It took a few months, but the man that Simon passed up during the auditions turned it around and made a believer out of a nation. Taylor Hicks has become your newest American Idol. In a two-hour finale that went a bit over it’s allotted time (causing me to watch the clock intently, hoping my DVR had at least caught the announcement of the winner) we saw the Idol contestants sing together, and a few of them even sang duets with the likes of Live, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, and Meatloaf. Speaking of which, we are unsure as to who we felt did worse…Meatloaf looked like he was having a seizure, while Toni Braxton looked like she wanted to sex Taylor up, and sounded absolutely dreadful. Prince even made an appearance, performing a song on his own.

Of course, the best celebrity moment happened when Clay Aiken walked out and freaked out one of the early Idol contestants. Just golden. In the end, Taylor Hicks walked away with the American Idol title, and Katharine McPhee walked away with a well-deserved second place. It will be interesting to see if Taylor follows Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood to superstardom, or if he fades into obscurity like Ruben Studdard and Fantasia. For now, congrats Taylor.  You deserve it.

(You can find all the American Idol 5 posts here.)