‘American Idol’ Top 7 singers revealed. Is Charlotte’s Josh King in the mix?
On Monday night, the pool of potential “American Idol” winners was down to eight, which included Charlotte native Josh King.
Sunday night’s episode was all about female musicians, and the contestants sang songs by women to celebrate their contributions to the music industry.
King made it to the Top 8 after impressing the judges and mentor Miranda Lambert with his rendition of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” which included a harmonica solo.
Monday was Judges’ Song Choice night, where judges Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie picked a song for each of the eight contestants. Each singer then got to pick the song they wanted to perform out of the three, without knowing which judge suggested it.
At the end of the night, the judge with the most songs selected got to save a contestant from being eliminated.
With just eight singers left in the competition, the stakes were even higher. Did King make it into the top seven?
Spoiler alert: Here’s a recap of his latest performance and who made the top seven.
A legend’s tribute
Before his solo performance, King, along with contestants Gabby Simone and Jamal Roberts, paid tribute to judge Lionel Richie by performing his 1986 hit “Dancing on the Ceiling.”
“It was just fantastic,” Richie said about the performance.
Jelly Roll, the show’s “Artist in Residence,” also had high praise for the three young singers.
“I thought what the rest of the world watching at home thought, it was absolutely incredible,” he said. “It was three of my favorite singers in American Idol this season singing a Lionel Richie song together. What could be wrong?”
A familiar track
In Monday’s episode, each singer’s segment began with an amusing game of two truths and a lie.
King’s two truths and a lie were that he’s been on “Saturday Night Live,” he participates in historical recreations and he really likes seafood. He revealed that he does not like seafood, and that he’s allergic to it, so he can’t eat it.
He then found out the three songs the judges selected for him to choose from:
“You Make My Dreams (Come True)” by Daryl Hall and John Oates
“Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis
“Home” by Michael Bublé
He chose “Home,” and revealed that he’d sang the song live before at a David Foster concert when the singer asked someone to come on stage and perform.
“Ever since then, ‘Home’ has been one of my favorite Michael Bublé songs,” King said. “That’s what makes this so exciting. I believe these lyrics so much.”
What the ‘Idol’ judges said about Josh King
After King’s performance, which received high marks from the judges and the crowd, he was tasked with guessing which judge chose the song for him.
When he incorrectly guessed Underwood, Richie revealed that the song came from him.
Here’s some of what the judges said about his performance:
Luke Bryan: “What’s fun about tonight is, even though we’re wanting our songs to get picked, when our singers pick the songs that’s right for them, we’re just so proud for y’all. And that was just a perfect song choice for you. You had all the style behind that one.”
Lionel Richie: “When I saw your name and I saw the song, I said, ‘The two need to be together right away,’ and the marriage was perfect. You have just made the happiest person on the planet even happier. Well done.”
Carrie Underwood: “I feel like it was a blessing that you were given the option of a song that you already love and are already comfortable with. You could tell that you just kind of seemed in your element. That was a really strong performance.”
So, did Josh King make it to the top seven?
No. King was in the bottom two alongside Mattie Pruitt, and the judges chose to save her.
Who is in American Idol Top 7?
After more than a million votes were cast for each finalist, here is who else made it to the Top 7:
Gabby Samone
Mattie Pruitt
Thunderstorm Artis
Slater Nalley
Breanna Nix
John Foster
Jamal Roberts
How to watch ‘American Idol’
New episodes ‘of “American Idol” are released every Sunday and Monday at 8 p.m. on ABC and the next day on Hulu.
