Carrie is what ‘Idol’ is all about

The country girl with heart beat the Southern rocker with soul.

Not a surprise, since Carrie Underwood was the odds-on favorite to be this year’s “American Idol” from the moment she auditioned way back when in St. Louis. A sweet, wholesome small-town girl with a strong voice, big dreams, and no real performing experience prior to the competition, she truly is what the show is all about.

The “Idol” producers could not have drawn up a better contestant if they’d tried. She was straight out of central casting, and Carrie and the producers milked that image for all it was worth throughout the competition.

It was tough to see the footage of her at home on the farm in Checotah, Oklahoma, riding with her grandfather in a parade through town and racing home to play with her animals, and not feel like she was destined to win. Who could root against her? It would be like booing ice cream and apple pie.

The judges loved her. The audience brought down the house for her. And the voters burned up the phone lines when she sang her country songs, and even forgave her when she strayed into other genres with less impressive results.

Bo Bice, on the other hand, came through the auditions a distant second to Constantine Maroulis on the rocker meter, never mind the other 22 semifinalists. But once the voters actually got to hear him sing, he quickly joined Carrie among the favorites. With the exception of one week when he landed among the bottom two, he got stronger every week as the competition went on, making up ground on Carrie by the day.

Clive Davis, chairman and CEO of BMG International, predicted that Bo would win — or, to be strictly accurate, that they’d have a great time making a record together, which still could easily happen. Paula anointed him the favorite as well.

But Simon and Randy demurred, and in the end both swayed Carrie’s way. A pretty face with a great voice singing a more popular style of music is awfully tough to beat, and Bice came a little bit short of doing so.

America got it right
Though the season had its share of controversy, and some contestants were voted off a lot earlier than expected (how Nadia Turner and Constantine Maroulis got the boot before Scott Savol and Anthony Fedorov may be one of those unexplainable phenomena, like exactly what happened to Michael Jackson’s face), ultimately everything worked out.

“I’d like to congratulate America again for getting it exactly right,” Simon Cowell said before the winner was announced. In case anyone had forgotten, a series of medleys during the two-hour results show made it clear that while this season had more talented contestants than ever before, the two best made it to the final round.

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