Heavy/ABC Katy Perry at the American Idol Top 12 performances.
At this point in “American Idol,” the remaining singers in the Top 12 have delivered performances that have resonated with the fans who have voted them in and the three judges who first brought them on with their ticket to Hollywood.
One Top 12 contestant still managed to go above and beyond to the point that it made judge Katy Perry reconsider her previously held beliefs.
“Colin made me a believer. I was a little bit on the edge,” she said about Colin Stough to People.
Colin Stough’s ‘Dancing on My Own’ Wins Over the Judges
Hailing from Mississippi, the 18-year-old had stuck to his country roots with each of his song choices. He earned his ticket and a trio of “yes” votes with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man.” In Hollywood Week, he tackled songs by both Whiskey Myers and Chris Stapleton.
His Top 26 and Top 20 songs were also tried-and-true country songs: The SteelDivers’ “Midnight Train to Memphis” followed by “Pretty Heart” by Parker McCollum.
With eight cuts looming, Stough determined it was the point in the competition to try something different when he took on a song first made famous by Robyn and, more recently, Callum Scott: “Dancing on My Own.”
Speaking to People, Perry gushed over the aspiring singer’s latest performance, saying that “what he did [Monday night] with the Robyn song was one of the best performances of the whole night.”
She didn’t stop there, either. She even referred to him as “the Brad Pitt of country music.” Like she told him afterward during the live episode and reiterated in the interview, Perry said she felt Stough’s performance showing “turned his life around.”
Luke Bryan Was Over the Moon with Stough
From the jump, the “One Margarita” singer has been a supporter of Stough. At his audition, Bryan said the teenager is “exactly what we hope and dream for at ‘American Idol.’”
Any doubt that Bryan wasn’t all in on Stough was put to rest after his song delivery in the April 24 episode. That’s because Bryan was seen sprinting out of his chair and onstage to embrace Stough following the performance.
In that same interview with People, Bryan explained how he sees himself in Stough. He mentioned how he gave him some critical feedback after singing “Pretty Heart” and was pleased to see the change in Stough’s latest effort.
“On the show last night I really, really challenged him to be more aggressive with that mentality,” Bryan noted. “He went out there, and he did a great job.”
On Instagram, the official American Idol page shared his performance as they do for all of the contestants. Stough received high praise from fellow contestant, Iam Tongi, who commented on the post with a pair of fire emojis, “The best of the night.” Noah Cyrus, who was a mentor when the group was at Disney’s Aulani Resort, also left a comment showing her support of Stough.
Stough will take on the Top 12 next April 30 when the live episodes continue on as the group performs songs in honor of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.