The Top 3 - AI2: A Walk Down Clay Memory Lane

Final 3!! Just the sound of those two words brings excitement into the hearts of many a dedicated American Idol fan. This year...Taylor, Elliott, and Katharine. We may not all be able to agree on who we want to win this year or even who we think will be in the final. But there is one thing about the "Final 3" that we fans agree on.

May 13, 2003....The "Final 3"...Clay, Ruben, and Kimberly. Every last one of us agreed on who should be in the final. Every last one of us agreed on who should win! I don't know about the rest of you, but I can remember being literally sick at my stomach during the results show on May 14. I knew that, in my opinion, Clay was absolutely the best and deserved to win. But I also knew that Ruben and Kim were very good as well. And what I didn't know was that there was this huge Clay fan base out there voting and voting week after week. I had not connected with the "Clay Online" fans yet, so this was a scary night for me.

I remember when "Vincent" was drawn from the hat for Clay to sing, I sunk into my chair. "Oh no, not Vincent!" Not my favorite song and not an easy one to sing. I also remember hearing Clay stop singing for a moment and I gasped. But then I thought, "Well, that's just a spot in the song where its only instrumental." And since he picked right back up, that assured me that this was how the song should go. When the judges made sure that we knew Clay had forgotten some words, it scared me. Yet, he did such a bang up job of picking right back up, just like a pro, I thought.

When "Mack the Knife" was announced, I was thrilled! This was the song that the judges had chosen for him to sing. What a perfect song for Clay to showcase that glorious voice of his! And Clay didn't disappoint! I still get chills when I listen to it. He showed the judges and America just what he was made of. He belted out that song like it was written just for him! Even Simon had to say that it was "brilliant". And it was!

The last song, "Unchained Melody" was Clay's own choice to sing. And why he decided to sing it just really touched my heart. This was his mom's favorite song for Clay to sing, a song that she loved to hear him sing. "My mom is the strongest person I know". Clay had said that early on when asked who his idol was. I loved that he was close to his mom. And she must have been so proud of him that night when he sang it so beautifully. Though Randy said it was not a great arrangement of it, he told Clay that it just proved how great a singer he was and that he made the song work. Paula thought it was the best song of the competition, and Simon said "well done". To me, it has become a Clay Aiken song that will never be sung with the same heartfelt emotion and purity as he sang it.

Ahhh, this is the stuff that sweet memories are made of. Is it any wonder that we can all agree wholeheartedly on our love for this sweetheart of a man who sung his way into our hearts that year and has remained there ever since?

If you want to download these performances by Clay, go to All Things Clay Aiken. But do it before May 31, when they will close.