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American Idol hosted its first-ever virtual finale on Sunday, crowning the winner of Season 18 from a distance of six feet… and many miles.
The first order of business was trimming the remaining seven contestants down to five, which meant the elimination of two more fan favorites. After tallying the nationwide vote based on last Sunday’s episode, Ryan Seacrest announced that Julia Gargano and Louis Knight were going staying home. This left the Top 5 — Dillon James, Jonny West, Arthur Gunn, Francisco Martin and Just Sam — to sing for America’s real-time votes.
The live performances began with a round of songs the finalists would sing to celebrate when quarantine is over. James kicked things off with a devastatingly handsome rendition of Eric Clapton’s “Change the World,” which Martin followed up with an appropriately adorable cover of Harry Styles’ “Adore You.” Sam was next, delivering a soulful take on Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger,” followed by a One Tree Hill flashback, courtesy of Gunn’s growly, gravelly performance of Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be.” West wrapped things up with a solid, Margie Mays-approved performance of Eddie Money’s “Can’t Keep a Good Man Down.”
Round 2 switched things up a bit, asking the Top 5 to perform songs they would release as their first single if they won. James began by revisiting his performance of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin,” which sounded just as impressive the second time around, though I’m not sure how well the 1964 jam would fare on the charts today. Martin went considerably more contemporary, once again using Maggie Rogers’ “Alaska” to lure us into his twinkly forest wonderland.
Next, Sam wisely reached into her emotional arsenal, retrieving Andra Day’s “Rise Up,” the song that made America fall in love with her back in February. And Gunn did the least surprising thing he could have possibly done, performing yet another rendition of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.” (Am I crazy, or has Gunn’s journey this season felt like one long Project Runway challenge where they make the designer has to create a garment that can be worn three different ways?)
I would argue that West chose the best (and perhaps riskiest) song of all, delivering a “radio-ready” performance of his original jam “Makin’ Love.” The judges ate it up, with Katy Perry even suggesting that he have Mark Ronson produce it. And she has connections!
Following a few more notable performances — including Luke Bryan serving “One Margarita,” Perry debuting her new single “Daisies” and Cynthia Erivo paying tribute to Aretha Franklin — it was time for the next results: Gunn and Sam are this season’s Top 2, which meant we had to bid an incredibly anti-climactic goodbye to Dillon James, Francisco Martin and Jonny West.
And the winner is… Just Sam! (Well done, Arthur Gunn.)
Your thoughts on her victory? Weigh in via our poll below, then drop a comment with more of your thoughts on Sunday’s Idol finale.
Jonny West got robbed plain and simple
No offense to Just Sam but she was no where near the caliber artist as Jonny.
She wasn’t a better artist than any of her opponents in the top 5 tbh.
Too many contestants in the finale, it was simply a crowded room..miss the days when there was only two left to cheer for in the finale. I do understand that Covid changed things up, the live shows felt too rushed unfortunately. Hopefully the world will open up in the next few months, cause I don’t think I can take another season of contestants singing from home.
I don’t see you up there Dave. Can’t you be happy for someone doing good in their life??People like you is the reason we can’t seem to get along.
I back you Audrey!!! So happy Just Sam won. I wanted Johnny or Sam. Johnny will do just fine, and I can’t wait to buy his record. We need PEACE in this world ✌🏼
Ditto. My thoughts exactly.
We need world peace
Lmfaooooo. Chill. Its just an opinion. Good on her but she was still the weakest one there. It ain’t that serious.
I agree totally. She was not that good at all. She looked uncomfortable and just did not sound that great even though she is a really good singer. Gunn and Dillion were far far better, more polished and on point. Happy for the young lady, especially her grandma, but no way did she deserve to win.
Well, I guess a lot of people disagree with you!
I agree West got something fresh to add to the industry and gat potential to be the biggest act of them all.
Awful. The production of it was awful too. Yikes.
Yeah, I guess the technology isn’t there yet – it looked like a YouTube production. Were the contestants singing live? Sam’s performance of Stronger seemed like lip synch, but maybe it was the technology. Anyway, she seemed like a fine winner – any of them would have been ok.
Proud of you just Sam you were awesome
People need to stop the sympathy voting. Clear your heads folks and vote only for the best, most polished performer. The one that has a wow factor.
Proud of you just Sam you were awesome
Yuck !!
I just wish she had some fam/friends with her to hug and celebrate her win with. This will really change her life, and I’m so happy for her! Congrats to Sam!
Me too. But she was my girl and SHE WON!
I wish she had physical support too! She is “rags to riches”!
Arthur should have won! He was so much better. And honestly after this pandemic if I never hear the song “Rise Up” again I will be so happy!
She won because she was the only girl in. the top 5 and the four boys votes were split. If it would have been a top two and Sam was competing with Arthur, Francisco or Johnny the outcome would have been different. Feels like a producer set up to me.. She was okay but there were several better voices on the show.
Why is it when people don’t agree with the winner it has to be a conspiracy or it was rigged? These shows are always a popularity contest. They either vote for the person they like the best or (with The Voice) their favorite mentor/team. They’re better off not winning. Kelly Clarkson was only recently released from her Idol obligations and she won over 15 years ago.
It probably doesn’t matter all that much who wins. Think of the past seasons when the winner hasn’t done as well as one of the other finalists. Exposure on Idol is certainly a benefit, but I think most of them will do about the same as they otherwise would have whether they win or not. Winning definitely isn’t a magic ticket to success.
No conspiracy theory, plain TRUTH American didn’t vote. The west coast left out, including the Mountain Time Zone. Don’t forget Hawaii!
Honestly I wouldn’t have been upset regardless of who won. The top 5 were pretty even in my opinion. I realize this season was unique but I sincerely hope they never put 5 in the finale again. It was too rushed and felt anticlimactic.
My thoughts exactly! I liked all of the top 5, but personally I was hoping Arthur, Jonny, or Francisco would win. Thought they were more creative & overall more talented. But still very happy for Just Sam. She seems so genuine & appreciative. But the season was way too rushed. I miss the old Idol days when 1 person was voted off per week. The way they did voting then was more fair, too. Have never been a fan of this same night voting. Don’t think it works. Anyway, congratulations to all the contestants on making the best of this crazy Idol season!
It doesn’t work because they closed the voting tonight after the Eastern and Central time zones voted. The west coast had no say.
I had to text my votes! I live in AZ and had the Idol app….there was no voting!
Just mad as heck that PT and MT don’t get to vote. It’s not right! If they weren’t trying to save a buck, they could have a 2-night finale where everyone who has invested weeks of time watching, could have their say!
I’m in the Pacific time zone. I checked my Idol app at 5:30 my time, saw who the top five were, and voted for my pick to win. Inconvenient? Yes. But doable.
Sure, if west coast actually knew to do this which, I, sadly did not along with millions more west coasters. And because of this loss of votes, someone else easily could have been the winner.
I totally agree zones other than the east weren’t getting it. You had to vote in eastern time for your contestant sunday it wasn’t like previous times. I even saw that it was posted for the wrong date on kellyandryan.com.5/18
I’m thrilled about this outcome :D! I was hoping the final two would be Arthur and Just Sam, and I would’ve been fine with either one of them winning. So yeah. This works just fine for me. Congrats to both of them!
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And congrats to the others who made it this far, too. I feel for all the contestants, with this season being all messed up as it was, but I think the show handled it well enough under the circumstances. Here’s hoping next season will be able to go much more smoothly.
Happy it wasn’t a WGWG. Both were my favorites. Hope the best for them.
Just Sam is just phenomenal! She certainly deserves to win. Good luck Just Sam.
Jonny West was definitely the best artist with Arthur Gunn a close second.
I like Jonny West…but I wanted MORE from him!
It wasn’t a fair set up period. The earlier singers had people voting the whole time the others sang. While the last two singers only had minutes for their votes.
Voting started with the first singer. Listen to the reply. Voting open at the beginning of the first song for all
You are very correct!
They gave you the numbers for all of the finalists at the beginning of the show and you could vote for any of them until voting was closed.
I feel like that last to years have been a farce. They pick one singer and groom them, promote, them and give them prime singing positions so they will win. It is my really chowed by the viewers. The judges remarks have been crap. You have been too nice to some sending them back out in the world thinking they are singers and they are not. You are doing a disservice by being too nice
You think maybe next season you could hold off with the recap until we’ve ALL seen the show across the country? I got the email about 5 minutes into the show. I realize your goal is to scoop everyone around the world with the entertainment news, but at least give us a Spoiler Alert notice in the subject line so we can choose not to read it! Some of us like to watch the show and be surprised at the end. Thanks.
Maybe you shouldn’t sign up for an email if you can’t wait until after you’ve watched to read it? Here’s a clue…if you want to be surprised by a show’s outcome, stay off social media and don’t click on anything about it. Stop complaining about something you could have prevented yourself.
Your reply is pretty rude. I don’t think it is too much to ask to leave the winners name out of the headline. Just say Winner crowned on American Idol Season 18 so people have to go look to see who it was.
You’re a rude one, aren’t you? Maybe mind your own business, lol.
Arthur Gunn is the true talent of the season! To quote Abdul of Phillips—Arthur is all music from his head to his toes! I’m so bummed he didn’t win!
But maybe this will free him to stay truer to himself in the long run……
He is the only one who I will be on the lookout for songs to buy.
Arthur was a true musician!
IMO He’s a mess. He has zero emotional connection to any song he performed on the shows. He yells and fakes feeling; there’s no there there. At least Sam can sing although I’d have preferred Cyniah or Lauren M. The entire roster [top 20] this season was meh.
agree, he was actually my least favorite in the top 7. That being said, the top 7 this season was wayyy better than many seasons past, these guys are all really talented. Gunn just wasn’t my particular cup of tea but he was talented. Just preferred the other 6 to him. Happy Just Sam won. Johnny West is awesome too, probably my second choice
He was the best but I’m happy for sam she came so far and all of them will do great..
I hoped Just Sam would win (and start using her real name Samantha Diaz — it’s a nice name and sounds like someone who takes herself seriously) because she needs more help than any of the rest in finding her way in the music business. She’s going to need help crafting a look, learning to perform with other musicians, handling herself in interviews…the others will all do fine on their own and already have a degree of professionalism.
I totally agree with you regarding Just Sam. She deserve to win over Arthur Gunn. If Just Sam had not won, Johnny West should have won.
Watching Johnny West perform is like watching paint dry. He sounds ok but is so boring.
Happy for Just Sam. She will go far.
I agree Liz. He looked like he was going to fall asleep. I don’t know what he would have done without that piano in front of him to play. There were better singers on that show that would have been in the finals.
So proud of this young lady!!
She was a student in the middle school where i worked as the UFT School Secretary.
Gunn was the best singet
Oh no!! Arthur Gunn should be the Winner!!! So talented. Hope he has a long and successful Career. Can’t wait to buy his records.
Just Sam? Really? Another one that will fade away real quick. Her votes all coming in from her back story. Julie Gargano was my choice. :)
Arthur was my favorite by far but I agree the sob stories have to go. She, Louis and Dillon went on and on about how hard it was for them. While I applaud their achievements it is a singing competition. The best singer should win. I’m so tired of the sad back stories.
Jonny West should have won. He is a great singer and songwriter. Way too many sob stories. That is why Just Sam won. It’s funny how someone from the projects can afford to stay in California and afford all the tattos. Everyone felt sorry for her, because no one was there with her.
Vickie, I was thinking the same thing. If we are to believe her sob story she went from the projects to being able to afford an apartment in LA in a very short time. I wonder who funded the apartment?
Perhaps the producers gave all of the contestants a housing stipend? They would normally house them in LA so what is the difference here? I have assumed this whole time the producers paid for her apartment, though I can’t be sure.
Please someone give us an update on Ryan’s well being!!!!!!!
yes something was off in those last 10 mins…his right closed in also….and he was fumbling his words!!! haven’t seen anything on it as yet
*right eye
Do you think he was ill?
I thought maybe he was drunk…but then someone suggested something to me. He had an issue with his contact. He really wouldn’t be able to fix it while live. When he was sitting there looking at the monitor in silence….he probably didn’t know what to say to Arthur since they were celebrating like he won.
I’m glad Just Sam won. Arthur was not amazing, he was the opposite. Dillon was just unexplainably bad. Jonny was boring and Francisco was just not his best. Just Sam was really the only true talent, while the others (especially Arthur and Dillon) did absolutely horrible
My opinion.
However, if Julia was still in, I would want her to win, and Just Sam be second.
I just disagree with you. Every contestant in top 5 is as unique except Just Sam and Francisco Martin. All of them were good, but we have a hundred Just Sam’s, we have a ton of teenage heartthrob Francisco Martins. There will Only be One Love Song Singing unique sounding Jonny West (if you haven’t seen his released music or music videos check them out they are incredible), there will only be one Cowboy Hat Wearing Bob Dylan Singing Smooth Talking Dillon James, and there will definitely only be one Arthur Gunn. That man has a voice of gold, the control, the tone, the range, the energy, just everything. This season and last season with Alejandro Amanda show me this show is rigged. Maybe it’s for the better for our silver medalists. Because truthfully, I haven’t seen a First placed American Idol Finalist on the radio in a long long long time. I think Idol sees what they do to their winners and the judges don’t want to do that to actual true unique talent. Just my opinion
Was Ryan Seacrest drunk when he gave the final result. He seemed inebreated and could not get his words out properly. Re-watch from when he returned from the Aretha Franklin tribute….odd !!
Sure, if west coast actually knew to do this which, I, sadly did not along with millions more west coasters. And because of this loss of votes, someone else easily could have been the winner.
So very proud if Just Sam. You did it! Stay true to yourself and put God first. Your grandma laid a solid foundation for you to stand on, now soar high, high up in the sky.
Sam was the best from the beginning.