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"Candice Glover has been named as American Idol&amp;#039;s season 12 champion. The 23-year-old from St Helena Island in South Carolina triumphed over Kree Harrison during a star-studded grand final broadcast from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday night (May 16).  &amp;quot;Oh my God!&amp;quot; a tearful Glover shouted, shaking her head as the result was called. &amp;quot;I can&amp;#039;t even... oh my God, three years!&amp;quot; Her victory track &amp;#039;I Am Beautiful&amp;#039; is available to download now, and her debut album Music Speaks is also available to pre-order.      Glover had earlier beaten Harrison in an exit poll of over 3,000 Digital Spy readers, taking 62.16% of the final vote. She is also the first returning contestant to win American Idol, having missed the cut during the preliminary rounds of both seasons 9 and 11. Emeli Sand\u00E9, Psy, Jessie J, Frankie Valli and The Band Perry were among the guest artists who returned to perform with the season&amp;#039;s Top 10 hopefuls.   American Idol alumni Adam Lambert and Jennifer Hudson were also invited back to collaborate with the contestants, while Idol judges Keith Urban, Randy Jackson and Mariah Carey all took to the stage. Former Idol judge Jennifer Lopez returned to the show, performing her new single &amp;#039;Live it Up&amp;#039; with Pitbull. Aretha Franklin also appeared in a video link-up from New York City to sing a medley live with the Top 5 girls.   Ryan Seacrest also paid tribute to outgoing judge Jackson, introducing a highlights reel charting his 12 seasons on the show. &amp;quot;I think I speak on behalf of a lot of people in America and our producers when I say the door is always open, my brother,&amp;quot; said Seacrest. Jackson also spoke of his passion for the Idol format in the video, saying &amp;quot;Having been here since day one of American Idol, it&amp;#039;s given me such an insight into what it takes to be a superstar... it&amp;#039;s been an amazing give-and-take for me.&amp;quot; American Idol airs on Fox in the US and on 5* in the UK. Season 13 of the show will premiere in January 2014. &amp;#039;American Idol&amp;#039; grand final in pictures - photo gallery:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/american-idol/news/a482247/american-idol-names-season-12-winner-in-star-studded-grand-final/>