Jordin Sparks becomes American Idol

Jordin Sparks, the 17-year-old from Glendale, Ariz., became the youngest performer to be named American Idol.

“Mom, Dad, I love you,” she said, crying, from the stage.

“I just couldn’t hold it together,” she said soon after in her first post-Idol interview, having just changed from a Badgley Mischka gown to a casual Poppie Couture outfit she wore earlier.

“I never thought I would be the winner of American Idol,” she said.

She said she never thought she’d make it through auditions. “But then I made it to Hollywood, then I got to the top 24, then I made it to the top 12, then 6, then 3, then 2 – and every one of those moments, OK, I changed my goal.”