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This contestant sang “I Kissed a Girl” … but Katy Perry did not like it.
“American Idol” judge Perry appeared to cringe after one contestant took a massive gamble and sang the pop star’s 2008 hit “I Kissed a Girl” during Sunday night’s episode.
The bold and rather theatrical cover of Perry’s debut single came when Massachusetts native Madaí ChaKell strutted into the audition room and declared to Perry, 39, and co-judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan that she planned to “get into your bag today.”
ChaKell’s comment surprised Perry, who went on to watch the singer — who said she’d been part of an unnamed Broadway musical’s touring company — give a very active performance.
At one point, the “Hot N Cold” songstress could be seen raising her eyebrows in disbelief and covering her mouth with her hand as the “Idol” hopeful continued to dance around.
Despite Perry’s apprehension, Richie, 74, bopped along.
“Werk,” Perry stated immediately after ChaKell ended her performance. “All that and a bag of chips.”
The judges, however, weren’t quite ready to render their verdict.
“I want you to sing ‘Happy Birthday,’” Perry said, adding that she didn’t want any of the theatrics.
“Just give me some vocals,” she pleaded.
ChaKell then began singing the tune with a completely different approach.
“There it is,” the “Dark Horse” singer said.
“Listen, it is so fun when you can strip it all down, take all that frosting off, and there’s still, like, a great cake,” Perry said of ChaKell’s successful rendition of the standard. “I appreciated ‘I Kissed a Girl.’ That was like wild and colorful. But if you could mix it with what you just did…”
“I sure can,” ChaKell said. “I’m an R&B girl, too, so I can. I have a theatrical, classical background. I can switch it up and give you ‘Little Mermaid.’ I can give you whatever.”
“All I want to know is, at the end of this run, that you are in control of all the characters,” piped up Richie.
Bryan, 47, for his part, said the singer still has a year or two before perfecting herself as an artist.
“I think you are just trying to grab people’s attention, right?” Perry asked. “I mean, Doja Cat started with ‘Mooo’ and look at her now.”
“So you want to grab it, and then you want to hold it,” Perry went on. “That’s what I did with ‘I Kissed a Girl.’”
Despite Perry’s initial hesitation, both she and Richie voted to advance ChaKell, while Bryan said no.
“Prove me wrong,” the country singer said as Perry handed ChaKell the golden ticket to Hollywood.
Like the judges, the performance also seemed to divide social media users.
“She’s got a voice & she doesn’t need all the theatrics. Just sing, girl. You’ve got it,” one person commented on YouTube.
“Madai is somewhere in there amongst all the gimmicky stuff. I’m with Luke on this one,” a second person agreed.
“I wish we could’ve heard I Kissed a Girl without all the theatrics,” ruminated a third person.
Others appeared happy for the rising star.
“When Madai stripped away all that stuff and sang Happy Birthday then she sounded way better, sexy, and soulful. I’m glad Lionel and Katy saw past all that and saw instead the potential Madai has to succeed on the show,” stated a user.
“So cutesy but def picked up the attitude for her song. I love how she gave the ‘I Kissed A Girl’ so many strange inflections. She was doing the most but what a performer! She’s going to be fun,” another person stated.
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