Jordin sparkles as the 2007 American Idol

After 100,000 auditions in seven cities, 49 hours of television, 609 million votes and two hours of fluff, America finally learned that the 17-year-old from Glendale, Arizona with the golden voice is the 2007 American Idol.  Jordin Sparks now takes her place among the elite known as Idols.

The two-hour finale of America Idol played out more like an awards show than a results show — complete with awards, acceptance speeches, guest performances, a celebrity audience and special presentations.  But somewhere among all the pageantry, we got to see a little bit of our finalists.

Jordin sparkles as the 2007 American IdolJordin and Blake Lewis opened the show with a cute duet of the Beatle’s ”I Saw Her Standing There.”  I’m guessing it’s no coincidence that the song is about a 17-year-old. 

Blake also got a chance to do a little more beatboxing with rapper Doug E. Fresh and DJ Barry B.  Meanwhile Jordin sang a duo of “You’re All I Need to Get By” with Ruben Studdard.  She’s paired with the Idol winner from Season 2 . . . hmmm . . . more foreshadowing.

I was very excited to see that they brought my favorite back for a number.  Melinda Doolittle went toe to toe with BeBe and CeCE Winans on “Hold Up the Light.”  Melinda formerly sang back up for the duo.  I’m glad to see she’s out front now.  Her performance was nothing less than stellar.

On the contrary the one performance I could have done without was that of Sanjay Malakar.  Not only did he get his own tribute-like introduction, but he got to jam with Joe Perry from Aerosmith on “You Really Got Me.”  Is it possible that he actually sounds worse than when he competed?  Anyways he’s still earning points with the younger crowd as all the teens went wild when arrived. 

The Awards

In true award show fashion, American Idol gave out its own awards for those who “truly performed” – The Golden Idols.  Here are the winners:

Best Presentation
Margaret Fowler from Atlanta, Georgia beat out X-Centric and Isadora Furman for best presentation.  Dressed in a very yellow outfit, she molested Ryan Seacrest and recited poetry before accepting her award.

Most Original Vocal
Sholandric Stallworth edged out Nicholas Zitzman and Sandie Chavez with his rendition of “If Ever You’re in My Arms Again.”  After accepting his award, which he noted did not have his name on it, a pony-tailed Sholandric demonstrated his powerful voice by singing “Silent Night” without a microphone and was heard throughout the theatre.

Best Buddies
Pals Jonathan & Kenneth took on Amanda & Antonella and Simon & Ryan and won.  Kenneth forgave Simon for calling him a Bushbaby.  It’s a good think since American Idol sponsored a Bushbaby at the Milwaukee County Zoo in Kenneth’s honor and named it Simon.  The clips of Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest were probably one of the best parts of the show.

The Performances

The performances read like a who’s who of former Idols, finalists and previous mentors/guest judges.  We were treated to the following performances:

Gwen Stefani performed “4 in the Morning” from a live concert.  Stefani mentored the finalist earlier this season.

Kelly Clarkson, the very first American Idol, returned to the Kodak Theatre stage to sing her newest single “Never Again.”

The 2007 Top 6 guys performed a special arrangement by David Thomas of Take 6 with Smokey Robinson.  Robinson appeared on the second season of American Idol.

The 2007 Top 6 girls sang a medley with Gladys Knight who served as a guest judge in Season 2.

April mentor Tony Bennett returned to perform a song from his Duets CD.  I was honestly surprised to see Bennett given his recent comments about American Idol.  And judging from the look Simon gave Bennett he is definitely aware of Bennett’s opinion.

Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood returned with a beautiful “I’ll Stand By You.”

The African Children’s Choir, who first appeared during the “Idol Gives Back” show, gave an encore performance.  They were very cute.

Green Day sang John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” in their debut number on American Idol.

Taylor Hicks, last year’s Idol danced his way through the audience with his rendition of “Heaven Knows.”

Another newbie to the Idol stage, Bette Midler belted out “Wing Beneath My Wings” while Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul danced.

Clarkson and Perry jammed to American Idol’s tribute to Sergeant Pepper.  Hicks, Underwood, Studdard and the twelve finalists round out the collection of Beetles tunes in the final number.

 The Presentations

 After the final Ford music video, which was to ”Time after Time,” Ryan gave Jordin and Blake each keys to a brand new Mustang.

Chairman of the North American Division of BMG Clive Davis gave an update on past finalists and winners before presenting a special certified award representing six million albums sales to Carrie Underwood for her debut album.

I think that about wraps up the finale and Season 7 of American Idol.  By the way, in case you missed the shameless promotion throughout the show the search is on for the next Great American Band and tickets are on sale for the summer tour of American Idol Live.