‘American Idol’ notes: Scotty McCreery, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Lopez

For this edition of “American Idol” notes, we’re making this article about not only videos, but also upcoming releases and tabloid rumors. With that in mind, why not start things off here with an announcement via Scotty McCreery?

According to USA Today, Scotty said at a recent concert that his sophomore album (excluding his Christmas effort) will be released in October. There is still no title for the disc, but we know that his lead single “See You Tonight” will be on there. This is going to probably be a big record for Scotty, since it could really determine whether or not he breaks out in the industry, or just becomes a consistent player in the background for several years to come.

New videos – Here, we have a couple of new videos that have come our way in the past week:

1. During Carrie Underwood’s closing performance at CMA Fest, she rocked out with a very different take on the classic “Paradise City.” You want to know how you can tell a great country artist? When they can do other genres other than country, and you still love them just as much (if not more).

2. Fantasia made an appearance at an Andrea Bocelli concert recently, and performed a stirring duet with him to the standard “When I Fall In Love.” We have to admit that this performance was a subtle reminder of the days of “Summertime,” still one of the best performances in the history of the show. (Video via Mjsbigblog.)

Rumors! – Finally, we turn to a Radar Online report that Jennifer Lopez met recently with “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest, and that this could be some sort of evidence that she is going to be taking on a judging role on the show again.

Is that really happening? Don’t count on it. A source tells Gossip Cop that this meeting was for a different project, and we don’t really see a reason why Fox would want to bring back someone who really didn’t work as a judge the first time around.

If you want to see who is going to be the new executive producer for “American Idol” moving forward, all you have to do is click here.

Photo: Fox