Luke Bryan was blown away by Abi Carter’s performance of Adele’s hit Hello on Sunday’s live two-hour Adele Night episode of American Idol on ABC.
Abi, 21, from Indio, California, closed out the season 22 episode in a sequined dress singing Adele’s iconic hit while playing the piano. The judges gave the Platinum Ticket winner a standing ovation and the crowd cheered for her when she finished.
‘I think you made Lionel Richie forget he wrote the original Hello,’ Luke, 47, said. ‘He wrote the original, she just crushed the latest. That magic zone, sometimes you found it, sometimes you haven’t given it to us, you just gave that magic thing in your voice the whole performance. It was tremendous.’
‘It was so delicate, it was so soulful,’ Lionel Richie, 74, said. ‘That was amazing!’
‘That was angelic frequency right here,’ Katy Perry, 39, said. ‘That was on another level.’
Luke Bryan was blown away by Abi Carter ‘s performance of Adele ‘s hit Hello on Sunday’s live two-hour Adele Night episode of American Idol on ABC
Abi, 21, from Indio, California , closed out the season 22 episode in a sequined dress singing Adele’s iconic hit while playing the piano
When the show started, the top seven competed to make it to the top five. Singer Ciara, 38, joined the show as one of the mentors to help inspire the contestants as they first performed songs that make them dance, followed by an Adele song.
Jack Blocker, 25, a graphic designer from Dallas, was up first and performed Long Tall Sally by Little Richard. Ciara encouraged him during rehearsals to move around the stage and dance more. Jack danced while he played the guitar.
‘It was fun watching you dance,’ Luke said. ‘Ten out of ten!’
Julia Gagnon, 22, a college student from Cumberland, Maine, picked Roam by the B-52’s to sing. She was surprised in rehearsals when Ciara told her that one of the guitarists in the Idol band was actually in the B-52’s.
She danced across the stage in a pink strapless dress during her performance. When she finished, host Ryan Seacrest, 49, pointed out Greg Suran from B-52’s in the house band and he waved hello.
‘It was fantastic,’ Lionel said. ‘I loved it.’
Abi picked the Fall Out Boy hit My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up) for her dance song, but worried in rehearsals with Ciara that she wasn’t really a dancer. When she did take the stage, Abi’s microphone pack almost fell out when she was singing. The crowd chanted her name when she finished.
‘You can do that?’ Katy said. ‘That performance made me scared for my job!’
The judges gave the Platinum Ticket winner a standing ovation and the crowd cheered for her when she finished
‘I think you made Lionel Richie forget he wrote the original Hello,’ Luke, 47, said. ‘He wrote the original, she just crushed the latest. That magic zone, sometimes you found it, sometimes you haven’t given it to us, you just gave that magic thing in your voice the whole performance. It was tremendous’
‘It was so delicate, it was so soulful,’ Lionel Richie, 74, said. ‘That was amazing!’
‘That was angelic frequency right here,’ Katy Perry , 39, said. ‘That was on another level’
McKenna Faith Breinholt, 25, from Gilbert, Arizona, picked Katy Perry’s song E.T. for her dance song.
Ciara encouraged her to move while she sang on stage. The judges gave her a standing ovation when she finished.
‘Great job!’ Katy said. ‘I didn’t know you had all that in you!’
The judges drank giant margaritas during the break to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
Will Moseley, 23, from Hazlehurst, Georgia, picked Lynyrd Skynyrd’s song Gimme Three Steps for his dance song. Ciara tried to ‘push him out of his comfort zone’ and taught him some choreography during rehearsals.
‘That was so good,’ Lionel said when he finished.
Loretta Lynn’s granddaughter Emmy Russell, 25, from Nashville, picked Shut Up And Dance by Walk The Moon as her song. Ciara encouraged her to keep the energy up during her performance. Emmy stayed at her piano the whole time.
Jack Blocker, 25, a graphic designer from Dallas, was up first and performed Long Tall Sally by Little Richard
Julia Gagnon, 22, a college student from Cumberland, Maine, picked Roam by the B-52’s to sing
Abi picked the Fall Out Boy hit My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up) for her dance song, but worried in rehearsals with Ciara that she wasn’t really a dancer
Loretta Lynn’s granddaughter Emmy Russell, 25, from Nashville, picked Shut Up And Dance by Walk The Moon as her dance song
‘You are the most confident I’ve seen you even if it was from a profile,’ Katy said. ‘Chill bumps everywhere.’
‘That may have been the best vocal we have heard from you!’ Luke said.
‘You are right now stepping into that lane they call superstar,’ Lionel said.
Triston Harper, 15, a high school student from McIntosh, Alabama, met Ciara. She told him she was also 15 when she started out in the music business. He picked T-R-O-U-B-L-E by Travis Tritt and Ciara helped him with his dance moves. Triston danced across the stage while he sang and the audience gave him a standing ovation.
‘You just keep smiling, dancing and having fun!’ Luke said.
‘I thought you were just another level, Triston,’ Katy said.
Meghan Trainor performed her new hit To The Moon wearing black bodysuit accompanied by a group of dancers. Then for round two, each of the contestants took the stage again to pay tribute to Adele. McKenna took the stage first and sang Make You Feel My Love by Adele and Bob Dylan.
McKenna Faith Breinholt, 25, from Gilbert, Arizona, picked Katy Perry’s song E.T. for her dance song
Will Moseley, 23, from Hazlehurst, Georgia, picked Lynyrd Skynyrd’s song Gimme Three Steps for his dance song
Lionel, Katy and Luke looked on as the top seven performed during the two-hour live show
‘It was so wonderful!’ Lionel said.
‘It was really done perfectly,’ Luke said.
Jack sang Adele’s hit One And Only.
‘You’ve got your own kind of charisma that is authentic to you and man it’s really firing me every time you get on the stage,’ Luke said.
Will sang Adele’s Rolling In The Deep.
‘Great job, great delivery,’ Luke said.
Julia did Adele’s hit Set Fire to the Rain.
‘It was all you, it was incredible,’ Katy said. ‘It is exactly what Adele wants on her birthday.’
Emmy sang Adele’s song Water Under The Bridge. The judges gave her a standing ovation.
‘I got so lost, I was like am I at an Emmy Russell show?’ Katy said. ‘You have never sounded better than tonight!’
‘You’re standing in your light!’ Lionel said.
Triston performed Adele’s hit Easy On Me with a country flair and the crowd swayed to the music. The judges gave him a standing ovation and the performance brought Triston’s mother to tears.
‘It was really real, really you, really well done, a lot of reallies,’ Luke said. ‘And you are really on this stage making it happen.’
‘I still want to make sure I check your birth certificate before you leave,’ Lionel said as Triston laughed.
‘Because you are doing some real grown up things up there,’ Lionel said. ‘What I love about it is when you take the mic out of that mic stand, you turn into yourself. You did a great job on that song.’
At the end of the episode, Ryan announced after the votes had been tabulated that Abi, Jack, Triston, Will and lastly Emmy were moving into the top five.
Julia and McKenna did not make the cut and were eliminated.
American Idol will return next Sunday on ABC with Disney Night.