Scotty McCreery was done handing out hugs by the time he made it backstage at the Nokia Theater, but his excitement about winning season 10 of American Idol was still crystal clear. EW caught up with him to talk about his friendship with runner-up Lauren Alaina (including those kisses she showered on him), his duet with Tim McGraw, and what his plans are now that the show is over. Watch our exclusive interview below.
Read more: ‘American Idol’
Wednesday recap: Duel at the Nokia Theater
Lauren Alaina: 'American Idol' finale Q&A
Which contestants should have made it to the finals?
Before all the haters and trolls come here I just want to lead off with a positive comment that it was nice to see not one but two nice, talented kids as the final two. I know many wanted to see Hayley or James there…but get over it. Maybe you don’t like the country genre. Get over it. Take a moment and be happy for these two kids who no doubt will have great careers.
Maybe if you didn’t instigate things with comments like “get over it” then people wouldn’t be so inclined to slam this year’s finalists. Your comment would have been better received without your own subliminal snub at those who were less inclined to support these finalists.
Scotty will be working the drive-thru at Taco Bell in no time.
I wanted it to be a Scotty and Haley finale. I’m glad they had Scotty sing with Tim Mcgraw. Tim is a wonderful singer and actor…I wish he sang in the movie Country Strong but he only was the actor in it. I can’t wait until Scotty’s CD comes to stores.
Scotty was my 3rd favorite singer. Behind Haley and James. I don’t think there is a person out there who can make a case that Scotty didn’t deserve the Final and be odds on favorite to win. He was a likable person with a unique voice and A+ character. A likable juggernaut, that is. Right from Hollywood on.
The beef most had was the producer pimped Lauren A did not deserve it – and two finalists with near identical retro country styles was a little too same-o.
The latest in American Idol’s string of thoroughly bland, dull, soulless white male contestants, and another one who will inevitably find his music in the discount bins a year from now. Come on, we all know what happened to the “careers” of Taylor, Kris, and Dwyeze. During the show, they all had tons of votes, but once in the real world, sales never materialized, and radio play was sporadic or elusive altogether. Them again, this year AI featured the most boring, “safe” top three in their history…
I agree with you 100% about the instigating…
Of course I wanted Haley in the F2, but I liked Scotty enough to be happy that he won – enough said.
exactly, start off a comment calling people trolls? You are not a nice person and sooo did not start this off on a positive note? how dumb
Just because you are a loser with zero ambitions, don’t project that onto Scotty who has more potential in his little finger than you likely have in your entire body in your entire sorry lifetime.
Yeah, and what about Pia and so many others? But I agree with the sentiment that the final 2 were at least 2 nice, decent, genuine people. Doesn’t mean they were the 2 best, but what’s the point of going into that again?
Why don’t you stop telling us to get over losing the best contestants and get back to screwing your cousin. I hope the tornado in Mississippi gives you a visit.
Lola….
seriously kid, what goes does it do to be so mean and say such a horrible thing to someone you don’t even know? i always thought Lola was such a beautiful name … until now. what a shame.
Are you trying to hurt people?
That was a horrible thing to say about the tornado. What kind of person are you to wish something like that on someone? You must be one sad sad person. They should take your comment off.
@ Lola, be careful what you wish for, and with all the deaths this year from tornados…REALLY!? you want to go there.
Lola simply wanted to say something nice, got off track, but I don’t blame her as there are so many haters on these boards like you.
That being said, I felt like a giddy school girl last night watching Scotty sing (especially the Tom Jones segment being that I’m 42 and love Tom Jones) and then cried like a Mama when he won. I hope he gets some singing lessons to lessen his accent (that coming from a NC girl who has had her accent made fun of all her life) but I hope the very best for him. Oh to be 17 again!
Just to clarify…the only post I made here was the first one. But I was right…some people just can’t be decent when it comes to the anonymity of message boards.
Lola, you have crossed the line. Your comments identify you as an uneducated, discourteous, bigoted, mean-spirited individual. The point of this blog is to express an opinion about the outcome of the season. And to wish a tornado on someone? In light of the unspeakable loss of life and property in the south and midwest that comment is hateful. Shame on you.
What a horrible hateful thing to say!! With all the death and distruction in the south this spring it is unthinkable to wish more on the poor people of this area or anyone or anywhere for that matter! I am really at a loss trying to understand the hateful attitude so many people take when they are allowed to say whatever vile things they want just because there are no real repercussions. I think it was a great thing to see 2 young people who while in a competion supported and cheered for each other. They were not who I had hoped for -but I did appreciate their talent and the way they treated each other and the love they showed their families.
Lola, shut your taco, you ghetto pig.
PLEASE NOTE THAT LOLA DID NOT MAKE THIS OFFENSIVE COMMENT!
Please all stop picking on Lola. Enough. Just ignore her.
I couldn’t agree more with your comment..Scotty and Lauren fan here:)
Ya know, the “get over it ” didnt bother me. I was for James. I think he has more range than Scotty. That being said, Scotty seems like a really good kid and is a solid country singer. I expect him to have a great career.
I bet Jesus is happy! That’s what’s important, Lola, isn’t it?
lol
Uh, LOLA, your comment was pretty negative. Chill out.
Well said, Lola. But you have to understand–for those who are nihilistic and filled with hate for decency, who want a world filled with nothing but Bill Maher and Gaga, this finale was deeply painful.
I agree, they are genuinely who they are. Scotty’s got a big career ahead: he’s hetero, Christian, honest, good kid and the American public will fall in love with him.
yea right, great career ahead just like the other hetero, Christian, honest good kids that won last year and the year before, kris who? Lee who? Scotty will make an album and disapear just like the others because he is so boring
hetero? What an awful right wing commentary
Wow, Lola, if that’s your idea of being positive, I’d hate to hear your version of negativity.
OK, Lola didnt say she wanted the Tornado to get someone. It was “@Lola”. Sheesh!
GFY Lola.
The Best Show ever well every one should have won this one at least the last 4 thats for sure but at the end of the line there could only be ONE but he was the very best of country music.
Marcy
WTF? That’s all one sentence?
My sister (and others) writes like that on Facebook. You’ve got to read it twice and mentally insert punctuation where it seems appropriate just to make sense of it all. Ugh.
You really could have used a period, semicolon, em dash, comma, indentation at signature, etc.
You should’ve spent more time on your school work and less time watching tv.
it was a great year folks u know
levels are hight even in music
they were the best of alllove them.
Marcy, English is not your first language, correct?
I think Scott and Lauren should team up as a duo. That is what is big right now. Lady Antebellum just swept the Grammys you know. Sugarland, Steel Magnolia. There are just a few. I think Scotty should come out with his solo thing to get his name out, but then should team up with Lauren. They sing really well together and they are already really good friends.
I would have to agree. I`m not a country fan per say, but if neither of their careers work out they should join up together. I wish them both luck though, because this music business is a dog eat dog business no joke. Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for!
yeah, but not as a duet like Lady A but as 2 soloists who team up like Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn, or George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Or the sometimes Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (McGraw) I liked their voices together and they had a sweetness…and much better voices than Taylor Swift, who may write great songs, but has difficulty singing them. And see how far she has gone!
Here’s the rub. The dude in Lady Antebellum isn’t a Johnny Cash wannabe and can hold his own with more than 5 notes…
Get your Country Crooners straight.
Scotty’s much more George Strait or Merle Haggard than Johnny Cash. ‘Course you’re going to write back “Smae difference” but that’s where you’re WRONG you…you…Diversity Hater!
FYI – Lady A is a group not a duet. There are three. Hillary and Charles sing and I honestly can’t remember the other guys name but he play piano and sings backup.
Go Scotty! He will be the most successful male contestant ever! (I know he can’t pass Carrie and Kelly so that is why I said male, lol).
Um… Chris Daughtry and Adam Lambert might disagree with that. Just sayin’. (lol? Seriously?)
Give him time. Carrie did just over take Kelly as the best selling Idol ever and it took her 6 years to do it. Funny how guys get all these votes but 2 girls have had the most success (aside from Daughtry who is awesome).
Glad Scotty won, but would have been equally happy for Lauren.. both are talented kids.. thought Lady Gaga’s performance was inappropriate for a family show.. a mock suicide??? Isn’t the news bad enough… entertainment should be positive.. that performance left me cold.
Get over yourself. Were you OK with Beyonce squatting on stage and singing “make love to me” to the sway-bots? It’s called ENTERTAINMENT and GaGa had some of the best vicals of the night.
I felt Beyonce’s second song was inappropriate also, but Gaga’s simulated “sex” and mock “suicide” were worse. Young kids are watching idol.. save that stuff for adult audiences…
I love Gaga’s singing voice (even tho most of her outfits are wierd) and, yeah, that’s entertainment. But when my kids wrer young they would have been in bed by that time of the evening.
What? She fell of the stage on purpose. So now that’s a “Mock suicide?”
Word to Aunt Sassy! Lady Gaga was superb and not just top notch vocals, but all the drama!! I saw a video feed of mass gasping and mouths hanging open in the audience when she and her partner did an actual 20-foot plunge from the stage cliff.
WhatEVER. Lady Gag Gag is a no-talent hack. I do NOT get what the big deal is about her, and she’s encouraging everyone else to be trashy low-life singers along with her. Hate her and wish she would go away.
lady gaga is just not appropriate for this kind of television. shouldn’t she be on Cinamax or something? what a shame.
John A. You’re a prude and too sensitive. Lemme guess… you’re from the South?!?! Where Conservative values live and die.
I don’t live in the South, and I have young granddaughters. It was very borderline. Yeah, I know stuff on MTV made that look tame, but that is cable.
I live in California and I thought it was inappropriate for network television.. and for any television where kids are watching. I was disappointed in Gaga. Families have suffered the loss children and teens to suicide..suicide among adolescents has been rising… this was not a message for a family show. Maybe she does have mentoring talent.. but I have watched many YouTube performances by her that would have been better suited for a family program… so I remain very unhappy with her performance last night. Idol producers should have done something.. she is not entirely to blame.
Those “young children” are the ones voting to satisfy their hormone driven body. They vote fr looks and sexiness rather than talent. I think they would be more offended if Scotty announced that he intends to be a Priest.
Really Lola…Thank God for people from the south.
Southern proud.
Lola that was just a stupid comment.
John A – Gaga does her more risque stuff to packed stadiums and on HBO. On Idol, she toned it down. The lady can also act. And tutor. Her Top 4 mentoring was dead on. And she intuitively got the drama of opposite universes colliding when she and Scotty met and their session was highly entertaining. Scotty was great playing along with it. And he got solid advice. And seeing the lightbulb come on behind Haleys eyes on two suggestions Gaga had on how to make “I who have nothing!” killer, was one of the better moments this season.
Y’know…They said the same things about Elvis.
Country music has deep roots. Scotty, with the training he’ll receive with the contract, should have a long career in music.
The finale was really entertaining this year. Way to mix it up. The Idol group numbers sparked my interest in the Tour, not a sour note to be found. I had some ‘splainin to do to my 7-year old about why she can’t have shorts like the dancers in the Fat Bottomed Girl number, not kid friendly!
My husband and I were thinking James would show up on stage with Steven there for the final part on Dream On.
SCOTTTTTTTTTTY i am SOOOO HAPPPY for you I LOOOOVVVEEEE YOU THIS MUCH (NANCY FROM FL)
THANKS NIGEL for a GREAT FINALE
Lola- That was such an un-called for comment. You obviously have some unrelated issues. That was just plain mean
Again…that was someone using my name from my first post…
Country music is not good music, and this is why. It’s safe. It’s a genre that takes no chances, with singers keeping within the unwritten barriers. No real emoting, just small towns, broken hearts, and patriotism. Boring.
McCreery would/could never give a performance like Durbin did with the ballad that made his voice tighten from emotions.
No Real EMOTING??? you got to be kidding right? I mean out of all the pop performances that I’ve ever seen, and really enjoy, none can compare to the emoting of a True Country “Story Telling, Heart Breaking, Makes Me Cry to Think ABout” song
Country Music is everything when you go through heartache. Do I really want to put on Mylie or Justin?
Actually, country music, like the blues, is one of the most emotionally resonant, emotionally pure music genres out there. Devoid of gimmicks and extraneous smoke-and-mirrors, it goes straight for the jugular, straight for the emotion. That being said,I agree that it’s one of the, if not the most safe, generic, traditionally minded genres, where singers always color inside the lines and never deviate from the “rules”. Not that there’s never been any rebels in country music, but those tend to be shunned by the record-buying public. Sure, there are people like Steve Earle, Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams, but they will never sell like Garth Brooks or Shania, and imagine if there was a country equivalent of Lady Gaga or Adam Lambert. The country audience is just too traditional and they like their old-school-values too much to make a country Lady Gaga a star.
Yes, what you describe could be applied to a thousand country songs. Quite generic. It’s the primary colors with no exploration beyond that. Country music is the Thomas Kincade of the musical genres, a painter that plenty of people love but has contain no more emotion or originality than country music.
“Story Telling, Heart Breaking, Makes Me Cry to Think ABout” song… Generic. You’re just telling everyone you’re a sucker without a discerning palette who would cry over a new song, even if it says the same thing the last 100 songs you heard said.
Diversity Hater!
Im not going to bash of the contestants on this blog. This should end the feud. Carrie Underwood is the best selling American Idol winner and THAT is because she is a country singer. The United States are primarily made up of states and cities that enjoy country music. These talented 2 had everything on their side….YOUNG and COUNTRY. You have high school votes, youth votes and mostly women who watch the show that vote also. Lauren and Scotty both {my opinion} deserved to be there. Not only are they talented but they are very humble and down to earth kids. Great job McLania! NJ LOVES YOU!!!!!
BTW…I love love love George Strait, and any male country singer is going to call him his idol, but I do not know if GS is an Idol fan, and if he knows who Scotty is, because out of all the songs I would have loved to hear Scotty sing, an up beat GS song was not one of them. Randy Travis should have been the one. and then Scotty and Lauren could have done the Travis/Underwood hit “I Told You So”
I sure wish I could produce this show…or at least pick out the songs they sing.
You are so right. That would be awesome to hear! I think Lauren and Scotty sound great together and it would be better to hear them sing it than Carrie/Randy b/c he’s way too old to sing those things to Carrie. LOL
But they did sing that song…during a results show near the beginning of the season. Youtube it.