pitcher for his baseball team and a grocery bagger into an accomplished performer sharing the stage with the likes of Josh Turner, as he did in his recent homecoming.

The kid is genuine; what you see is pretty much what you get, and he enters next week’s final as the odds-on favorite to emerge as the show’s first male country winner. Whether he can actually turn into a male Taylor Swift is another story entirely. We still don’t know if the kid can write, but even if he can’t, he can have a long career as a kind of George Strait stylist. And he gets extra points for crying at his homecoming bash.

Lauren Alaina is another story, with some similarities and a few differences. She was touted even before the show began as a contender by executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, and ingratiated herself to the judges right away by joining Steven Tyler in a duet of “Sweet Surrender” in front of her family at the audition.

There is an “Idol” precedent for Alaina in previous winners Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, who both found success in the country world. Alaina could be Tanya Tucker if she learns to play off her sexuality, though she looks more like Tanya at age 25 going on 30. And I agree with the blogger who wondered why the stylists make her eyes up to look like Tammy Faye Bakker.

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