Candice Glover won Season 12 of ‘American Idol’ Thursday night – the first woman to do so since Jordin Sparks took the title in 2007.
An early front-runner, Candice was told by judge Randy Jackson last month that her rendition of ‘Lovesong’ was one of the best performances in ‘Idol’ history.
Glover, who struggles with insecurity issues, looked shell-shocked throughout last night’s finale, but managed to pull herself together for an ‘Inseparable’ duet with former ‘Idol’ alum Jennifer Hudson, who went on to become an Oscar and Grammy winner after finishing seventh in 2004.
When host Ryan Seacrest announced the final results, the 23-year-old from South Carolina could only utter “three years” before she was overcome with emotion. The words were a reference to the amount of time it took her to make it into the competition.
Candice then took the microphone one final time to sing an emotion-filled rendition of ‘I Am Beautiful’ as the credits rolled.
Runner-up honors went to 23-year-old Texas native Kree Harrison. She and judge Keith Urban performed ‘Where The Blacktop Ends’ last night with Randy Jackson on guitar and Travis Barker on drums.
Check out the Glover-Hudson duet below:
Photos: WENN, American Idol-Twitter