Last Thursday marked the end of a 15-season run of the iconic television show, “American Idol.” The finale was packed with tons of nostalgia, emotions and, of course, music.

The show’s cancellation was expected due to the ratings dive and the show’s expensive production cost. The show’s cancellation was announced directly after the Season 14 wrapped up in 2015.

The landscape of reality competition shows became crowded once “The Voice” and “The X-Factor” premiered in 2011. “The X-Factor” never really caught on and was cancelled after three seasons.

However, “The Voice” could be the show to blame for “Idol” coming to an end. “The Voice” is on twice each television season and while it continually gets steady ratings, it seems the American viewing public is getting tired of the singing competition format. “The Voice” has seen a decrease in viewership over the past few seasons.

No matter how tired the public got of “American Idol,” one cannot deny the amount of star power that has emerged from the series throughout all 15 seasons. “American Idol’s” most successful alumni, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, were very prominent in the series finale.

Underwood performed twice during the broadcast. She performed a duet with Keith Urban and then she performed “Something in The Water” for a solo act.

Kelly Clarkson performed a medley of all of her songs from her past albums. She ended the medley with “A Moment Like This,” her coronation song from her season of the series.

Throughout the two-hour broadcast, the show meshed different “Idol” alumni together for medleys, based on their specific genre. The standout performance was the acoustic section, with performances by Jessica Sanchez, Clay Aiken, Katherine McPhee and others.

Phillip Phillips, Kris Allen, Nick Fradiani, David Cook and Lee Dewyze all performed a David Bowie tribute together.

The winners from each of the 15 seasons were all in attendance. However, a notable absence was Adam Lambert, although he had made an appearance on the show several weeks ago.

Appearances from the original judging panel also delighted many viewers. Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson came out thinking Simon Cowell would not show up, but to their surprise, he was backstage and came out to shock both Abdul and Jackson.

There were several other surprises throughout the night, including some of the memorable bad auditions coming back to perform. William Hung performed “She Bangs,” and Larry Platt performed his original song “Pants on the Ground.”

Perhaps the biggest shock of the night is when after the winner was announced, Ryan Seacrest made a statement saying goodbye, but as soon as the credits ended and the lights dimmed, there were two more words said, “For now.” This has lead to a lot of speculation.

“American Idol” producers are on board for more seasons but they want it to have a new feeling. The show’s creator, Simon Fuller, said that “[…] The next generation of ‘Idol’ — and ‘Idol’ will certainly be coming back for sure — will have a youthful glow and it will be pioneering again, just as it was when we first began.”

The show has created massive stars over its run and ended on an incredible high note. The farewell seasons’ winner, Trent Harmon, might be one of the show’s most versatile winners.

Throughout the competition, it was clear that Harmon and runner-up, LaPorsha Renae, would battle it out in the finale.

The show has had massive success off television as well. The summer tour that had been in place since the show’s start was a major concert event for many years. The show even had its own attraction at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

“American Idol,” as we all know it is over, has been successful enough that it will never fade, nor will any of the stars that came from all of the 15 seasons.

The landscape of mainstream music and reality television will never be the same. 

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