Ryan Seacrest Takes You Behind the Scenes at the ‘American Idol’ Finale

Over 7000 “American Idol” fans packed themselves into the Nokia Center for the season finale last night and it didn’t disappoint. Here’s what happened round by round:

Round 1: Simon Fuller chose Benny King classic “Stand By Me” for Phillip Phillips who transformed it into a dressed down acoustic number. While Jessica Sanchez sang Whitney Houston’s seminal “I Who Have Nothing” which proved Jess could handle the diva status. The judges gave the upper hand to Jessica in round one.

Round 2: The finalists picked their next songs their favorite from the season. Jessica sang “The Prayer” while Phillip chose Billy Joel’s break up classic “I’m Moving Out”. Steven Tyler picked Jessica and Randy Jackson called it a tie, but when Jennifer Lopez picked Phillip the crowd roared with approval.

Round 3: Jessica belted out a ballad “Change Nothing”, and the judges loved her, but sadly not the song. Philip’s killed his single  “Home – Here is the Prize”, and the judges gave him the prize saying he won the final round. Why did Jessica select the song? Ryan spoke with her afterwards and revealed “she [Jessica] said that she had talked with Jimmy Iovine, and they felt it was a song that could showcase her voice.”

Tune in tonight at 8/7c on FOX to crown the next American Idol!