'American Idol' 2021 Winner: Who Won Season 19?
American Idol has now come to the end of its 19th season and has added the latest contestants to its winners circle, along with Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and last year's champion Just Sam. In a three-hour finale on ABC, Willie Spence, Grace Kinsler and Chees Beckham countered it after performing four songs. Read on to find out who won.
Who won American Idol 2021?
Spence, Kinstler, and Beckham each had a recap of the song chosen for them by the judges, a song from their hometown, and a song they had previously performed on Idol. Spence also performed with Leona Lewis, Kinstler with Alessia Cara, and Beckham with Luke Coombs.
During the competition, fans voted on who would win as various outlets kept predicting whether Spence or Kinsler would win. However, Beckham gained an edge late in the show. Beckham received 49 percent of the vote in TVLine's final poll the weekend of the finals.
Their winning single also became one of the most listened to on Spotify. The day after the single was released, Beckham's single "23" received 28,000 hits for Kistler's 14,000 and Spence's 9,000. In the following days, his lead on streaming became even more solid — at the time of writing, Kistler's "Love Someone" has 62,000 hits, Spence's "Never Be Alone" has 39,000 hits, while "23" has 294,000 hits. Huh.
By the time of the finale, the song was already number two on the iTunes charts and number two on the Country iTunes charts.
On the night of the finals, the three went to two as Grace Kinstler was announced as the third-place contestant for this year. Later on the show it was announced that this year's winner was Chays Beckham.
Before winning the show's $ 100,000 record deal, Beckham tweeted, "My American idol tour is ending tomorrow, but you can start. If you're thinking about doing virtual auditions, do it! changed my life! "
Tomorrow my American idol journey comes to an end, but yours could just be getting started🙃 If y’all are thinking about doing the virtual auditions do it! It changed my life! 🙌🏼
— Chayce Beckham (@ChayceBeckham) May 23, 2021
Writing on Instagram, he said, "Tonight this year will be crowned the American idol! What a fun ride it has been, I am so happy that I got a chance to finish the finale with these two beautiful people."
Beckham is now moving to Nashville, Tennessee to record her debut album, which is expected later this year.
Her win comes after an emotional year for the singer, who had calmed down a few weeks before the Idol audition after being in a drunk car accident.
Prior to winning, the singer told the Los Angeles Daily News, "They set me up to release the first song I released in my life. I feel like they set me up so well where I am in music." I can, and now people are going to listen to it.
"I think it's very important to take the pace that you have and keep going with it, and not to say, 'Hey man, this crazy show is over, I'm going to rest for a month or two . " I think it's important for me to get out of it and run in the field. "