Clay Aiken – The Final 4

May 6, 2003 and it’s the final four!  And for Season 2 of American Idol, that means Clay Aiken, Ruben Studdard, Kimberley Locke, and Josh Gracin. All four singers have survived many weeks of singing, dancing, humility and hard work.  Which ones will be going on and which one will be going home?

The show starts with the group of 4 on stage with Ryan Seacrest as he introduces each singer.  Ryan then announces that all the songs tonight are courtesy of the BeeGees and that Robin Gibb is the guest judge for the evening.

The idols and their songs were sung in the following order:

First Song:
1. Josh Gracin – “Jive Talkin”
2. Clay Aiken – “To Love Somebody”
3. Kimberley Locke – “I Just Want T Be Your Everything”
4. Ruben Studdard – “Nights on Broadway”

Second Song:
1. Josh Gracin – “To Love Somebody”
2. Clay Aiken – “Grease”
3. Kimberley Locke – “Emotions”
4. Ruben Studdard – “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”

Josh started the performances with a country-styled, “Jive Talkin”.  He roamed through the audience as he tried to please the crowd and the judges.  The judges all agreed that the performance was good.

“To Love Somebody” is a beautiful song and when you add Clay Aiken to it, you have perfection.  His voice was full of emotion and it was soft when needed and when needed, he belted out the song with passion.

All 4 of the judges were so complimentary to Clay and his performance.  The words, fantastic and brilliant were used more than once.  Simon even said it was one of the best performances he had ever heard throughout the entire competitions in both the USA and England.

Kim Locke, looking good in black, got mixed reviews from the judges.  Simon called her performance “sweet and ordinary – nothing special.”

It was Ruben’s turn, but before he started, Ryan let the TV audience know that the audience members had thunder sticks that had Ruben’s name on them.  Somehow, that didn’t seem too fair to the other contestants, but……it was Ruben!!

The judges were excited about Ruben’s performance of “Nights on Broadway.”  Each judge had only positive remarks to make.

The second round started with Josh singing “To Love Somebody.”  The judges loved the touch of country Josh added to the song and thought his second round song was better than the first round.

The most “out of the box” performance of the evening was the second song by Clay Aiken.  Singing “Grease”, Clay dressed the part with tight jeans, a tee-shirt and a red leather jacket.  AND, who could forget the “hip shake.”  Clay had fun and took a risk which worked with the audience and three of the judges.  However, Simon was not happy.  Leave it to Simon to say “HORRIBLE”!!

Kim was next, singing “Emotions” and the judges were pleased with her performance although Simon thought it was just not her night.

The words, brilliant and fantastic were back when the judges critiqued Ruben.  Simon even threw in a “sensational.”

Ryan started the results night by announcing that there were 22 million votes last night.

The group performance of the evening was a medley of BeeGee’s hits.  Each contestant had one song that they were featured on……the harmonies were great.

The bottom two for the night were Kim and Josh.  But, before the results, there was a Ford Commercial.  Remember the one where Ruben is dressed like a pimp and “Nerd” Clay joins him at the end?

When the time finally came to announce who was going home, Ryan didn’t waste words.  It was a quick “Josh, you’re out. Kim, you are safe.”  And, the Final Four is no more.

We have 3 videos for this night.

1.  To Love Somebody
2.  Grease
3.  Group Performance

Click here to see the videos:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v61nsKbkRmo

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj9n4TWqyKE

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e08dz68LGgg


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16 thoughts on “Clay Aiken – The Final 4

  1. Gotta admit it, Clay was and still is Da Bomb! Loved Grease, he was very sexy! I do agree Kim Locke shouldn't have even been in the top four..I think Trenyce was much better.

  2. To Love Somebody was one of my favorite Clay Aiken performances for the whole season. I didn’t think Grease was as bad as the judges said, but even Clay jokes about the Grease performance not being so great. Enjoyed the group number. I think Josh Gracin should have stayed and Kim gone home that night.

  3. Loved the hip shake. Grease is just not my favorite song in general, but I had such a good time watching Clay – gotta give him props for trying and the vocals were, as always, wonderful.

    I agree with 5GS – Josh Gracin should have made it to the Top 3 🙂

  4. Ahhhh………the memories. That was such a fun time. Thanks for bringing these memories back for us to reminisce.

  5. Love reliving this. Hearing him sing “Grease” was the first time I saw or even heard of Clay Aiken. But, from then on I was totally hooked!!

  6. Every single Clay Aiken performance from AI2 is burned into my brain. And among my most favorites was To Love Somebody. I remember Robin Gibb complimenting Clay and saying that was the way the song should be sung! And when Clay looked into the camera at the end and sang “the way I love you”, I think every woman in America thought he was singing it to her….or maybe that was just me!!! LOL! Thank for the wonderful video reminders!

  7. Ah, yes, the red jacket, the white tee shirt, and the blue jeans. Our All American / American Idol guy and the hip shake heard ’round the world!

    I LOVED that performance and loved that Clay had such fun with it.

  8. Oh, how I absolutely love Clay’s performance of “To Love Somebody.” He seemed to be singing right to me. 🙂 Just gorgeous!

  9. Loved both of Clay’s performances that night, and agree that Josh was way better than Kim Locke. AI will never replicate seanson 2, no matter where they dig for professional performers.

  10. I will never tire of watching that video of Clay singing To Love Somebody. Just breathtaking, and that look he gives at the end, right into the camera gets me every time. Wow, six years already!!

  11. I just watched the group performances, it’s been awhile… wow… they all were so well matched vocally. Sad that AI now has all the group numbers taped… which means they are not “live” anymore. Clay Aiken is and will always be #1!

  12. “To Love Somebody” is the performance that put me over the edge. I was no longer a casual Clay fan. I had become a Claymate.

    The season 2 top 4 group number was really great. I doubt this years bunch can top that.

  13. Clay was fantastic that night. “To Love Somebody” was just perfect….amazing.

    Even “Grease”…if you just listen to the song, without having the memory of Simon telling Clay is was horrible…The vocals are great…Clay once again sounds better than Frankie Vallie.. He can sing anything.. The key word being “Sing”..not screech..sing…

    It’s funny, but after 6 years, and then you watch these old clips…it bring back such good memories…and don’t forget…they just had tracks behind them…they didn’t have the live band on stage… Doesn’t matter…Clay sounds good no matter what!!!!

    Thanks CANN for reliving “Bee Gee’s night” all over again…..

    Hugs,
    Judy

  14. I have watched Clay Aiken sing “To Love Somebody” uncountable times and I just enjoyed and was captivated all over again. Thanks!

  15. My favorite Clay Aiken idol performance was To Love Somebody and he did a great job on Grease. Simon had to diss him because he had already picked his winner.

  16. “To Love Somebody” is one of my favorite Clay performances. For me, Clay Aiken’s voice, song interpretation and delivery = perfection!!!!!!!!!!!

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