LOL.......you are hung up on that Star Search thing!
The SS thing was what they used to do to win. Find a song that let's you go for a rafter-shaker and get the audience to applaud.
It is IMHO a cover when someone can't just sing, like over-virbato or over-vamping. It is also kinda ameraturish.
So when I hear them going for the easy "big note" I'll call it. But it has been nice that in this competition they don't do it a lot.