jordin sparks

Katharine McPhee and Jordin Sparks will be performing at this year's Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular. The Idol alums will be joined by country music sensation Kenny Chesney and British chart-topper Natasha Bedingfield. McPhee, who is currently working with David Foster on her second album, will perform "Save The Last Dance for Me" at the event. Sparks, who is nominated for a BET Viewer's Choice Award for her duet with Chris Brown, is set to perform her latest single "One Step at a Time." Chesney will sing "Never Wanted Nothing More" and Bedingfield will sing "Pocketful of Sunshine." Natalie Morales of NBC's Today and Tiki Barber of Today and Football Night in America will co-host the event on Independence Day.

The Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular will air from 9-10 p.m. on NBC. Sound like something you'd watch? I don't know if I'll be tuning in for this. I'd rather find a local fireworks show than watch one on TV.

We scoured the earth (and the archives at various record companies for failed projects that showed vocal promise) to create the greatest assemblage of singing talent American Idol has ever seen! So what happened? After last year's virtual snooze-fest, how did a season that truly did give us perhaps the greatest depth of talent we've ever seen (an argument could be made for Season Five) give us such lackluster shows?

After Sanjaya-gate last year, the biggest controversy to come out this year was that finalist David Hernandez used to be a stripper and David Archuleta's dad might be a Mr. Meany-Pants. And we got to be pissed that Kristy Lee Cook outlasted the likes of Michael Johns. Not until we got to the finale of Davids did things get really intense.

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Welcome to the final installment of "AI Aftermath," where we explore Idol's past. Each installment, as one more American Idol hopeful is eliminated from the competition, we take a look back at contestants past who were eliminated at the same point. We'll examine how they did on the show and what they've been up to since their eliminations. In honor of David Cook's crowning as your American Idol, we will look back at other winners.

This week: The Winners, featuring Kelly Clarkson (Season One), Ruben Studdard (Season Two), Fantasia Barrino (Season Three), Carrie Underwood (Season Four), Taylor Hicks (Season Five) and Jordin Sparks (Season Six).

They came, they sang, they conquered. Take a stroll down memory lane and meet the winners of 'American Idol.'

Going into last night's finale of American Idol, I was very excited to see the Davids battle each other for the title. It was the first American Idol in a while that did not have an obvious winner at the outset. Even though it really was David Archuleta's night, I still hold out hope that David Cook might pull out a win. He's the one with the most potential and is the better performer. Little Archuleta has that killer voice, though.

Anyway, last night's epic battle got me thinking about past American Idol finales and whether any of them were this much of a contest. It seems like we've gone into most of the American Idol finales with obvious winners. Here's a breakdown of the past American Idol finales, and whether they stack up to last night's performances:

You'll recognize them immediately: Randy's "pitchy" problems; Paula's patronizing critiques; Ryan and Simon's on-stage bickering.

These are just some of the clichés that have dominated the 'American Idol' airwaves from the beginning.

We're counting down the 11 biggest clichés ever. Check them out ... after the jump.

(S07E30) This is a big week for American Idol. We have three episodes; the performance and results shows sandwiched around the two-and-a-half hour "Idol Gives Back" star-studded spectacular that aired last night. Finally we have the results show -- but will they pull the same thing as last year and nobody goes home? Join us, won't you, for another spectacular non-star-studded live chat during tonight's episode, starting just before 8:00pm ET.

You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.

How much cooler would it be to send your stalker letter to Kelly Clarkson with a Kelly Clarkson stamp? As Ryan Seacrest announced on last night's American Idol "Idol Gives Back" special, PhotoStamps has inked a deal with the show to produce commemorative stamps featuring the likenesses of each of the Idol winners so far, including this year's winner. In fact, Kelly Clarkson's PhotoStamp is already available, with subsequent stamps released each Tuesday.

So if you're planning to kidnap one of Kelly's hats and send her a ransom note with cut-out letters from various newspaper articles about her, demanding that she go out on a date with you if she ever wants to see it again, go that extra mile and show her you really care in that extra-special creepy way by using a Kelly Clarkson PhotoStamp! Remember, net proceeds from the sales of these stamps go to charity. And while you may be crazy, that doesn't mean you don't care!

For a reputedly lackluster season, I'm impressed with how well Jordin Sparks seems to be developing her career. I hate to say it, but you kind of have to put it down to her being young and somewhat bland. As such, since she hadn't really discovered her own unique style and approach she was able to be molded into whatever record producers (and Idol) wanted her to be.

That said, she's a fairly standard R&B/Pop artist, but she's got a nice voice and "Tattoo" has a great hook. In fact, I was digging the song for a few days before I knew who sang it and was surprised to hear it was her (I know, I'm old and out of touch but radio stations barely tell you what song they're playing anymore). Now the video has dropped for her latest single, a duet with Chris Brown. You can watch and let us know what you think after the jump.

While last season is considered by some to have been a major disappointment, you can't deny the rising star of winner Jordin Sparks. Her debut single "Tattoo" is hanging steady in Billboard's Top 10 while her follow-up "No Air," performed with Chris Brown, is rising fast. She got rave reviews for her rendition of the national anthem at this year's Super Bowl, which she followed up with an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding New Artist. And now she's announced that she will be the opening act on Alicia Keys' highly anticipated "As I Am" tour.

The thirty-date tour runs through June 18, so she'll be on tour still when the Idol finale this year comes around. I'm sure she'll catch a red-eye to make the show, though, you can't buy that kind of exposure! I'm glad to see her opening for a bigger act rather than going out ego-first and trying to headline on one album as some artists have done. She has the potential to build herself a nice little pop career, she just needs to nurture it along slowly and carefully.

Not every American Idol winner or runner-up has the massive success of Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. In just the last three weeks, Sony BMG has dropped three AI contestants/winners from its record label.

The latest to be dropped is season five runner-up Katharine McPhee. She released an album in 2006 that has only sold about 365,000 copies, according to MTV news.

Call it what you will -- the downfall of pop music or its savior -- there's no denying that 'American Idol' is a fickle god-maker.

Some winners have found great success (hello, Kelly!), some have been dumped by their labels (so sorry, Ruben and Taylor), while some also-rans have gone on to bigger and better things.

We check in on 30 'AI' alums and fill you in on which ones are in trouble with the law, which are still giving it their best shot ... and which have fallen off the radar.

It's not even December, and American Idol's seventh season is still a month and a half away -- but the hype has already begun. According to an interview with Extra, the American Idol judges - Simon, Paula, and Randy -- are in agreement: This is going to be the BEST SEASON EVER!!

Last year, as you may recall, season six was often slammed by fans and critics as the WORST SEASON EVER. Who could forget Sanjaya? Oh wait, we did. His 15 minutes of fame only lasted 12.5 minutes. But for all of our Sanjaya-bashing, at least he kept things interesting in an otherwise bland and uninspiring year. Seriously, does anyone even care that Jordin Sparks just released her debut album?

American Idol's season six winner Jordin Sparks and first runner-up Blake Lewis are hitting the studios to record their individual debut albums. With possible release dates as early as Thanksgiving, America will learn soon enough if the latest batch of Idols are "turkeys" or not.

Jordin said, "I'm trying to mix everything together. I'm loving all the songs I'm recording, so hopefully that will come off the album when you listen to it and you'll be able to feel the emotion."