And the winner...
...of American Idol...
...Season 10...
...is...
(drum roll please)...
SCOTTY!!!!!!!!!!
In the words of Stephen Tyler, “Well, hellfire, save matches, f*** a duck and see what hatches!” But I am not surprised. Not even a little bit. Scotty winning just further supports my theory about the voting audience. It is my opinion that the majority of calling voters are girls between the ages of 8 and 14 years old. Closely following are the 15 to 17 year old "late bloomer" girls, who are slightly less mature than some of their peers, but even as a smaller overall number of voters, they are equally as influential in the polls as their younger co-viewers due to their heightened access to phones and computers. I have nothing to base my theory on other than guesswork and common sense.
I believe that 8 to 14 year old girls will typically vote for who is most like them; this is why Lauren made it so far and Pia was knocked out so early. Although Pia and Lauren sang different genres of music (Lauren = Country, Pia = Pop Ballads), their preference of positive, easy-listening, basically conservative music puts them in almost the same voting category, so if a more mature audience drawn to that type of music is failing to pick up the phone, and the 8 to 14 year olds are dialing for the one most closely resembling their own peers, the younger contestant is bound to get the votes.
Where does that leave Thia? Ashton? Nowhere - young or not, neither of them were "special," and even young viewers can figure that out, so don't go thinking their early departures throw a wrench in my analysis.
And what about Hayley? Well, Hayley was all over the map in her song choices. Clearly her talent was special, but often her performances were what I consider to be "misunderstood" by the younger, less mature audience. Hayley is sexy. Lauren is cute. Pia is elegant, princess-esque even. Most young girls are more drawn to cute and elegant, so if elegant is out, and only cute and sexy are left, the 8 to 14 year old female audience is obviously leaning towards cute, a.k.a. Lauren.
Okay, so enter the male talent. Girls are boy crazy, and most boy crazy girls I believe to be voting are in that 15 to 17 "late bloomers" range. James is sexy. Edgy AND sexy. His bad boy, rocker, comedic personality is what made him sexy. The other guys (besides Scotty) were not sexy. Not at all. Here come my critiques...
Stefano - short, squinty eyes, but charming and sweet, kind of like an older David Archuletta.
Jacob - no comment
Paul - cute, some sex appeal, but young girls would probably think he is "old," and his chicken wing dance sometimes makes him look like he might be a little "iffy."
Casey - CRAZY talented, hilarious, funny looking, cursed (nice guys finish last)
And then you have Scotty...too young for the "grown up audience" (like myself) to think he is "sexy," but too special to not be recognized by the voters who actually know what talent is. Country music or not, his charming and genuine personality is all "what you see is what you get." I never felt played by him, even when his facial expressions were goofy, and when he sang a song, he told a story, every time he was on the stage. Eat your heart out 15 to 17 year old girls!
James and Scotty are complete opposites...not just in the way of music genres either. Scotty comes from a solid, all American family. He is healthy, controlled, has integrity, and his upbringing has very clearly influenced the young man he is becoming. James comes from a dysfunctional family, he has some health issues that have played a big role in his confidence level, and he is on his own with a family to support and struggling financially just as much as he is struggling personally to find his place in the world. Nothing about him is grounded. Nothing about him is controlled. Well, except for that unbelievable vibrato in his superstar vocal abilities...
Some girls like a man who is in control...and some prefer a bad boy, living on the edge and free-spirited. Most likely the ones who are disciplined and care enough to pick up a phone or make sure they get to a computer are the ones more on the straight and narrow path in life, and therefore they are likely Scotty fans.
Then there are the many moms like me who LOVE James! Fans of 80's and 90's music and rock n' roll, appreciating the talent and the sexy vibes he brings to the stage, touched by his emotional background, and secretly pining over him...yes, I said pining...seriously, did you see him cry??? Multiple times??? Oh, I so HEART James!
Every week I had intentions to vote. Every week, I knew who I would pick. Every week, I voted...except one week...the week James was eliminated. I fell asleep with my son while putting him to bed and never got back up to cast my vote. I will jointly accept responsibility for his exit with the rest of the moms who meant to vote but got distracted by mom things.
Another piece of this is that when one Idol leaves, their votes are redistributed among the remaining contestants. In the case of James, I'd say the Casey fans probably gravitated between him and Hayley, but the Jacob fans were likely NOT James fans at all. They probably steered their votes down the road of the more gospel-ish music, like our country boy and his little southern belle, or just as possibly they gravitated towards the soulful Hayley...but I doubt too many Jacob fans put their money on James and his "give metal a chance" mantra.
So back to my overall theory about the 8 to 14 year old voting audience. Once James was eliminated, most of those 8 to 14 year old girls were voting for Lauren, so bye bye Hayley. The 15 to 17 year old "late bloomers" were half and half between Scotty and Lauren, some choosing their peer, and others choosing their newest crush. The Jacob fans were probably split. The James fans were probably mostly split, although I will say that Lauren's song to her Mother was really touching, and I bet she appealed to a lot of those James-adoring, had-intentions-to-vote moms (I swear I meant to get online after the finale performance show, but mommyhood was calling!)...the Hayley fans were probably partially a more mature audience, with a less emphatic rush to vote, but the ones who did could have gone either way.
So why did Scotty win? Why, when it seems like the majority of the votes would point to Lauren? Because in the end, Lauren was supposed to win. After her last performance, it was her title to lose! Moms were crying over her song, but moms are busy. Lauren fans were making predictions, but they got complacent about voting. And Scotty fans were called out by the challenge to fight for the win and vote harder and longer than ever before.
And that is where those 15 to 17 year old boy crazy "late bloomer" girls come in! Although I think the main voting audience is girls ages 8 to 14, my theorized 2nd audience group is more likely to have access to phones and computers, more likely to be up later at night casting multiple votes while their younger co-viewers are being tucked into bed by the moms who are also missing their voting opportunity, and more likely to pick the gentlemanly boy next door, probably following him all along, and now being put to the test by the judges who predicted that Lauren had a slight edge over Scotty. Well, they gave Scotty the push right over that edge into the winner's circle!
And there ya have it, folks, my American Idol-ology follow up. (Click here to see the original American Idol-ology.) Oh, and to what do you think I attribute those record breaking voting numbers? Yep - the new judging panel! Seriously, the talent was there this year, once they got more than half of that top 13 out of there, the rest really did deliver week after week, but man, the judges! J-Lo came to life every time she spoke. Stephen was both entertaining and sincere. Randy was classic and classy. I hope they all come back next season. I hope the dynamics stay the same so the focus can continue to be on the talent, encouraging more people to watch and dream big as opposed to offending them and crushing their hopes and spirits.
My next prediction is this: Scotty and Lauren will be the new (and youngest!) country power couple, following in the footsteps of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Um, yes, I think they are definitely an item. Did you see the way she planted him with those kisses and how genuinely happy she was for him? Did you hear the "I love you, baby" and the rest of his heart felt expression towards her and their journey together? I don't have a theory on how that was kept out of the media buzz; I'm baffled by it actually, and I get that there are rules and a code of conduct among the contestants, but I am still shocked that I didn't hear any rumors or get a sense prior to the finale. Anyway, this is a whole new blog topic...which I will skip b/c I am not Perez Hilton.
I am just a music fan and former American Idol 2-time tryer-outer.
And that, my friends...is a wrap!
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