Since its first season aired in 2002, American Idol has been both an indelible monument in the American pop culture landscape and a microcosm of it — glitzy, democratic, unabashedly earnest. On Thursday night, its curtains will close.
The show’s ratings fell in its final years, but the caliber of talent has stayed consistent, as proven by the performances in the first part of the two-part finale on Wednesday night. Twenty-year-old Dalton Rapattoni was voted off, leaving La’Porsha Renae and Trent Harmon to vie for the title on Thursday. All three debuted original singles: Rapattoni with “Strike A Match”; Renae with “Battles”; Harmon with “Falling.” Watch below:
More Must-Reads From TIME
- For People With Disabilities, Losing Abortion Access Can Be a Matter of Life or Death
- Inside the Clandestine Efforts to Smuggle Starlink Internet Into Iran
- How to Help the Victims and Community After the Monterey Park Shooting
- The Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2023 Oscar Nominations
- Talking Less Will Get You More
- Kamala Harris Subtly Emerges as Powerful White House Asset
- How Avatar: The Way of Water Became the 6th Movie in History to Make $2 Billion
- Is There Really No Safe Amount of Drinking?
- How Our Cells Strategize To Keep Us Alive
