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The "American Idol" season finale reunited past winners for a special rendition of judge Lionel Richie’s "We Are the World."
[SPOILER ALERT: The remainder of this article discusses the Season 18 finale of ‘American Idol’]
The hit singing competition aired its Season 18 finale on Sunday where it not only crowned Just Sam as the winner, but it debuted judge Katy Perry’s new single "Daisies" and aired an historic broadcast of the song Richie co-wrote for charity alongside Michael Jackson in the 1980s.
All of the Season 18 Top 11 contestants joined Richie, Perry and fellow-judge Luke Bryan for the song. In addition, past "Idol" contestants Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Katharine McPhee, Kellie Pickler, Jordin Sparks, Lauren Alaina, Phillip Phillips, Laine Hardy, Alejandro Aranda and more all lent their voices to the video, which Entertainment Tonight reports hadn’t been performed on TV since 1985.
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The pre-recorded video featured all the singers belting out the tune remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic forcing even the "Idol" finale to go virtual. Their faces were imposed over various landmarks throughout the United States that, while normally bustling with people, are shown empty as the country remains at home in isolation to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
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"We Are the World" was originally conceived as a charity single, performed by a myriad of artists in the 1980s as part of the supergroup USA for Africa. It benefited famine relief efforts and, at the time, sold more than 20 million copies to become one of the best-selling singles of all time.
This isn’t the first time that the track has been repurposed to help lift spirits during a new tragedy. In 2010, stars like Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson, Justin Bieber, Janet Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Miley Cyrus and Toni Braxton were tapped to sing a cover of "We Are the World" after a devastating earthquake hit Haiti.
'American Idol' aired a special rendition of Lionel Richie's 'We Are the World' in the Season 18 finale. (Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)
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As of Friday morning, the novel coronavirus has infected more than 4,444,670 people across 188 countries and territories, resulting in over 302,493 deaths. In the U.S., all 50 states plus the District of Columbia have reported confirmed cases of COVID-19, tallying over 1,417,889 illnesses and at least 85,906 deaths.
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