LOS ANGELES — Even though she was the odds-on favorite heading into Thursday night's (May 16) finale, Candice Glover still can't believe that she is the season 12

"I definitely can't believe that I'm even standing here," she told MTV News backstage, fresh from her onstage confetti shower. "I thought I was going home from top 10 to now. Every week, I was like, 'Bye, y'all, because I thought it would be me. We would practice our save-me songs, thinking we were going to get cut, and I'd never get cut!"

It turned out the third time was, in fact, the charm for the South Carolina 23-year-old, who auditioned in seasons 10 and 11 before finally cracking the top 20 this year. Those past failures only made her ride all the way to the "Idol" crown that much sweeter.

"I went through the first two years and getting eliminated and coming back," she recalled. "[I'd be] telling my parents, 'If I could just get to top 20, if I could just get to top 10, if I could just get my voice out there and get some voters and get a fanbase, then I'll be fine. I don't have to win.' And then I came and I won. I can't even tell you how I feel to say that. I don't know. I'm losing it."

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And in record time, Glover's post-show album, Music Speaks, is already available for pre-order on iTunes and is expected to arrive July 16 ...

GULF SHORES, Alabama — If you've never been to a music festival on the beach, well, there's nothing like it. Sure, you'll see a handful of bikinis and flip flops at other fests, but at Alabama's Hangout Festival not only are those items ubiquitous, they're practically required uniforms. No shirt, no shoes, no problem ya'll!

The three-day blowout doesn't officialy begin until Friday, but Thursday's (May 16) warm-up was a great primer on how the weekend was going to go down. Between the twinkling Ferris wheel on the white sand beach, the terrifying Mega Drop ride and a nest of comfy hammocks set up as a seaside chill zone, Hangout is unlike any festival you've ever been to.

"It's my second year here and I love it," said Giovanni Vidana, 20, who hails from nearby Silver Hill, Alabama and came prepared with an oversized Camelbak, a spray bottle to wet down his fellow festival goers, gauzy white scarf and a portable GoPro camera strapped to his forehead. "You're down here on the beach, this becomes a different world, it's amazing ... I love this environment." He and his friend, Taylor Mcelroy, were psyched for sets over the weekend by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Kings of Leon, Kendrick Lamar, Slightly Stoopid, Ellie Goulding and Stevie Wonder.

Thursday's preview brought a mix of Hayes Carll's sweet honky tonkin' cover of Tom Waits' "I Don't Want to Grow Up" and the location-appropriate new tune, "One Bed, Two Girls and Three Bottles of Wine," mixed with the nighttime thunder of Dillon Francis, who got the crowd ...

found its Candy Girl, as Candice Glover was crowned the season 12 "American Idol" winner on Thursday's (May 16) "Idol" season finale.

"I can't even, oh my God," an emotional Glover said when the results were read. "Three years!" she said, referring to her initial "Idol" tryout in season nine.

The 23-year-old from St. Helena Island, South Carolina, became "Idol's" first female winner since Jordin Sparks in 2007. After being joined onstage by the rest of the season 10 finalists, a teary-eyed Glover delivered her new single "I Am Beautiful," singing the words "he says I am beautiful" with her head pointed to the sky as confetti rained down on the stage and on the audience. Glover's family, seated in the front row, celebrated her victory.

Kree Harrison, the 22-year-old country-soul singer from Woodville, Texas, was the evening's runner up. A final vote tally was not given, nor was a percentage breakdown of the votes.

The results came at the end of a performance-packed two hour show. Just prior to the announcement of the winner, Glover and Harrison teamed up for a duet of The 5th Dimension's "One Less Bell to Answer," which ended with the two embracing each other at center stage.

The show featured a number of collaborations, with the finalists joined by superstars and ex-"Idol" contestants. Glover and Jennifer Hudson teamed up on Natalie Cole's "Inseparable," and the pair scaled vocal skyscrapers together during the showstopping performance. Angie Miller sang with both Jessie J (the two did "Domino") and Adam Lambert (on "Titanium"), while The Band Perry ...

LOS ANGELES — When Phillip Phillips won last year, critics were skeptical whether he could have a successful career after a string of similar winners (Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, David Cook) had failed to make much of an impact. Then came his coronation anthem, "Home," which soundtracked the 2012 Summer Olympics and became the best-selling "Idol" winning song ever.

So a lot is riding on the original songs that season 12 "American Idol" top two Candice Glover and Kree Harrison debuted Wednesday night. Could Glover's "I'm Beautiful" or Harrison's "All Cried Out" top Phillips' ubiquitous ode to domesticity?

At Thursday night's (May 16) "Idol" finale, we went straight to Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban to ask which diva has a hit under her belt — and, appropriately enough for this antagonistic season at the judges' table, they disagreed.

"I enjoy Candice's song a little bit better," Minaj admitted, before giving props to Harrison's tear-stained ballad. "But I know Kree's original song will be great for country radio."

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Urban, however, had his fellow country singer's back, voting for "All Cried Out" as the song of the season.

"All due respect to Candice's song, the Kree one just hit me a little bit deeper emotionally. But both of them have great messages, so I applaud the songwriters of both of those songs and the fact that they really had substantive lyrics in both of them."

But Minaj and Urban don't have the real deciding vote in this contest: It's all about which song appeals ...

With a summer movie season already crowded with big superheroes, you'd have to be a giant robot or monster to vie for attention. Thankfully the new trailer for Guillermo Del Toro's sci-fi monster film "Pacific Rim" packs in more large-scale creatures and creations in one trailer than we've ever seen before.

"We always thought alien life would come from the stars," says the trailer's voiceover, "but it came from deep beneath the Pacific." The voiceover then lists the first cities hit by the Kaiju, which is both Japanese for "strange beast" and the name for the giant monster film genre that includes everything from "Godzilla" to "Cloverfield." But "Pacific Rim" contains something those films lacked: humans that fight back in giant robot suits.

"In order to fight monsters, we created monsters of our own," reveals the voiceover as it explains the origins of the Jaeger program that built the battling bots and developed the technology that connects two pilots together mentally — forcing man and machine to become one. And then there's punching. Lots of punching.

Del Toro has become known for his impressive use of special effects, previously wowing audiences with films like "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Hellboy." The film stars Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba, as well as frequent Del Toro collaborator Ron Perlman, and "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" actor Charlie Day. But the real star of the trailer has to be the special effects, which mash up classic movie monsters with Del Toro's cutting edge vision of the future.

The film hits theaters July 12 (an appropriate phrase considering just ...

At just 20 years old, Demi Lovato has accomplished a great deal. She's has gone from child star to Disney starlet — all before transitioning into one of the biggest voices in pop music. So what will she be doing at 25?

"I hope I'm a mom in five years," Lovato revealed during "Live From MTV." "Well, I've been working since I was 8 years old, and my first audition was when I was 5, and I started modeling when I was 5, so I've been working so hard my whole life. At the end of the day, yes, I want to be a musician and I have a lot of goals, but my biggest goal in life is having a family."

Lovato has released four albums in the past six years. Her latest, Demi, hit stores earlier this week. She has headlined five tours and will soon return for her second season as a judge on the "X Factor."

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Lovato admits that she would "kind of have to" step away from the spotlight for a period of time once she does decide to start a family, but for right now it's all about her music.

"I think I want to focus really, really hard on music for a couple years and I want to take advantage of all the momentum. I want to not let any opportunities slip past me," Lovato said. "But then I want to go on a break and I think on that break... and ...

Andy Samberg and his comedy rap group the Lonely Island are back with more musical shenanigans just in time for summer. The troupe will drop The Wack Album on June 11 with the help of some of the biggest names in music, including previously released collaborations with Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake, as well as Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar.

Samberg revealed to MTV News earlier this week that "fraps" are playing a major role when it comes to the group's third album — but not the kind you get at your local coffeehouse. "Well, there's a lot more fake raps on it: fraps," Samberg explained. "We got a lot of really awesome guests. We're still holding on to some of the names, some more people coming ... it's exciting. It's going good."

In addition to more surprise guests, the Lonely Island crew have been teasing fans with weekly releases billed as "Wack Wednesdays." So far, the guys have given fans the music video, co-starring James Franco, Ed Norton and Zach Galifianakis. And just this week, they dropped the T-Pain collaboration "I F---ed My Aunt." And as it turns out, in real life, T-Pain is just as funny as he appears on the song.

"T-Pain is always very, very funny. Oh my God! He's the best," Samberg gushed about the Florida rapper, who previously collaborated with the group on 2009's "He just loves comedy — gets it, loves it. He's got a gigantic chain with the Mooninites from 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force.' He's like a deep comedy head."

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