In a very rare move for “American Idol,” executive producer Nigel Lythgoe effectively revealed the vote total for an eliminated contestant prior to the season finale.
Lythgoe confirmed on his Twitter that Haley Reinhart, who was eliminated Thursday, received “over 25 million votes” for her Top 3 performance. The context suggests “over 25 million” is more likely to be 25.5 million or 26 million than 30 million, so his comment also implies that Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, the final two, shared about 70 million of the 95 million votes cast.
“Idol”‘s few vote count reveals, which are always somewhat ambiguous, have usually come when the voting was notably close. In this case, the confirmation of Reinhart’s vote count either reveals the extent to which Scotty and Lauren were more popular than Haley or cements the fact that one of the final two contestants is clearly more popular than the other (thereby suggesting next week’s finale might not have a close voting outcome). Regardless of the correct conclusion, it is clear that this was not a “pick ’em” for the top three; America had a clear favorite or pair of favorites.
— In other Haley Reinhart news, Lythgoe strongly implied that the third-place finisher will release a record with mentor Jimmy Iovine, who leads Interscope-Geffen-A&M. He wrote, “Jimmy played me a song for Haley’s record yesterday. Let’s hope all the people that are professing love buy it and give her a great start,” wryly referencing the fact that Haley Reinhart supporters have aggressively ripped Thursday’s results announcement.
That old queen Lythgloe is lying. The results are fixed.
You are right he is lying but I am happy Haley got a record deal. I never watched Idol before this year and got addicted to it because of Haley! She will do great! Can’t wait to hear her music!!!
I wish Haley success in her own genre. I’m not a fan of her attitude and style, and because Haley’s fans have been so aggressive on the internet and polls, I voted aggressively for Lauren and Scotty. I don’t think the high number of votes means that those 3 are any more popular than other contestants in the past.
Now there’s a reason to vote – to spite other fans. It’s a talent show. You should be voting for the people you like. Period.
Haley deserved to be there and handled herself extremely well, despite being the ONLY contestant to deal with the vitriol of the judges (which I suspect was directed by the producers).
I will buy a Haley CD as soon as it comes available. I have already purchased all of her AI songs on iTunes.
Your poor reasoning ability is why this country is in such decline. I bet you think George Bush was a great president too.
Not that I’m defending any position but you’re one to talk about reasoning. “I bet you think George Bush was a great president too” is a red herring logical fallacy. I’d suggest you look it up before you start criticizing others’ reasoning.
I WILL DEFINATELY WILL BUY HALEY CD AS SOON IT COMES OUT, SHE WAS JUST AS GOOD AS LAUREN AND SCOTTY AND SHE WILL DO BETTER THEN EVERY ONE IN THE LONG RUN.
I think Hailey is definitely readY for a record deal…VERY TALENTED GIRL!!
yes! a Haley record please! Never watched idol until I saw her and then couldnt get enough of her. wow what a voice so sultry! has anybody notice the number of views she gets in you tube? way more than the sweet girl Lauren and about the same (or more) than Scotty, specially in the last month.
judging by dial idol this means that Scotty got about 42 million and Lauren about 28 million votes—which by the way doesnt mean people–means votes and we know nobody cant compete when it comes to voting with teenagers and country fans…they’ll vote till their fingers bleed.
Change the flipping way Idol votes. One vote per person, not who can text the fastest in a two – hour time slot?
I AM a huge fan and feel she is by far the MOST talented of them all. She has style, delivery and most of all the pipes with perfect pitch. Her parents are largely responsible for that and that is highly admirable indeed in this day and age. I wish her the highest levels of success and plan on buying her CD as soon as it’s available. She is a knock out. I like the fact she is NOT intimidated by others and stands her ground, she does NOT have an attitude. If she has one it’s a GOOD one that’s for sure.
I agree 100% with you Lee, I couldn’t have said it better. The girl has got “IT” !
OMG!!! plz record Haley!! I <3 UR MUSIC!! wayy better than scotty or lauren!! U ROCK!! i was so sad that u got voted off….but get a singing contract!!
That’s some awesome news! Glad to hear she’s getting a record deal soon. I’m definitely buying her CD. She’s the best!
Such an awesome voice! Yes, I think she lost only because unhappy people had nothing better to do than to deliberately vote her off out of spite. We love you Haley! We’ll buy your music!
Here’s the deal: I you were able to take a vote with a one vote per caller, how do you really think this thing would have turned out? What’s that? Approximately 1 million kids voting 95 time? Probably not but you can bet that Haley probably would have beaten out Lauren with a legitimate voting system. We bitch and moan at the slightest hint of multiple voting in our national and local elections but AI looks like a fool standing there and bragging about 95 million votes. Really! B.S. Until they fix this the best singers will be sent packing while the little cute teenie contestants win out. Not right. Let them all stand up to a real test and get only one vote per caller or just on internet. get real AI…
By the way Haley has more YouTube views than the other 2 and she has enough iTunes downloads to show people that she has a market. she will be a start no matter how much the Haley haters piss and moan about it….
I am still reeling from Haley’s elimination from IA. I have her on my DVR from the Idol shows and I have been listening to her numbers several times, especially House of the Rising Sun and I Who Have Nothing. The only reason I am watching AI this week is because I heard Haley was singing an original number. I WILL be buying her first CD. I agree with the rest of you about Idol changing the voting
next year. It’s either that or I refuse to watch and risk feeling the disappointment that I felt since the elimination show. I also feel that the judges were so unfair to that young woman. She never looked as though she felt sorry for herself, but I was completelycrushed FOR her.
I’m not excited about the finale. I expect Scotty will win, but I don’t think he’s as good as Lauren. Neither one is as good as Haley. I don’t know where you heard it, but if Haley is singing an original song, I’m excited to hear it.
Scotty and Lauren will both have successful 2nd tier country careers, not because they aren’t talented, but because there are so many performers out ther just like them. It requires something unique to be a real star and that is why Haley’s success will eclipse both of them.
By the way, I am a country fan when it’s good. As she proved when she sang “Blue” if she chose to sing country, Haley would blow these kids out of the water.
I love Haley also…I am no longer watching Idol since she is off…she is sooo talented and original..I will be buying her cd as soon as it comes out….and she can sing country also…Blue was amazing..as was everything she sang….shes amazing…Love her
I do hope Haley gets a record deal. I will definitely buy here record. She has a great voice and very unique singing style. There’s nothing like her out there.
Love Haley….the show is a complete bore without her….I am not watching anymore…and the judges were horrible….JLo was sooo jealous….I will be buying her cd….when will she be on Jay Leno or some late night show…the others were
If Haley has such a great voice, why was she rejected last year? Can’t work it out.
Well Little Lauren also got rejected TWO times in her America’s Got Talent tryouts. While Haley tried again in one year, then got 5 standing O throughout the show and made the climb to the top 3 from a rough beginning and unfair judges.
Bottom line : We DON’T CARE about the winner anymore. Haley’s got robbed, and we Haley fans now only want to listen to her music. That’s all.
If she doesn’t have such a great voice, why has she been in the studio working on her first album for the last two months? She’ll wrap it up by the end of the year and it’ll be released in the first quarter of 2012.
Haley in the Chicago Tribune today: “Right now I’m leaning toward a very retro, Motown sound from the ‘60s that has some hip-hop drum beats mixed in …” “There’s definitely soul in all of it. I really do like where it’s going. I have a lot of fun doing the background (vocals) and everything else. I’m a huge fan of three-part harmonies — all the little things that make it a song.”
Compare the liberty of that slow artistic process to Scotty and Lauren who they had record on tour in order to strike while the iron was hot.
I guess you could say Haley is a good singer, if you like listening to two cats growling and screeching at each other. Seriously, Haley is NOT a good singer. The Idol judges gave so little criticism to the contestants, but how could they NOT tell her how horrible her voice was? She butchered Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song”. She has potential, but she does major over kill on the jazzy growling.
Lauren and Scotty had her beat hands down and there’s NO WAY James Durbin should have gone home before Haley. James has an AMAZING voice! Not to mention more crowd appeal. Haley started showing some of her true colors towards the end, arguing with the judges’ comments, rolling her eyes, and not to mention the look on her face when she was eliminated. It was CLEAR that she felt she should have stayed and Lauren should have gone home. In reality there were MANY other contestants that should have outlasted Haley in the competition by several weeks!
I liked both Haley and James, I believe James did great the first half the show but in those last two weeks James was the worst singer. Being off some early is normal but for James to have those kind of problem that last in season means he should have gone home. the earth song was a bad pick but even MJ did that song poorly and Haley hit it note for note, while it was over growl at the end, MJ screaming was little better and hard for any girl to fully copy.
It’s ok…we now realize you only want and care about mainstream music… Name a song scotty song well without using his country style of singing please…
Lauren has trouble holding notes and goes sharp/flat often plus she has no stage presence.
Bottom line is that haley actually experimented with her style and had many songs where she had her growly voice to a minimum. If you can’t respect that dont comment
Let’s see what other singers have to say…
Adam Lambert:
“I love Haley so much because musically and vocally, she’s doing things that are at a top-notch level. It’s incredible how Haley makes it look so easy and effortless. Plus, she’s having fun up there. I don’t feel like she’s working so hard to prove herself or to prove a point. She’s just singing and taking joy in music. I wish the judges gave her a little bit more praise because what she’s doing is technically superb.”
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Melinda Doolittle:
“Haley won me over back when she sang “Benny and the Jets”, but she made me a true believer during last week’s result show performance of “Moanin’” with Casey. This girl can just flat out sing. I was watching the show last night with some of my favorite singers and we were in awe of what her voice can do. She can go from a raspy tone to one that is as clear as a bell in a matter of seconds. She has the vocal flexibility of a singer twice her age. She is amazing.”
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Jackie Tohn:
“Haley for me is one of the freshest girls I’ve seen on Idol ever…That girl is a ridiculous singer. I can’t even put my brain…like, when you’re a singer, you have to, like, go there in your head, like Can I go there, can I… oh I kind of know I can’t do that. She doesn’t even have that. Like, she just goes anywhere she tries. And J Lo said that to her one night, she was like, “You don’t even have a barrier vocally.” So for me, her voice is so gorgeous, that I could definitely do with some less “growl.” And I think that’s why she polarizes people. A lot of my friends are like, “Oh, that girl that growls all the time?” And I’m like, “Are you hearing how sick her voice is under that?”
Ugh. Went through all this hatred with Adam, and here we are again with Haley. I am so tired of hearing about Haley’s so-called bad attitude, sheeeesh. She was honest with her emotions and didn’t stand there with a fake plastic smile on her face when unfair – and obviously fake – criticism was being hurled at her. That makes her rude / arrogant how exactly??
AFAIC, Haley & Adam were two of the most talented contestants to ever hit the Idol stage. But unimaginative ears only want to hear straight-up vanilla – even though it’s really good vanilla – voices like Kris’ Lauren’s & Scotty’s. Which is FINE. But when you bash the likes of Adam and Haley saying they are only screaming / growling, I’m sorry but you need your ears checked. If you don’t like their style, fine, but saying they do not have talent because they don’t fit in some neat little aural box is ridiculous. Opera sporano singing is not at all pleasing to MY ears, but I’m not idiotic enough to call the singers untalented. I understand that something can be technically brilliant even if I don’t personally like it.
Judging by Lady Gaga’s success, I have hope there’s a place for the wonderfully weird and off-centre voice of Haley’s and I can’t wait to see what she’ll do with her record if she has one – she more than deserves one.
I’m ready to hear Haleys song, they should go ahead and release it I believe it will hit number one on itunes. Haley can sing most any type of music.I saw the vote on dialidol the day that she got sent home, Scotty was the one who got the most votes but Lauren and Haley were close. I still believe if Haley would have been in the final two she may have won.