Saturday, May 18, 2013

Keith Urban: I Want to Stay on "Idol"

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) -- There have been a lot of shake-ups at American Idol lately, but Keith Urban doesn’t want any part of it.

“I would [love to return],” the judge told People magazine on Wednesday. “I mean, I literally enjoy coming to work every day and that’s a rarity.”

These days, question is, who will his colleagues be? Last week, Randy Jackson announced that this season will be his last and Nicki Minaj’s time on the show may be winding down as well. But, as season 12 comes to a close, Urban, 45, had nothing but nice things to say about his time on the panel.

“I joined an ensemble like this in the same way I joined a band,” he said. “I like being in a team and I felt that immediately, with [host Ryan Seacrest] and Randy, particularly.”

Thursday night's show was the last time this particular panel will be together, as they crowned Candice Glover the winner.

“It’s funny, I think everybody is judging,” said Urban, who performed “A Little Bit of Everything” on Thursday night’s finale. “Everyone at home is judging us, judging them, judging everybody.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

   

Candice Glover Wins "American Idol" Season 12

Ray Mickshaw/FOX(LOS ANGELES) -- Candice Glover, a 23-year-old singer from St. Helena Island, South Carolina, was crowned the Season 12 American Idol champion Thursday night.

Candice defeated runner-up Kree Harrison to become the first female American Idol winner since 2007. Candice had been trying out for Idol for the past three years, so this win was especially sweet for her. She capped off the night singing her brand-new single, "I Am Beautiful."

Kree and Candice performed one final duet of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "One Less Bell to Answer" and "A House Is Not a Home" before Candice was crowned the winner.

This season's top 10 finalists opened the show singing TheWanted's "Glad You Came." The "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin appeared via satellite from New York City to sing with the top five girls, who were in Los Angeles. It was all a bit surreal, but Aretha sounded great nonetheless. The medley began with "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and continued with "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," "Respect" and "Think."

The top five guys took the stage to sing a medley of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons hits, including "Let's Hang On (To What We've Got)" and "Walk Like a Man," before Frankie joined them to sing "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" and "Grease."

Heavily bejeweled judge Mariah Carey performed a medley of her hits "Vision of Love," "Make It Happen," "My All," "Hero" and "We Belong Together" before finishing up with her latest hit "#Beautiful," a duet with Miguel. Though Miguel didn't show up for the duet, Mariah's fellow judge and longtime collaborator, Randy Jackson, did play bass for the performance. Mariah's performance was actually taped on Wednesday night, and speculation that she was lip synching was widespread on Twitter during the show. Mariah's rep told The Hollywood Reporter she was definitely singing live though.  

Country trio The Band Perry gave a dramatic performance of their latest single, "DONE.," with a little help from finalist Janelle Arthur. Former Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson returned to sing a powerhouse cover of Natalie Cole's "Inseparable" with Candice.

Judge Keith Urban performed his brand-new country single, "Little Bit of Everything," for the first time on television. Keith returned to perform "Where the Blacktop Ends" with Kree and Randy, featuring Blink-182's Travis Barker on drums.

Since Randy is leaving the show, Idol kicked off a tribute to the "Dawg" with a roomful of dogs sitting at a conference table barking about it. Their subtitles revealed they were upset about Randy's departure. A montage of Randy's finest moments followed.

Psy was on hand for a highly-produced and choreographed performance of his single, "Gentleman." Former Idol judge Jennifer Lopez teamed up with Pitbull to perform their latest collaboration, "Live It Up," just before the results were announced.

Amber Holcomb returned to sing the British sensation Emeli Sandé’s hit "Next to Me" with Emeli herself. Angie Miller teamed up with former Idol contestant Adam Lambert for a duet on David Guetta and Sia's "Titanium."

Then Jessie J, Angie's personal Idol, appeared behind the judges' table to join Angie onstage for a duet of Jessie's hit "Domino."  After the performance, Jessie told Angie she'd fly her to the U.K. so they could perform Angie's original song, "You Set Me Free," together onstage.  Angie was supposed to have performed that song on the finale, but according to Jessie, Angie had to forgo doing so in order to sing with her.  By the way, Jessie appeared bald because she recently shaved her head for charity, and her hair hasn't grown in yet.

The two-hour finale included a comic interlude where all the male finalists revealed that they were voted off in quick succession because the female finalists sabotaged them, in order to ensure a female winner.  It was a sly reference to the fact that many viewers this year believed the producers deliberately stacked the deck with weak male contestants to achieve the same results.  At the end of the piece, it was revealed that the mastermind behind the so-called "sabotage" was none other than Jordin Sparks, the last female winner of American Idol.

Backstage, after the show, Candice said she was “still trying to process” the idea that she had won. Candice said she didn’t hear Ryan Seacrest announce her name, but she does remember confetti getting into her mouth while she was singing.  She said winning “feels amazing.”

When asked backstage why she kept trying out for Idol, Candice replied that she “just couldn't stay away, because I knew that if I kept trying it would happen.”

Kree spoke backstage about being excited about going out on tour, calling it “a little insane.”  As for her recording plans, Kree said she just wants to make a good record.  As for the genre, Kree declared, “It's definitely going to be country, for sure. I want to be on country radio, and, yeah. I can't believe I get to go make that now.”

If you're already missing this season's finalists, then catch them on the road this summer. The IDOL Live! 2013 Tour launches June 29 in St. Louis.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

   

Hilary Duff Admits It Was Hard to Slim Down Post-Baby

Valerie Macon/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) -- While many celebrities flaunt their slimmed down bodies right after the birth of children, Hilary Duff admits she had a different experience.

"It took me a full year!" she reveals in Life & Style.  "I’m finally at a comfortable place with my body."

The 25-year-old first time mom tells the magazine she had a difficult time shedding the 50 pounds she gained while pregnant with her son, Luca, now 1.

"I never had to lose so much before, and it took a while to get mentally motivated," she says.  "I was enjoying being home with my baby, and I wasn’t super strict with my diet."

With the help of her trainer, Gabe Johns, who suggested boxing, Duff eventually shed the pounds.

"It makes me feel super fierce," she admits with a laugh.  "Gabe and I box outside my home, so my neighbors watched the whole shrinking process!  They cheered me on!”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

   

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