After 14 years and 15 seasons, "American Idol" finally came to an end on Thursday night. Mississippian Trent Harmon is the last American Idol with La'Porsha Renae as runner up. Both Trent and La'Porsha are incredible vocalists and thankfully, the Idol judges were able to see that from the beginning. 'Idol' has definitely given birth to major starts such as Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson; but this instinct for undeniable talent has not always been the case. The following artists are some of my favorite of what I like to call "The American Idol" Oops List.
Natalie Weiss
Although season four competitor Natalie Weiss did pass the auditions, I believe she was let go way too soon. Since her short time on American Idol, Weiss has shared her talent in multiple ways from going on a six-city European solo concert and teaching tour to completing a two and a half year tour with the 25-anniversary tour for "Les Misérables," and even the second national tour of "Wicked." Natalie even understudied Sherie Rene Scott in "Everyday Rapture" on Broadway back in 2010! I found out about Natalie through her YouTube video series, Breaking Down the Riffs where she takes what seem to be difficult vocal riffs and teaches her viewers, along with a special guest, and, well, breaks them down.
Hillary Scott
Front-woman of the band Lady Antebellum, Hillary Scott auditioned for Idol twice and never made it past the preliminary round, meaning she was never even given the opportunity to sing in front of the judges. But of course, the next step was to form her own band. In 2011, she won five Grammys including Record and Song of the Year, which has yet to be done by an Idol winner.Amber Riley
Like Hillary Scott, Amber Riley never made it past the producers when she auditioned for the show's second season at the age of seventeen. She obviously did not let that stop her as she went on to work with the Fox Network anyway as Mercedes Jones on "Glee." Riley is also the winner of "Dancing with the Stars" 17th season. Take that American Idol! If you want to hear just how talented she is, you have to look up her version of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You."