The “American Idol” finale was pure genius on the evening of Wednesday, May 25, when a creative combination of contemporary gospel icon Kirk Franklin, legendary soul diva Gladys Knight and former “Idol” contestant Jacob Lusk rocked the house singing Franklin’s current hit, “Smile.”
Franklin entered the stage to cheers and addressed the audience very briefly, then surprisingly headed for the baby grand as Lusk came out and led the song alone until Knight astonished the crowd when she joined the two. It was amazing. People were singing, arms were swaying high in the air, and there were plenty of “smiles” to go around!
But that’s not all.
Beyoncé, who appeared on the show last week as a coach and mentor, shocked everyone when she broke onto the stage after six former female contestants performed a medley of her greatest hits and shook, pumped and swerved out “Crazy in Love.” Oh, my, it was Bey in rare for
m! Later, she returned to debut her new sultry, pleading song, “Make Love to Me.” (See video here on rolling out.)
Since there are only two contestants remaining and a winner will be announced before the night is over, the show was filled with exciting performances with past contestants and professionals joining together as well as compelling clips from the entire season.
Uh-oh, wait! That’s still not all. Out came Lil Jon and TLC onto the stage, heating things up with “Waterfalls.” They look as good as they sound! J Lo danced for her husband, Marc Antony, as he sang a sexy, uptempo song in Spanish. Although I didn’t understand a word he said, it was quite tantalizing.
Lady Gaga, Tim McGraw and Tom Jones performed, but judge Steven Tyler from Aerosmith brought it home with a fantastic flashback to his hit, “Dream On.” There was a well-balanced cross section of just about every genre of music in the finale of the most watched season of the show.
The “American Idol” producers have outdone themselves this season. The commercial leading up to the finale announced that there would be “a surprise guest” to perform. They need to drop that “a” and add an “s” to “guest” because they all were a special surprise. –arnell pharr
Bass-baritone country singer Scotty McCreery, 17, of Garner, N.C., near Raleigh, has been named the new “American Idol.”
