Newly crowned "American Idol" Scotty McCreery reflects on his "crazy ride"

"They're trying to work out the specifics right now about where we're going to be playing, the booth signings and maybe playing the Grand Ole Opry," he said excitedly.

McCreery was considered a frontrunner in the competition, but last night (5/25) he wasn't so confident that he was going to win.

"My thought was [Lauren] wrapped it up when she sang that momma song," he said of "Like My Mother Does." "That's one of the most beautiful songs I've heard. I was more than nervous coming into it last night. It worked in my favor, but Lauren, she's sweet. She's been supporting me and I've been supporting her through this whole process. We're really close friends and we both came out winners last night."

"How close are they?" was the question that fans were asking last night after the two finalists quickly kissed.

"We've been getting that question a lot today," a poised McCreery said. "It's more like the brother-sister thing. She's a character. But she's lovely. We're really close friends. I met her day one of Hollywood week. We were schoolmates through this whole experience. It's great but it's more of a brother-sister thing between us."

But he's impressed with her skills as a singer, he said.

"Lauren Alaina, she's something else," he said. "She sings like a bird. She's an amazing young lady."

McCreery said he never let self-doubt get in the way of his vision of winning "American Idol," even with all the blog chatter of him being a frontrunner.

"I've heard people say the frontrunner stuff and the favorite," he said. "To me, it never even crossed my mind like that. Everybody this year from Top 40 down was so talented. It was just an amazing ride. As far as doubting myself, I don't think I ever gave myself a chance. I've always had confidence in me. It was weird, the nerves for this show. It's something else."

He admitted he had a game plan going into the competition -- sticking with country music.

"Everybody had their own niche," McCreery said. "Casey [Abrams] was singing this jazzy kind of rocker growl music. Jacob [Lusk] sang his gospel music. James [Durbin] sang his rock music and I sang my country music. We all had that same niche. They do different songs, but we all had that same genre we like to stay to. Country music's me. It's what I grew up with. It's what I do. I didn't have any intention on changing. If it got me this far, why change it up?"

Now that the show is over, McCreery is looking forward to getting his music out in the marketplace. He said is work on "Idol" is done, and now "it's time for the real job to start."

"We've already recorded two [songs]," he said. "We weren't sure which one we were going to do. 'I Love You This Big' turned out to be the one that we did. The other one I'm really excited about, too. I think it's going to be a great album. I gotta pick some good songs. That's what it's all about after the show is getting good songs. The fans got me to where I am now. So it's my job to get them the music they want to hear. Hopefully me and Lauren Alaina get to do a duet sometime. I'm not sure about the first album, but hopefully sometime soon."