In just the second auditions episode of “American Idol,” the judges are already declaring a winner. Week 2 of “Idol” didn’t necessarily end with a bang. Instead, it concluded with a heartwarming flutter. 21-year-old Abi Carter from Indio, California, delivered her ethereal rendition. She sang Billie Eilish’s awards bait song, “What Was I Made For?”
“That may be the winner of ‘American Idol,'” Luke Bryan declared from behind the judges’ desk. He and Lionel Richie issued a standing ovation, joined in by the crew’s applause. Richie confidently stated, “We don’t have to vote.”
“I’ve never heard the crew clap,” Bryan marveled. “That’s the best we’ve ever heard on this show,” Richie told Abi’s family. “I’m not kidding.” “What were you made for?” Katy Perry asked Abi as she held the young woman by the arms. “You were made for this, 100%.”
It didn’t just end with the judges’ sweeping praise for Abi. During her hometown celebration in Palm Springs, she and her family learned she’d received the second of three platinum tickets. Odell Bunton Jr. received the first of Season 22 last week. This ticket takes her straight to the second round of Hollywood Week.
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Sam Kelly-Cohen was content doing the piano accompaniment for his friend Abby Blake, who performed P!nk’s “What About Us” for the judges. However, Katy Perry called him off the piano bench.
“Are you a lead singer or guitarist?” Perry asked the 23-year-old from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As she encouraged Sam to do his own performance, she declared, “We don’t like to leave any ‘American Idol’ stone unturned.”
After performing “Time Of Your Life,” an upbeat original song about setting an ex free, Sam received the shock of a lifetime: three yeses from the judges. This was one more than Abby received, as Perry “wasn’t exactly sold” on the 25-year-old singer. “If you want to, I guess you can go to Hollywood as well.”
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Perry said as she handed Sam the second golden ticket of the audition. “Sam, you’re the kind of contestant that we look for: the ones that think they can’t make it and have great voices and then kaboom.”
Emmy Russell made her late grandmother and country music legend Loretta Lynn proud on Sunday, scoring a golden ticket. “I know that your memaw would be so proud of you,” Emmy’s mom Patsy Russell said in a video package ahead of her audition. “You go out there and show them your heart.”
Emmy had a shy entrance revealing that her grandmother was “one of the biggest country music singers of all time, but to me she’s just my grandma.” The 24-year-old then sang an original song called “Skinny,” which detailed her struggle with an eating disorder.
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“Emmy, you’re an A-plus songwriter,” Perry told her. “So was your grandma. You have the gift. I don’t think you need to compare yourself to what grandma was, you are totally different.”
Perry then challenged Emmy with an exercise in confidence, telling the young songstress to repeat her name and hometown until she sounded more assertive. “My name is Emmy, and I’m 24, and I’m from Nashville, Tennessee,” she said with more emphasis each time, ending in emotional tears.
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