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| Transfixed: Candice Glover can't seem to take in her new status as 'American Idol' champion, but runner-up Kree Harrison and host Ryan Seacrest are thrilled enough to make up for it. |
And in the end, all was right in "Idol" world. The best woman won. Candice Glover, who out-sang everyone throughout a long, often painful season, was crowned "American Idol" Season 12 winner Thursday night.
Candice's victory over Kree Harrison breaks a streak of five consecutive male winners. But we've known that for more than a month, since the last guy was eliminated during top 6 week. She's also the first out-and-out R&B singer to win since Fantasia, nine years ago. And she won the way an Idol should win -- not because she was a pin-up or hunk or had a tragic back story, but because she was the best singer.
The finale, which ran more than two hours, vividly reminded us of what a long, often painful (but sometimes spectacular) season it has been, with musical horrors and highlights galore. It started with a charming, unplanned moment: Candice and Kree were posed in a solemn face-off to underscore the gravity of the situation. But Kree couldn't hold the stern face and broke into a wide smile.
Then the final 10 welcomed viewers to the celebration with a pallid performance of the Wanted's infectious "Glad You Came." The camera panned the audience to show hordes of former Idols. The Band Perry sang its current single, "Done," with attitude to spare and plenty of pogo-ing and pyrotechnics, plus guest vocals from Janelle Arthur.
The traditional "Idol" finale comedy bits commenced with one of the better examples of the form (though the bar has previously been set about as low as a dancer in a Flo Rida video). The top five guys were shown speculating about their early, consecutive departures, which they blamed on being "sabotaged" by their female competition. (Best bit: Janelle altering the musical score for Lazaro's stunningly inept version of "Close to You.") In the end, it turned out to be a plot hatched by the last female winner, Jordin Sparks, who when asked how she and the others pulled off the prank, told the guys, "It actually was pretty easy. None of you guys play guitar." She offered some consolation by telling them, "The good news is that 'Idol' leftovers have been doing really well on 'The Voice.' "
The guys went straight into a medley of Four Seasons songs, sounding like the Turgid Boys, so clearly the sabotage had not concluded. Fortunately, this presentation of a full cheese platter was improved by the appearance of Frankie Valli himself, who at 76 retains that piercing tone that cuts right through the "Grease" (and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" as well).
The medley virus proved to be catching, as Mariah Carey made her long-delayed first performance of the season with a whole raft of her hits. Dressed in a gown straight from the film "Big Mermaid," she showed off all the vocal trills and frills that have ruined a generation of copycat "Idol" contestants, and even threw in one of her patented high notes for the dogs in the audience – specifically Randy, who may have been backing her up (didn't see him).
The musical merry-go-round continued to whirl with Emeli Sande's "Next to Me," sung by Candice earlier in the season, being passed on to Amber Holcomb, who was joined by Sande, who provided a useful jolt of energy. Plenty of product placement for Ford Fiesta, in the form of a greatest-bits montage from the season's contestant commercials, culminated in the presentation of two Fiestas to Candice and Kree's designated family mentors.
On the previous night, Carly Rae Jepsen attempted to extend her time in the spotlight. This night, it was the Gangnam Stylist himself, Psy, trying to prolong his own fruit-fly pop lifespan with his current single, "Gentlemen," which is something of a Shakespearean classic -- sound and fury signifying nothing.
Keith Urban premiered his new single, "Little Bit of Everything," a pleasant if lightweight offering that was followed by a heavyweight offering: Candice and Jennifer Hudson dueting on Natalie Cole's lounge ballad "Inseparable." After Mariah's exhibition, it was the evening's second advanced crash course in over-singing, particularly Jennifer, who rarely strayed from a braying vibrato.
But just as on regular performance episodes of "Idol," when wretched excess can lead into unexpected brilliance, musical events took a significant turn for the better. Angie Miller launched into a grave version of Sia's "Titanium" and was quickly joined by Adam Lambert for a duet that at times approached the exquisite. Angie then achieved one of her goals by singing with Jessie J. Happily, it was Jessie's best song, the lively Katy Perry knock-off "Domino," which contains some of the raciest lyrics Angie has yet sung. Ryan Seacrest also announced that Angie had released a version of the original song she poleaxed the judges with during Hollywood Week, "You Set Me Free," but her planned performance of it had to be cut to make room for the Lambert and Jessie J duets. Jessie then invited her to the UK to perform it during one of her (Jessie's) concerts. So, good night for Angie.
More comedy: The contestants "dished" on the quirks of the judges. This was only occasionally funny, mostly when they poked fun at Randy's indiscriminate use of the immortal phrase "in it to win it." Randy more or less took over the show for the next several minutes, playing bass behind Kree and Keith on the latter's "Where the Blacktop Ends," which was enjoyable as a chance to hear Kree sing an uptempo number and Keith shred a little. Then came a full-blown farewell to Randy, featuring subtitled dogs and their video montage of the highlights of his "Idol" judicial tenure.
Beamed via satellite from New York, Aretha Franklin gave her propers to Candice and, with the top five girls on backups, sang a medley of "Natural Woman," "I Never Loved a Man, "Respect" and "Think" – a sublime moment. That, you might have thought, would have been a fitting performance conclusion to the evening before the results were revealed – what could top it, a Nicki Minaj number? (As it turned out, she was the one judge conspicuous in her absence from the musical stage.)
Nope. After Candice and Kree got the keys to their new Ford Escapes and a long and tedious montage of the season's highlights aired, Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull appeared to sing "Live It Up," their catchy dance number. Then Candice and Kree turned in a final duet on the dull Fifth Dimension hit "One Less Bell to Answer," before the envelope was at last opened. Candice managed to make her way through her new single, "I Am Beautiful," and the season came to a satisfying close.
Looking back at the final two, Kree was certainly a worthy adversary for Candice -- in most years she would have made a terrific crown bearer. (Same goes for the season's No. 3, Angie.) But Kree never quite put together one of those definitive Idol Moments that are a huge contributor to the show's longevity.
Candice, on the other hand, had at least three, maybe four depending on how highly you rated her version of "Somewhere." But without question, her first performance of "I (Who Have Nothing)," her brilliant transformation of "Lovesong," and her Wednesday reprise of "Nothing" were "Idol" performances for the annals. And, crucially, she was more than competent even on her least interesting moments.
As with all "Idol" winners, the big question is whether her triumph on the show will translate into stardom. It worked for Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. Fantasia, Ruben Stoddard and Scotty McCreery have achieved lasting genre prominence, and Phillip Phillips is off to a promising start. Candice's challenge will be to find a contemporary style that will mesh comfortably with her retro-soul leanings, and that may not be a piece of cake. But for now, she's won one of the show's most well-deserved victories.
Ken Barnes for MSN
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