Maddie Poppe wins American Idol season 16
We have our next American Idol! The reboot came to an end on Monday (May 21) where Maddie Poppe was announced as the winner on the show. Maddie, 20, came to the auditions and blew the judges away when she started singing “The Rainbow Connection."
Week after week she showed the judges that there is more to her than the world thought and with every performance, she managed to steal the hearts of millions. There is no doubt that Maddie has an incredible taste for music and Katy Perry could see that as well. Time and again she has passed this comment on the show. After winning the show, Maddie has managed to land herself a recording contract with Hollywood Records.
In an interview with Variety, Disney Music Group president Ken Bunt said that the company was committed “to continue telling the story of the winner.” Gabby Barrett who was one of the top three was eliminated earlier in the night. She, along with Caleb Lee Hutchinson, and Maddie had to sing three songs: a hometown dedication, an encore of their favorite song of the season, and their winner’s single.
Caleb's song selections included a hometown dedication song to Dallas, Ga., “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash, “Don’t Close Your Eyes” by Keith Whitley; and his winner’s single, “Johnny Cash Heart.” On the other hand, Maddie chose “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac to her hometown of Clarksville, Iowa. She took the big decision of singing an original, “Don’t Ever Let Your Children Grow Up" after which she sang her winner’s circle song, “Going Going Gone."
Meanwhile, Gabby sang “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey as her tribute to Pittsburgh, Pa, as well as, “Little Red Wagon” by Miranda Lambert. While there were many who were happy to hear that Maddie had won the series, there were others who were quite disappointed. People were not happy to hear that Gabby was not the winner of the show. "Who cares about American Idol now because Gabby should have won," one fan wrote.
“Not only is American Idol rigged but Gabby not winning is the biggest upset of 2018,” another one noted. “I don’t understand how Gabby didn’t win American Idol and I’m actually really annoyed right now about it….. Still hoping to hear her on the radio someday," read another tweet.
