Scotty Vs. Lauren: We Pick Their Best And Worst ‘Idol’ Performances

Becky Bain | May 24, 2011 12:38 pm

The penultimate episode of American Idol Season 10 is tonight, featuring the finalists performing their debut singles. Scotty McCreery will sing a tune called “Love You This Big,” while Alaina’s song is titled “Like My Mother Does.” Both singles will premiere on the radio this Thursday, and there is no doubt in our minds that they both will be country songs (and will be infinitely more enjoyable to listen to than “Inside Your Heaven”).

But we still have the matter of who will win Season 10 — the pitch-perfect North Carolina native Scotty, or the Kelly Clarkson-Carrie Underwood hybrid Lauren? We’ve already pontificated which contestant seems destined to triumph, but that’s not to say that both Scotty and Lauren didn’t have their fair share of brilliant — and boring — performances. Head below to see the best and worst of the Top 2 before they head into the finale.

LAUREN ALAINA

Best Performance: “I Hope You Dance” (Top 3) Not only does Lauren sound beautiful, she looks positively gorgeous in that sparkly baby blue evening gown. Her cover of Lee Ann Womack’s single is her most spot-on performance of the season.

Runner-Up: “Flat On The Floor” (Top 5) The Idol hopeful makes Idol winner Carrie Underwood proud with this rousing rendition of her song. This is Lauren totally in her element, performing uptempo country pop. Weirdly enough, this is the one week that Lauren appeared in the Bottom 3.

Worst Performance: “Born To Fly” (Top 7) Lauren’s biggest problem all season long has been picking the wrong songs. She (usually) has the vocal chops, she just doesn’t know how to utilize them in the best way possible. Her so-so take on Sara Evans’ “Born To Fly” pretty much sums up many of Lauren’s performances — not bad, but not memorable, and just a little bit too much on the safe side.

SCOTTY MCCREERY Best Performance: “You’ve Got A Friend” (Top 6) We were overjoyed to hear Scotty sing something other than a country song, and his earnest cover of Carole King’s tune showed us his true depth as an artist. This is Scotty at his best.

Runner-Up: “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)” (Top 4) It might be easy to win favor from at-home viewers by singing a song about 9/11. But Scotty’s moving performance of Alan Jackson’s song was both relevant, modern, and genuine. He truly delivered the song as though he had written it himself.

Worst Performance: “Swingin'” (Top 7) Much like Lauren, our biggest criticism with Scotty (besides holding the mic in the strangest fashion possible) is that he’d sometimes pick safe, unexciting songs, though always perform them perfectly. Here’s one such example, during the Top 7 performance night featuring songs from the 21st Century. We also dock Mr. McCreery some points for finding a loophole in order to do a song that originally came out inn 1983. Sneaky!

So which singer made the biggest impact during Season 10 to sweep up the votes tonight? Since it’s not really possible for the country music-loving American Idol watchers to sway one particular way over another, we’re going to leave it up to the other group of Idol viewers who vote in droves — text-happy little girls. Scotty, consider yourself a shoe-in — unless America really pulls together to put the kibosh on male champs and finally have the first girl in four years win the competition.

Which performances did we leave off this list? Tell us in the comments which performances from the Top 2 had you either cheering from your couch or running for the mute button on the remote —  but for now, let’s enjoy Scotty and Lauren’s duet to “Up On The Roof”, which actually might be both Idols’ most ho-hum performance of the season.