Author: Cortney Wills

Frank Micelotta / FOX

American Idol prepared to send another contestant packing this week, but an exciting turn of events left all eight finalists in the game for another week.

After Chris Daughtry took the stage to perform his band’s latest hit, “Waiting For Superman,” Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick, Jr. and Keith Urban decided to finally use their judges’ save on Thursday night, keeping Sam Woolf in the game for another week.

The crowd went wild when Lopez announced the 17-year-old would be sticking around.

“We are unanimous. We are going to use the save tonight,” she said before a confetti explosion blasted the stage and the other competitors hoisted the teen up in the air.

After the show, the top 8 contenders all echoed the same sentiment: that they had a feeling this would be the week no one goes home. They also admitted the competition would only get more intense from here with no chance for a second try.

Speakimg to reporters after the results were announced, Harry Connick, Jr. revealed that the judges knew they would use the save as soon as they saw that Malaya Watson, Sam Woolf and CJ Harris were in the bottom.

“As soon as we saw who the three were, we immediately started saying, ‘What does each of these people bring to the competition if we give them the save?’ We talked about all three of them and when we heard it was Sam we started flying back-and-forth,” he said. “I think ultimately we decided to use it on Sam because we think he needs to be in the competition. He brings some things do it that are unique to him and we get one save and we thought he was the guy to use it on.”

The toughest judge also offered that Wednesday night’s performances were the strongest of the season and at this point in the competition, it’s anyone’s game.

“Last night was the best show of the season for me,” he said. “Everybody really knew the tunes. They were all really comfortable and it was the first time I thought, ‘OK, this is a real competition now.’ It could’ve been five different ones that got the least amount of votes. But I thought at this point they were all probably deserving of it,” he said.

“It’s not like you have five country singers or five R&B singers. Everybody is a little different. It’s a very diverse group.”

Candice Glover

Candice Glover has dropped her debut album, Music Speaks, but the season 12 American Idol winner is already off to a rocky sales start.

STORY: Candice Glover Talks Finally Releasing ‘Music Speaks’ Debut Album

The album failed to crack the top 5 on iTunes’ sales chart on Tuesday morning, which suggests she could suffer the same fate as fellow winner Lee DeWyze‘s disappointing debut, which only sold 39,000 copies in its first week. 

Glover’s 12-track offering is littered with love songs and vivacious vocals, plus the track penned by the 24-year-old Southerner called “Forever That Man.”

“I think everyone is going to compare that one to [The Cure’s] ‘Lovesong’ a little bit because it’s that slow, dark thing at the beginning,” she told The Hollywood Reporter of her memorable cover while competing last season. “And then the beat comes in. I really like that one.”

Some songs like “Damn” and “I Cried” were penned by songwriters like Jasmine Sullivan and highlight Glover’s raw emotion and soulful singing voice, while others like “Passenger” boast banging beats by Mike Will Made It and prove her powerful pipes can translate to radio play. The mild-mannered singer even serves up some sexually-charged chatter on tracks like “Kiss Me,” forcing her out of the sugar-coated shell she earned on Idol.

“The recording process with people who have been in the business for a really long time was kind of intimidating at first,” she said of recording her debut. “I didn’t know how to act or what to do, and I was in the studio messing up and singing off-key because I was nervous…After a while, I kind of warmed up to it and I thought it was a lot of fun.”

STORY: ‘American Idol’ Season 13: New Set Revealed

Even with a solid track list and top-notch singing chops showcased throughout, there’s still a chance Glover’s efforts could continue to be thwarted by the show’s shadow. Released nine months after her big win due to two delays, the project may have missed its window to launch her solo career into established superstardom, while successful sales could be enough to help restore the singing competition’s tanking reputation.

Glover admits that she didn’t intend to deliver a ballad-heavy album, but she’s not disappointed in the final product. “I think it’s just a coincidence that the ones that we loved were the ones that were slower,” she explained. “There’s a couple mid-tempo ones and ‘Same Kinda Man’ and ‘Could’ve Been Me.’ Mid-tempo is as fast as it gets…I think I’m more of an emotional person who likes to draw people in with that, so it’s cool.”

Twitter: @Idol_Worship

Fox

The X Factor crowned its season three winner during a two-hour finale on Thursday night.

The way-too-long broadcast featured guest performances by Mary J. Blige, Leona Lewis, Lea Michele, Pitbull and Ke$ha and One Direction. Unfortunately for the live audience, however, all were pre-taped with the exception of Pitbull’s “Timber” and Lewis’ sparkly holiday number, “One More Sleep.”

Glee star Lea Michele knocked it out of the park with her new single, “Cannonball,” likely an ode to her late boyfriend and former co-star Cory Monteith. 

Fans also got one final glimpse of this season’s cast-offs who returned to the stage to perform “One Love” all adorned in white outfits.

Each finalist watched messages from their loved ones and fought back tears as they heard how proud their families were. This whole section was so emotional it seemed like the contenders were being sent off to war instead of vying for a $1 million record contract.

PHOTOS: An ‘American Idol’ to ‘X Factor’ Timeline

Host Mario Lopez kept the momentum going throughout the show that gave the last three contestants an opportunity to make a final impact on viewers with one Christmas song each. 

Carlito Olivero delivered a pretty good version of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” while Alex & Sierra’s take on “All I Want For Christmas” was lackluster, at best. Then Jeff Gutt took on “O Holy Night” and reminded America that the lovebirds weren’t the only act in the game.

Olivero was the first contestant to get cut on Thursday night and the Latin lover didn’t seem too surprised from his predictable third place finish. “I’m so happy man,” he told Lopez. ” We came in third place!”

Demi Lovato took her final bow as an X Factor judge and mentor but was noticeably bothered by a segment devoted to figuring out what she was sipping on. The recovering starlet was seen mouthing “That’s fu***d up,” after Lopez made the ill-mannered reference to her green juice. After the show, she was still visibly upset and skipped a big part of the press line, likely to avoid commenting on the dis.

STORY: Simon Cowell: ‘I Couldn’t Give a Shit’ About ‘The Voice’ Winning an Emmy

When Lopez announced the winners were Alex & Sierra, it came as no great shock since they had been frontrunners for weeks. Still, they made their best efforts to seem surprised and Sierra thanked fans for “not making fun of her weird faces all the time.”

Their mentor, Simon Cowell, was overjoyed with his win. “I feel like Christmas just came early,” he said.

As the first couple to win the competition, the twosome struggled through one last performance of A Great Big World’s “Say Something” before they were joined by all of the Top 10 contenders of the season.

Once the show wrapped, Gutt seemed confident about his future and his mentor, Kelly Rowland, said she would be keeping a watchful eye on his progress.

“We’re at a place in the music industry where we make the rules, so I think Jeff has a great chance at going out there and doing his thing, whether it’s with a great indie label or whatever he chooses to do,” she said. “I’ll definitely be staying abreast of what he’s doing.”

Twitter: @thelivefeed