'American Idol': The week in review

Newly minted American Idol, Phillip Phillips, dropped by The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Thursday night to discuss his Idol win, health issues, and why he’s scared of Jennifer Lopez.

Season 7 alum Brooke White gave birth to a healthy baby girl at a Los Angeles area hospital on Thursday. Brooke and her husband, Dave Ray, named her London in honor of Ray’s British family who are all from the London area. “Baby London is here,” Ray tells People magazine. “Our girl came in at 6:41 p.m. and is 8 lbs., 12 oz.!”

Season 8 runner-up, Adam Lambert, did not Plead the Fifth during a segment of the same name on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live last night. When asked to say three nice things about season 2 runner-up, Clay Aiken, Lambert raised an eyebrow and said, “Can’t think of any!” For those of you out of the loop, Aiken reacted negatively to Lambert’s audacious “Ring of Fire” performance back in 2009. In a post on his official fansite, Aiken called the performance awful, contrived and “slightly frightening.” Watch Lambert’s response here.

Here’s an interesting read. The Daily Beast interviewed 70 American Idol alums to find out how post-Idol life is treating them. The reality for some of these kids is not so glamorous. Season 6 fan favorite Sanjaya Malakar, unable to parlay his breakout into a career, tends bar in the East Village. Season 1’s A.J. Gill was homeless for awhile before he found God. Season 3’s Camille Velasco made sandwiches at Subway for a time. And did you know that Jordin Sparks was turned down for a role on the FOX dramedy Glee?

Can you imagine Carrie Underwood as a heavy metal teenager? It’s true! She reveals to The Boot that she had a wilder side in high school back in Oklahoma. “You know those stupid school pictures that you’d always forget about until you got there? I wore those wide-legged jeans, like skater wide-legged jeans, and a black-and-white oversized plaid shirt,” Carrie confessed. “And I remember when I got my picture back, one of my friends saying I looked like I was going to go rob somebody. Like I was a menace!” Carrie further explained, “I grew up listening to ’80s glam hair metal. Then, when I got older in the ’90s, the whole grunge thing was huge and I was totally into it. I was all about Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and all of that stuff.”

Idol fans witnessed season 5’s Ace Young propose to a surprised but happy Diana DeGarmo (season 3 runner-up) on Wednesday’s finale. Now see the engagement ring. Young selected an 18-karat yellow gold, platinum, and diamond ring after DeGarmo hinted that “gold needs to come back.” The sparkler, from David Webb (obvious product placement!) boasts a 1-carat fancy yellow center stone and two side diamonds weighing .2 carats.

Cute overload! On Tuesday night, season 10 runner-up, Lauren Alaina, brought out season 10 winner, Scotty McCreery, as a surprise guest during her set at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. They crooned “When You Say Nothing at All” to each other — a song they performed nightly on last summer’s Idol tour. McCreery had just finished singing the exit song “Please Remember Me” on the Idol final performance show a few hours earlier.

Haley Reinhart celebrated the release of her debut album, Listen Up!, at the Hard Rock Café in Los Angeles Tuesday night. The season 10 alum’s six-song set included her single “Free,” plus “Wasted Tears,” “Hit the Ground Running” and “Now That You’re Here” from the album. She also performed an Idol favorite, “House of the Rising Sun,” and the Beatles’ “Oh Darling.” Watch Haley work her sultry magic on “Not That You’re Here.”

The world lost the queen of disco, Donna Summer, to cancer last week. To honor her, season 8 winner Kris Allen sang her hit song “She Works Hard for the Money” at the Fort Myers Spring Fling on Saturday. Allen performed the song memorably on disco week during the 2009 competition.

Can you spot the Idol alums in this group performance of “Lean on Me” led by the legendary Stevie Wonder? It all went down at the Race to Erase MS Fundraiser in Beverly Hills last Friday night. Idol alums, David Cook (season 7 winner), Taylor Hicks (season 5 winner), Diana DeGarmo (season 3 runner-up), Ace Young (season 5), Pia Toscano (season 10), and Jacob Lusk (season 10) took part.

More on EW.com:

Jennifer Holliday’s amazing duet with Jessica Sanchez

‘American Idol’ season finale: Recap

‘American Idol’: Jessica Sanchez’s and Phillip Phillips’ coronation singles