Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard are going on tour together in 2023: See details wrapped in 5 points

Popular American singing sensations Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard are ready to showcase their musical skills a notch higher. On Monday, the singers dropped in for a surprise performance on The View—an American talk show. Here, they were sporting their holiday sweaters. Later, the pair gave an enthralling performance on Donny Hathaway’s classic “This Christmas,” before chatting with the co-hosts. 

For those unaware, Ruben Studdard is the American Idol Season Two winner while Clay Aiken is the runner-up of the same season. 

Details about Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard’s upcoming tour 

Q1: When and where is the tour happening?

On Monday, the duo, both aged 44, announced that they will be teaming up in 2023 for a joint tour named “Twenty The Tour” across cities in the United States and Canada. Taking to Instagram, Studdard shared, “@clayaiken & I are hitting the road this Spring, twenty years after our debuts on American Idol. Join us for the first leg of Twenty | The Tour.” Twenty The Tour will begin on April 12 in Troy, New York, and conclude on May 16 in Wausau, Wis. 

Q2: Why do Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard plan to reunite for a tour?

Speaking on the chat show The View, Clay mentioned that the duo was “commemorating the fact that 2023 will be two decades since they both competed in the second season of American Idol.” “We are about to celebrate our 20th anniversary from the year we were on Idol. So, Ruben and I are hitting the road together with the 20th-anniversary tour all across the country,” he said.

Continuing further, Ruben, on the chat show, said, “We’re going to be celebrating the last 20 years since we did Idol and the music we’ve gotten to make, and the friendships we’ve gotten to make along the way.”

Q3: When did Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard last perform together?

According to a news portal World News Era, they last sang together in a choir in 2021. Prior to that, they also performed “O Holy Night” in both 2018 and 2019 at a show.  They first sang “This Christmas” together on the program back in 2016. 

Q4: Will Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard perform together to celebrate special anniversary on the upcoming American Idol season? 

American Idol will return to ABC for Season 21 on Sunday, February 19, 2023. Knowing this development, Clay mentioned that they will indeed be appearing together to celebrate the special anniversary in this upcoming season.  

Speaking on the chat show, Clay said, “We will be in the finale of American Idol this coming season. Exactly 20 years from the day of our finale, so we’ll be singing together on the finale,” he said. “And we’ll be on the road too! So, so many opportunities to see Ruben and Clay,” Clay added.  

Q5: Clay Aiken and his friendship with Ruben Studdard over the years. Explained. 

Taking to Instagram, Clay, on December 4, penned down a long emotional note for Ruben and his valuable friendship over the years. He wrote, “We don’t get to choose our family. Most family is predetermined by blood; some are predestined by God to come into our lives. I’ve got one brother who was born into my family and one brother who the good Lord introduced me to in 2003.”

“On this day, TWENTY years ago, @realrubenstuddard saw me sitting at a table in the bar of the Glendale Hilton during #HollywoodWeek of @americanidol and befriended me trying to get some pointers on how to score with the ladies! He’s gotten much better at “fruit fly identification” in the two decades since (And he’s never needed any help with the ladies anyway) but that single moment of mistaken identity all those years ago may have been, for me, the greatest moment in #AmericanIdol history. It gave me one of the greatest friendships of my life,” he wrote.