American Idol 10: Why Scotty Won
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by David Bloomberg -- 05/26/2011Scotty McCreery was not simply a good singer – he also demonstrated other characteristics that helped push him from merely being a performer to being the American Idol. Indeed, it may be that some of these other factors were even more important than his singing abilities. What did he do well enough to carry him to an easy victory? Why did Scotty win?
When we first saw Scotty, he immediately caught our attention with his deep voice, his obvious country roots, and his aw-shucks charming personality; for a certain segment of the audience, the fact that he was a cute young guy didn’t hurt! Indeed, in my “Contestants to Watch” article that first discussed him, I noted that despite the fact I’m not a country music fan, even I could see that, “dang does he have the ultimate classic down-low country singing voice!” I predicted he might even make it to the finals – little did I know he would go even better than that and get to the finale, and then coast to victory!
But this is where we get to the question we’re here to answer. How did he get to this point? What road did he travel? When others went wrong, how did he go so right? To put it concisely: Why did Scotty win?
Each week throughout the season, we have asked the inverse question – why did each finalist lose? Now we will use the same criteria, found in What ‘American Idol 10’ Contestants Need to Know, to look at how well Scotty did in his victory.
We begin at – where else? – the first rule. It discusses the need to show both singing and performing talent. From the beginning, Scotty showed poise and professionalism, seeming completely comfortable the stage. That’s not to say there weren’t any problems, as he took on a bizarre “squinty, half-leaning country posturing,” as I put it in We’ll Be the Judge of That! at the time. I didn’t personally enjoy his performance – because I’m not a country music fan – but even I could tell, “Scotty definitely has a good voice and I have no doubt that country fans absolutely loved it. He’ll be around for quite a while.”
So began his run of solid performances that simply didn’t end. Week after week, with only a few blips, Scotty showed his singing ability. Unlike some of the male country singers before him, he didn’t suffer from their vocal problems. He had a good voice and performed well – it’s as simple as that. And while Scotty’s rather odd microphone-holding technique certainly drew some comments and jokes, it obviously wasn’t weird enough to scare away voters.
One issue, however, that did cause some people dismay was in his song choices. With only a relatively few exceptions, Scotty essentially sang the same thing over and over again. Amusingly, recapper Jenn even foresaw this after his first performance, saying, “there’s showing people who you are as an artist and there’s doing the same thing over and over. Guess which one Scotty’s doing? If I were planning to vote, I would have a hard time coming up with a reason to vote for Scotty. So I can hear him sing the same kind of song week after week? No, thanks.”
But here’s the thing: Jenn (and myself, for that matter) don’t represent the audience that Scotty was targeting. Of course we weren’t going to vote for him singing that same kind of song over and over again. But you know what? We probably weren’t going to vote for him anyway!
Scotty benefited from a change to the way Idol operated this year. Gone were disco week and big band week and all the times that would have normally pushed him outside his comfort zone. Instead, Scotty was able to pretty much pick songs that continually represented who he was as an artist.
Throughout the process, he stuck to his guns. He was country through and through and he wasn’t going to pretend to be anything else. He knew how to play to his audience and he chose his songs accordingly. A perfect example of this was a couple weeks ago, in the final four. The NGH Report’s Joseph said it best, so I’ll quote him:
Scott showed us that, once again, he was made to strategize. When I heard the theme was “Inspirational Songs,” I immediately turned to my father and said, “I bet you he sings a song about, Jesus, America, or 9/11.” Who would have thought he’d find a song about all three?!But Scotty’s good choices in songs went much further back than that – all the way to the first few auditions and in Hollywood. Scotty defied the conventional wisdom by repeatedly singing the same song (I don’t even have to quote it – the lyrics just popped into your head all by themselves). Many of us watching and commenting on the performances thought he was crazy to do it! Contestants were supposed to show an ability to sing different songs! But Scotty knew where he was the most solid and he wanted to put his best foot forward – so he did… and it worked perfectly for him.
Another thing that worked perfectly for Scotty? Well, I already mentioned it: The format change that didn’t force him outside of his comfort zone. The third rule tells singers they need to be consistent and able to sing different genres. Guess what? Scotty is forcing me (along with Idol themselves) to likely delete that second part come next year. If the producers aren’t going to make the singers jump around in different genres, then there is no reason they need to be able to do it! Scotty just proved that!
Scotty also proved just how important the first part of the rule still is – consistency can mean everything. It’s clear as day: This rule says, “you need to be able to sing every week consistently.” Scotty did. Sure, there were a few minor slips, but those came after his voting base was solid enough to handle them. Until that point, he was a rock.
Actually, Scotty did even a bit better than that. Like Haley showed us, Scotty didn’t just stay on a level playing field – he improved as the rule instructs… at least to a certain point. Unlike Haley, Scotty didn’t start as an underdog and have to scratch and claw his way to stick around each week. Scotty’s path was a bit different in that he was seen from the get-go as a likely frontrunner, but he still improved along the way.
Several of our Foxes On Idol writers have suggested that Scotty essentially coasted and held back a bit in the finals until he was criticized (albeit mildly) by the judges. After all, why change or improve when you’re being told you’re already great? It can be much better to wait and then show such “improvement” after you’ve been told to do so! Then everybody believes, “Wow, you’re even better than we thought!”
Presuming Scotty was thinking along these lines (and I do believe he is cagey enough to have done so), it was a great plan.
But not everything can be planned. Scotty’s role in this season as the male country star, for example, needed some help because he couldn’t control who might be up against him. Even so, though, Scotty stood out in terms of the fourth rule by showing himself to be unique – certainly among his own competitors and also throughout the show’s ten seasons.
Sure, we’ve had male country singers before, but none of them were this charming, this young, or – most importantly – this good. And as I mentioned before, none of them had the opportunity Scotty was given to keep himself firmly planted in a single genre. Just as Scotty didn’t need to worry about tackling various different types of music, he was better able to define exactly who he is as a singer, again emphasizing his uniqueness.
Because of that, Scotty was also extremely memorable. While one or another of the various young ladies who were on the show might have fallen out of your recollection (I have to admit, I struggled a bit with some of them on finale night!), Scotty was firmly planted there. Heck, I even suggested as much earlier when I mentioned the song we all know he sang several times in the early goings and noted that I didn’t need to quote the lyrics because they would just spring into your head. Like I said, memorable!
Pulling those aspects together made Scotty into the complete package he is, in accordance with the sixth rule. I’ve already said it a couple times, but I’ll say it again now: Scotty has looks, charm, voice, performance skills, and a well-defined musical genre. We all know what to expect from his first album. Voters knew exactly what they would be getting when they dialed (or texted, or whatevered) in for him. Scotty knows who he is and he made sure we knew it as well.
The seventh rule was a non-issue. Why? Because it says not to argue with the judges and, other than maybe once (the very mild criticism/guidance), Scotty had nothing to argue against!
So that brings us to the eighth, which says to create a fan base. Obviously, Scotty did an awesome job here. We’ve always known that country fans are a solid support base for any decent Idol contestant. We’ve also known of the power held by young teenaged girls, who seem to be among the most dominant voting bloc (if such reports are to be believed). Scotty managed to hook into both of these groups! Heck, he and Lauren even managed to somehow avoid the vote-splitting we almost always see in situations where two contestants with similarities are up against one another.
We know the overall voting tally for the finale was huge. According to the information – mostly unofficial – that I’ve seen, the margin was quite wide as well. Scotty had been so successful at turning himself into a vote-worthy package that he also created an unstoppable fan base.
Scotty’s Idol journey helps to emphasize one of the main reasons for these articles. If it was all about singing, we wouldn’t need to worry about why one person lost and another won. But it’s not. Scotty did a good job not only on the stage but also in his preparation. He sang what he knew. He picked good songs that would appeal to his target audience. He stayed positive and focused on the goal. To properly use a phrase, he was indeed “in it to win it.”
Scotty not only performed well, but he did so on a consistent basis and then improved when he eventually needed to do so. He showed all the viewers exactly who he was as both an artist and a person in general, grabbing up a big chunk as his voting support in the process. Scotty didn’t just sing his way into the American Idol title – he seemed to have planned it out, defining himself early and lodging himself in viewers’ minds. Strategy combined with talent and charm – that is why Scotty won.
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