Kelly Clarkson Helps ‘American Idol’ End With A Big Bang
Kelly Clarkson voted for the first time on American Idol, in order to ensure that the illustrious TV show’s alpha and omega are both female. The Inquisitr caught the Season 1 champion tweeting: “I have never voted for anyone on American Idol, not even for myself BUT I will be voting for La’Porsha Renae tonight. I need her future record!”
The stars, however, weren’t on Miss Independent’s side that night. And yet, no matter what the stars had in store, Clarkson was an unstoppable force of nature. Her guest performance would ultimately prove why she was the original champion of the show or Ms. American Idol, no less. As if she were one of the last two contestants holding on to dear life on the popular TV show’s 15th and last gig, she belted out her hit tunes as if there were no tomorrow. And the Los Angeles Times concludes that “Kelly Clarkson slays her performance.”
Kelly Clarkson so owned the stage that she even managed to poke fun at herself after an emotional tour de force. People caught up with Clarkson tweeting: “Who’s that sweaty, pregnant girl singing??….oh snap that’s me hahaha!!”
Clarkson didn’t get what she wished for, as the male contender got the last song. Still, the American Idol finale didn’t disappoint as the show demonstrated for the 15th and last time that miracles can happen with sheer determination, faith in oneself, and of course, pure talent.
The truth is that Kelly Clarkson and Trent Harmon have so many things in common. Perhaps they just don’t know it yet. “The final winner was ultimately the final ‘American Idol‘ surprise,” the Los Angeles Times trumpets.
“Trent Harmon, the 25-year-old Mississippi farm boy and waiter at his family restaurant, the earnest fellow who trained himself not to make silly faces when he sang and wrote every word the judges ever told him down in a tattered leather-bound journal, the guy who suffered through Hollywood Week sweating and struggling with mono and still managed to make all the way to the finale, crossed the finish line to snatch the crown away.”
'American Idol' Finale Announces Last Ever Winner #IdolFinale https://t.co/w16pmNrIqr pic.twitter.com/TgJj8MKZTX
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) April 8, 2016
Such words will help audiences recall how Clarkson wasn’t even the favorite of all the Idol judges including Simon Cowell. She did, however, end up conquering everyone with her hard work, superior dedication, and winning attitude. The two outcomes, one on the first ever Idol competition and just recently the 15th iteration of the same contest formula, prove that singing prowess and the votes of the masses come only secondary to Olympic qualities.
Bustle quotes a Clarkson convert, who sums it up succinctly: “Back in Sept. 2002. I may have been rooting for Guarini due to his connection to Philadelphia and his curly hair, two things I’m a sucker for, but I can say with full confidence now that she not only deserved to win Season 1 of American Idol, but that Kelly Clarkson is the greatest American Idol winner in the show’s history.”
Caitlin Gallagher, the convert, has so perfectly documented all the Kelly Clarkson hits through the years, but with a twist. Perhaps no other documentation mirrors the struggles that the artist went through as a daughter, wife, and mother. Clarkson’s non-human match will probably be the Thorn Birds, which author Colleen McCullough poignantly describes in her famous novel:
“There is a legend about a bird… it searches for a thorn tree and does not stop until it has found one. Then singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale.”
Anyone who has survived an American Idol competition knows this by heart: “That the best is only bought at the cost of great pain.” And truly, all the pains of the career woman, the daughter, the wife, and the mother who is Kelly Clarkson has gone through have made the performer what she is today.
[Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images]