But in recent weeks, this dark horse started racing to the finish line, as he finally heeded judge Jennifer Lopez’s advice to “own his hotness.” She even squealingly told Nick he was “peaking at the right time.” And apparently, J.Lo was right. This Wednesday, Nick peaked, all right — when he won Idol Season 14 over fellow soft-rocker and former frontrunner Clark Beckham.

But now the real race, for the real prize, begins. And it could be a rough road ahead.

First of all, this series’ past two winners have not fared so well. (Season 12’s Candice Glover barely received any promotion; Season 13’s Caleb Johnson, who has already parted ways with Interscope Records, had to pay for his own promotion, financing his own video and tour.) Additionally, a stigma now surrounds Idol, following this week’s ill-timed cancelation announcement.

However, Nick seems ready to put in the work, Big Machine Label Group honcho Scott Borchetta seems to have a plan in place, and Nick brings to the table the sort of life experience, and professional experience, that other, younger Idol contestants have lacked. He also has the sort of total-package marketability that made Season 5’s rocker everyman Chris Daughtry a superstar. And Beach Avenue had an interesting, Celtic-tinged sound, which came out in Nick’s strong Andy Grammer cover last week. So, there’s hope. For now, I wish Nick the best of luck. 

Anyway, I’d been worried that this would be the Most. Boring. Finale. Ever. But it wasn’t! It was actually action-packed and relatively filler-free. Memorable moments included a fiery opening performance by Nick, Clark, and Fall Out Boy; the top six girls having some good times with Nile Rodgers and the top six boys living la vida loca with Ricky Martin; Adanna Duru doing some very sexy “Yoga” moves with the always awesome Janelle Monae; cool kid Joey Cook adding her quirky-girl power to Echosmith’s lineup; Rayvon Owen and Jamie Foxx teaming up for an unexpectedly gorgeous duet; Quentin Alexander and Vance Joy ripping through “Riptide”; consummate performer Qassim Middleton having some “Fun” with Chris Brown and Pitbull; and, most of all, the totally robbed Jax leaving a piece of her heart on the stage during a dynamite Janis Joplin duet with former judge (and new Scott Borchetta/Big Machine signing) Steven Tyler.

Lowlights included Tyanna Jones joining the Jacksons (an idea that seemed good on paper, but she unfortunately and embarrassingly outsang all of them) and New Kids on the Block performing with actual kid Daniel Seavey, who didn’t exactly have the right stuff. But even all that was still entertaining, in a bizarre way.

So, will Idol’s next finale, its very last, be even more exciting? And will Nick even be part of that finale, or will he be unfairly cast aside like so many of his recent predecessors… like Caleb Johnson, who was supposed to hand the results envelope to Ryan Seacrest on Wednesday, according to a show source, but ended up just awkwardly hanging out onstage instead, with no introduction?