Lauren Alaina gave it all she had in her 'American Idol' finale performance last night, but it left her unable to speak afterward.

Alaina is reportedly suffering from laryngitis, and producers were so concerned about the state of her voice yesterday that recently booted contestant Haley Reinhart was brought in as a last-minute substitute in case she couldn't perform.

Luckily, she didn't have to withdraw, but the show's on-site physician reported that she "blew out one of her vocal chords" during rehearsal, and that he "gave her a lot of medicine" to help her perform.

According to Access Hollywood, the strain placed on her voice meant that Alaina had to resort to communicating via pen and paper at the post-show press conference last night. Her rival, Scotty McCreery, gallantly lent a hand, reading her notes aloud to the assembled reporters.

We've still got a Top 8 to cut down before the next 'American Idol' is crowned but many fans and critics have shifted their focus to the one contestant who won't be in the running: Pia Toscano.

After Toscano's jaw-dropping elimination last week, 'Idol' producers have been running damage control, playing down Pia's perceived standing as a "front-runner" this season and possibly blocking any attempts for a record label to sign Toscano and drop a hit before the season even ends.

PopEater's Rob Shuter reported yesterday that Interscope Records (of which Jimmy Iovine is the chairman) is champing at the bit to get Pia signed on and in the studio recording, obviously to capitalize on the buzz/outrage over her elimination.

'American Idol' fans, Taio Cruz needs your help! The British R&B crooner has been tapped to perform an original song at the May 25 finale and 'Idol' wants fans to pen the lyrics!

Beginning tonight, fans can listen to the opening of Taio's new tune on the official 'Idol' site and submit their own original lyrics. The contest will feature four submission phases yielding three finalists, from which fans will choose their favorite.

Of course, this isn't the first time fans have had a hand in writing a song for the finale. The season 6 coronation song, 'This Is My Now,' and season 7's 'Time of My Life,' both came out of a fan songwriting contest. But writing a tune for a particular artist is another season 10 innovation.

'Idol' producers can't make this stuff up, now can they?

'American Idol' finalist Casey Abrams sings "I Don't Need No Doctor" for the save, is asked to stop mid-song and told he's indeed, getting the only save of the season.

Stunned, he falls to his feet and gives Ryan Seacrest a shock of his own, boring his wiry red beard between the host's legs. Moments later backstage, he collapses again. All this on a day that started with another blood transfusion for the fragile Abrams.

After a report from MJ's Big Blog got the 'Idol-verse' tweeting about this week's Top 13 performances being pre-taped, Nigel Lythgoe took to Twitter, himself, to address the "morons."

"There is a load of crap being discussed all the contestants sing 'live.' The show has always been recorded to the West Coast ... We are pre-taping for 2 weeks as we have a new Director & new judges. It has nothing to do with manipulation you morons."

After much teasing and hyping from Nigel Lythgoe and David Cook, the "extra treat" the season 7 winner's been working on is revealed. And surprise, surprise (?), it's the season 10 "boot" song.

At the request of 'Idol' man-behind-the-curtain Simon Fuller, Cook has recorded a somewhat-edgy update of Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)." It's obviously a fitting song to send off this season's also-rans but call me an old fuddy duddy, but I hate when the young'uns mess with my precious '80s anthems. You can give it a listen for yourself here.

Presumably we'll get to see (or at least hear) Cook perform the song tonight (most likely via a pre-recorded segment). Lee DeWyze was originally scheduled to appear but his return to the 'Idol' stage has been pushed back to a later date.

As for who will be getting the Simple Minds serenade, 'Dial Idol''s got some surprising predictions and we've got a few of our own...

***Updated***

Thursday night marks the first live results show and we've got a lot to look forward to, besides some very necessary cuts.

Not only will we get the premiere of J.Lo's video for her new single 'On the Floor,' featuring a fan-chosen ending, but season 7 winner David Cook will be performing (in lieu of Lee DeWyze, whose appearance was pushed back to later in the season).

Wait, you're gonna watch NBC's 'Office' repeat marathon, instead? What?!

Jennifer Lopez wasn't ready to say "goodbye" to Chris Medina last night and it appears she's not the only one. Jay Leno has extended an invitation for Medina to perform on 'The Tonight Show' tomorrow night (11:35PM ET on NBC).

Medina will perform a song written and produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins titled "What Are Words?" Rickey Minor and 'The Tonight Show' Band will back up the 'Idol' favorite on the performance. The song was "inspired by Medina's love story," and is available online today, according to the official press release.

Get ready to place your 'American Idol' vote via iPad, laptop or whatever the mobile computing platform of your choice might be! Nigel Lythgoe has gone on record with Access Atlanta's Rodney Ho about the advent of online voting in this season of 'Idol.'

Though the 'Idol' PR team quickly chimed in to say that the move isn't confirmed, Fox was likely hoping to release the news via a hyperbolic press release. However, Nigel has apparently saved them the trouble.

David Archuleta is the lastest 'Idol' album to get dropped from his label, in what seems to be a growing trend these days. Just a few weeks ago, word spread that former 'Idol' golden boy Clay Aiken was let go from his label, Decca. If true, Aiken and now Archuleta follow in the heavy footsteps of Taylor Hicks and Rubben Studdard, also dropped from their respective labels.

After his 2008 debut record went platinum, Archuleta was unable to follow-up the sucess with his latest album, "The Other Side of Down." The album, which was released on October 5th has sold around 63,000 units. The good news (I guess) is that Archie is still signed to 19 Entertainment, for now.

Remember way back when Season 9's Alex Lambert claimed, via Twitter, to be living on the streets? Then a rep from 19 Entertainment, which has a development deal with Lambert, claimed the contrary, citing a retainer from which Lambert recieves monthly checks.

Well, Lambert, who's been tweeting away over the past month, had this to tweet about 19 Entertainment's reponse:

"19 entertainment put me on a retainer>>?"

Then, in a response to a tweet from fellow season 9–er Andrew Garcia asking what a retainer is (umm), Lambert followed up:

"$$$ dude! These guys have been telling the media they been payin me! Makin me look like im lyin! It's a shame dude!"

Simon Cowell and the $5 million Sony recording contract 'The X Factor' is putting up for grabs might have stolen just a wee bit of lil' ol' 'American Idol's' thunder this morning, but there's still plenty of 'Idol' news to report.

And as for Simon, we'll be checking in with him later today when he talks to the press about this morning's big 'X Factor' news.

'Idol' Ratings Slip, But Still Top Competition
Many fans and 'Idol' experts agree that last week's audition episodes were less than stellar -- and the ratings seem to back it up. 'Idol' numbers continued to slip, but still tower above the competition.

Don't worry kids, little Alex Lambert from last season of 'American Idol' and, ahem, his reps from 'Idol' production company, 19 Entertainment want us to know that the soft spoken Texan is not actually homeless, in the Ted Williams sense of the word.

Lee DeWyze may have won the season 9 crown last night, but it was departing judge Simon Cowell who ultimately stole the show.

From the beginning, 'Idol' made it clear that the two-hour-plus finale would be all about the notoriously candid judge, who announced at the beginning of this year that season 9 would be his last.

The show kicked off with a few pre-taped segments that chronicled Simon's best, worst and most infamous moments on the show. On tap to honor Simon were fellow-'Idol' cohorts Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, Ellen DeGeneres and, yes, even Paula Abdul, who recalled everything from their panel feuds to their staged kiss during a previous finale.