Thursday May 24, 2007
After five months, seven cities and more than 100,000 competing singers, America has chosen its new Idol – and her name is Jordin Sparks!
Capping off the sixth season of Fox's reality smash hit, the 17-year-old Arizona native beat out Seattle-area beatboxer Blake Lewis, 25, for the coveted title Wednesday night at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. A record 74 million finale votes were cast to determine this season's champ.
This year's finale song, to be released as Sparks' first single, is "This Is My Now," written by Scott Krippayne and Jeff Peabody, and selected from among more than 200,000 entries from amateur songwriters nationwide. Sparks first performed the tune to close the finale broadcast.
Consistently praised by Idol judges for her vocal maturity and showmanship, Sparks' performances grew stronger each week - impressing celebrity mentors like Jennifer Lopez, Martina McBride and Tony Bennett - to advance to the final two.
Walking away with keys to a brand new Mustang (and a lucrative record deal with Clive Davis' RCA label), Sparks – who has said she was more excited to audition for Idol than get her drivers' license - is set to embark on a 55-city tour July 6 with her final 10 Idol peers in Sunrise, Fla.
Stay tuned to Usmagazine.com's American Idol Extra in the coming days for our chat with Idol's new champ. Submit your questions below for a chance to have them answered by Sparks herself!
Talk to Us: Does Jordin deserve the title?
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