Carrie Underwood is always flying the flag for hard rock and heavy metal on American Idol (who can forget her impromptu audition-room covers of Korn and Drowning Pool last year?), so when she got to perform “Home Sweet Home” (a song she recorded as Idol’s farewell anthem in Season 9) and “Kickstart My Heart” with her heroes Motley Crue on this week’s Season 24 finale, she was in rock ‘n’ roll heaven.

“It was great. They were very lovely, and I’m like, ‘Welcome to my fever dream!’” the champion-turned-judge excitedly told reporters backstage Monday. “I don’t know how to describe this. It’s so random and amazing. I feel like American Idol has given me so much. Obviously being on the show, winning the show, coming back as judge… and now I’m singing with Billy Idol and Motley Crue? I’m just loving life right now.”

Unfortunately, while Underwood was thrilled with country singer Hannah Harper’s victory this year — describing herself as “a stan for Hannah” and saying, “I see a bit of myself in her” — her hopes of crowing a rock champion, or even just having rock representation in the top 10, were quickly dashed this year.

All of Season 24′s hard-rockin’ early standouts — like Noah Orion (that double-demin’d dude who cruised up to the auditions in his “wall of sound” deconstructed school bus, screeching Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades”), emo belter Vincent Fondale, butt-rockers Kutter Bradley and Isaiah Moro, alt girl Genevieve Heyward, or even seasoned Great White frontman Brett Carlisle — went home early. Only Kutter and Genevieve even made it to fan-voted rounds.

But Underwood revealed that it was the elimination of another rocker in the top 20 (one that covered Heart’s “Alone,” a power ballad that was a breakthrough for Carrie in Season 4) that upset her the most. “Madison Moon was my girl,” she lamented. “She had such an incredible voice. I was devastated when she left.”

Underwood is all for having a metal-themed night in Season 25, although she “might pick more, like, nü-metal” if it was up to her. But which rock star would she want to be Nü-Metal Night’s guest mentor or judge?

“I’m friends with Jacoby Shaddix and he’s so uplifting and positive and amazing. I think he would be an incredible mentor,” she suggested, referring to the lead singer of recent collabortors Papa Roach. “I mean, there’s a lot of subgenres within the metal genre, so I think there’s something for everybody.”

So, Underwood still hasn’t given up on her fever dream that a hard-rocker from any subgenre could win American Idol one day, following in the footsteps of Season 13’s Caleb Johnson. “I’m always trying to encourage the rock singers when they come on the show, and I will give them a chance,” she declared. “Maybe we just need to keep at it. If we keep at it, then eventually America will be on board.”

John Foster and Jamal Roberts, seconds before Ryan Seacrest’s Season 23 winner announcement.

It seems wrong to call Jamal Roberts’s victory on the American Idol Season 23 finale a “surprise,” since he is without question one of the greatest male vocalists to ever compete on the show. But many Idol pundits, myself included, thought that teen country crooner John Foster, who ultimately placed second, might prevail instead.

“We had no idea what was going to happen coming into it, even until the last moment,” judge Carrie Underwood admitted backstage after Sunday’s grand finale. Judge Lionel Richie gave runner-up Foster his props, declaring, “As far as I’m concerned, we ended up tonight with two No. 1 people,” and longtime executive producer/showrunner Megan Michaels Wolflick said Season 23’s result “felt like an old-school Idol finale; it felt like Ruben-versus-Clay in that way.” But it was not lost on Richie that Roberts became the first Black man to win Idol since Ruben Studdard did so 22 years ago, and he had much to say about this landmark victory.

“Everybody thinks that we are never going to get back to something, or we’re never going to be able to do that again. And the answer is, we are,” declared Richie. “I think what I loved the most was America needed to see the two of them standing together. Together. That’s what I pray for America, because we’re a melting pot. We’re not just one particular tribe. And so, to see them together was just the picture I was hoping for.

“And now that Jamal won, I don’t have to call anybody in Atlanta, Ga., and [explain] why he didn’t win! You know what I’m sayin’?” Richie continued, chuckling, before adding more seriously: “And by the way, that’s 26 million votes. So, I’m going to tell you right now, if you think it’s all Black folks, if you think it’s all Latinos, I’m telling you that America voted.”

The stunned judges react to Jamal’s win.

Wolflick enthused, “I feel great about it!” when asked about Roberts’s win, calling it “an amazing icing on top of the American Idol cake.” Reflecting on the 27-year-old Mississippi soul stylist’s wide-ranging appeal, she mused, “Jamal had something that fired up something in people. I follow X [Twitter], the whole show, and I’m on there looking at everything… and multiple people were saying, ‘I have not voted on this show since Fantasia.’ And I was like, whoa. And the wild part was, I wanted Fantasia to come back last year as a mentor — it was her 20-year anniversary — and this year she finally agreed, and it was written in the stars to have her mentor Jamal. I was literally that morning driving, and I was like, ‘I am living for this moment of Jamal and Fantasia meeting!’ Because people were calling him ‘Mantasia.’ … So, he was firing up something in people.”

“Jamal was undeniable,” added Richie. “I remember what my grandmother used to say: ‘When you’re Black and you win, it’s not because you’re good — you’re the best that ever was.”

“When you look at a kid like him from Meridian, Miss., that’s never had an ounce of training and all that, and you look at how complex and wonderful his voice is, he kind of really tugged on my heartstrings, on every facet of his journey, to win,” said judge Luke Bryan. Bryan was always impressed by Roberts, but said he started to see Roberts as the potential winner once Season 23’s performance episodes began.

“You started hearing him with a mic, and then he started dressing the part, looking the part, and then he starts really working on these songs. I think the original ‘Heal’ moment, when he did ‘Heal’ a couple of episodes ago, I was like, ‘This kid is on a whole ‘nother level of creative brain,’” Bryan marveled. “I mean, when you talk about his creativeness and all of the stuff that he did on the ‘Heal’ recording that just went out [as Roberts’s debut single], he ad-libbed that in the studio. So, he’s a special person. … It’s instinct, straight from the heavens or whatever religion you believe. It is right out of the heavens that he is that gifted of a natural singer. … They’re techniques that cannot be taught. He just has them.”

As for the sort of music that Roberts, who tackled all genres during his Idol run, will or should release after “Heal,” Richie asserted, “If tomorrow he wanted the sing country, he’s going to sing the hell out of country. Because now, if you understand how the music business works… it’s just music now. There’s no more ‘country.’ There’s no more ‘R&B.’ It’s called ‘Jamal is a popular artist.’” Richie also joked (or perhaps he wasn’t joking), “I’m going to try to write as many songs as I can for him. Are you kidding me? I won’t let that brother get too far.”

As for this season’s other judge, Underwood, she had a unique perspective when it comes to Roberts’s future. When she won Idol Season 4, two decades ago, the entire industry was different — millions of fans bought physical CDs and watched terrestrial network television, and the series was so new and buzzy that winning pretty much guaranteed some success, at least in the short-term. But Underwood said if Roberts continues to grind as hard as he did throughout this season, he can enjoy long-term success.

“I feel like at the end of the day, we all have our paths. I mean, this happens in so many different instances, just in the entertainment industry. Somebody will have a great movie, and then you never hear from them again. Somebody will have a great first album, and then you never hear from them again. It’s all an opportunity,” said Underwood. “It’s all a launching pad, and then you’ve got to go out and you’ve got to hustle. And you’ve got to kind of hope that the good Lord’s guiding your steps. But this is an incredible opportunity, that I know he can make the most of.”