You might love American Idol. You might even think you're the No. 1 fan of American Idol. But you would be wrong. Kelly Clarkson is the No. 1 fan of American Idol, and she proved it during her stint as guest judge on the first live show of the singing competition's farewell season.
Plus, she performed at the end of the show, reminding every one of the season 15 contestants why she won. Then she broke down mid-song and made tears stream down Keith Urban and Jennifer Lopez's faces. Could this show have remained such a pop culture force if Kelly hadn't won? The answer is clearly no, because no one else could make beautiful music superstars like Keith and J.Lo weep on national television. (You can watch the emotional moment in the clip above.)
Of course, Clarkson has a very good reason to love the show, considering she was crowned its very first winner and became a superstar after trying out for some rinky dink reality show that nobody had ever heard of. But she didn't have to stay a die-hard viewer for the subsequent 14 seasons—which she clearly has.
The O.G. Idol was in the Idol studio—7 weeks from her due date!—to critique the top 10 of season 15. The top 10, by the way, are: the judges' Fast Pass recipients Dalton Rappatoni, Olivia Rox, Trent Harmon and La'Porsha Renae, and America's vote winners Avalon Young, Gianna Isabella, Lee Jean, MacKenzie Bourg, Sonika Vaid and Tristan McIntosh.
And, as you could tell when she called back to each singer's earlier performances, Clarkson has not only been watching Idol, she's actually been paying attention and listening hard to each of the finalists. During each critique, she compared their first live performance to what they did in earlier rounds, and had thoughtful words of advice for each of them.
Basically we knew she was the best and she continued to remain the best.
The episode also saw Clarkson look back at some of her most memorable moments from her Idol season, a.k.a. catnip for her fellow Idol superfans. (Though we probably should've started a drinking game. Every time they played "the winner is KELLY CLARKSON," you probably should've taken a sip of your beverage. Nice knowing you.)
Then she performed her emotional song "Piece By Piece" and caused the aforementioned sob-fest when everyone became too emotional to handle what was happening, further cementing her position as the best American Idol winner ever. All hail Queen Kelly!
American Idol airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on Fox.