5 Past ‘American Idol’ Contestants That Look Completely Different Today

American Idol is known for transforming unknown musicians into global superstars, but it turns out that the series can actually have an impact on how the contestants look.

Here’s five of American Idol‘s most notable contestants who look completely different today than they did on the show.

Jordin Sparks

Jordin Sparks has definitely grown up since she won Season 6 of American Idol in 2007. Sparks was just 17-years-old when she appeared on the show, and has grown into a glamorous superstar since her days as a contestant.

Jordin recently revealed during an appearance on The Today Show that she lost a staggering 50lbs since she rose to fame, but admitted that she “loved the way she looked” as a teenager on American Idol.

“I loved the way I looked before. I was comfortable with how I looked. But, a lot of it has been really focusing on becoming healthier,” Sparks revealed, “the plus side was that my body changed, which was awesome. It wasn’t about being a zero or a certain size or anything like that.”

Clay Aiken

Clay Aiken is almost unrecognizable from when he was crowned runner-up on American Idol during Season 2 back in 2003.

Today, Aiken has ditched his glasses and adopted a much more suave style, and it sounds like he learned a whole lot about grooming from the show’s make-up artists.

Recently speaking to Hollywood Life, long time American Idol make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy revealed that Aiken “didn’t do anything” in terms of a beauty routine before he hit it big. “We shaped up his eyebrows a little bit … we tinted his lashes and eyebrows because they’re super, super light. He just looked amazing and handsome,” Hussainy added, “He went from geek to chic!”

Carrie Underwood

While Carrie Underwood still has that sweet all-American look, there’s no doubting that the series’ most successful export has undergone quite a transformation since she won American Idol back in 2005.

Carrie recently revealed that she was at her heaviest during her American Idol stint more than a decade ago, and even turned to diet pills at the time to help her lose weight. “I was taking things with Ephedra in it,” Underwood, told People, “It wasn’t the best way. If I could go back and talk to myself I’d be like, ‘Here’s how you do it the right way.’ ”

Underwood is also sporting some much shorter hair these days, which she recently joked was a “mom move” in an interview with Elle and after admitting she gave her locks the chop following the birth of her son, Isaiah, last year.

Jennifer Hudson

There’s no doubting that Jennifer Hudson has become a superstar since she left American Idol in seventh place in 2004, and it turns out her transformation comes with a little help from Beyoncé, who she later starred with in Dreamgirls.

American Idol make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy revealed that Hudson asked for a Beyoncé make-over when she hit the makeup chair on the show and admitted that she didn’t know how to apply makeup or put on false eyelashes.

“The first time she sat in my chair she said, ‘make me look like Beyonce!’ ” Hussainy told Hollywood Life of Jennifer Hudson. “She used to say, ‘I’m a mess, I don’t know what to do.’ The first time I put lashes on her she was freaking out because she said they felt like spiders. Then after that she was obsessed with them.”

Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson has come a long way since she was crowned the original American Idol in 2002.

Rather than her old stripy bob, 14 years later, Clarkson now sports blonde hair after joking to InStyle that she began her American Idol journey with “flat hair and no make-up.”

Kelly recently opened up about her American Idol look with Entertainment Tonight, where she admitted that she received a whole lot of criticism for her weight when she first appeared on the Fox singing show.

“I was the biggest girl in the show too,” Clarkson told the site last year, “And I wasn’t big, but people would call me big. Because I was the biggest one on Idol, I’ve kind of always gotten that.”

Who do you think has changed the most since appearing on American Idol?

[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]