Katy Perry wasn’t impressed with Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan on Sunday’s “American Idol”.
Aretha Franklin’s granddaughter Grace, 15, auditioned with “Killing Me Softly” on the season 20 premiere. When Perry asked if she had another song, the teen sang her grandmother’s track “Ain’t No Way”.
Grace said ahead of her performance, “I was really close to my grandma. I got to see her all the time. I used to travel with her a lot. I don’t think I could fully grasp the fact that she was known worldwide, because to me, she was always just Grandma.”
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Perry said after Grace’s second track, “I loved your rendition of your grandma’s song.”
Richie admitted, “You’re 15. You’ve got the family lineage. What we need to put now is time and some work in to get it up to par,” as Bryan added: “The age and the voice have to all come together on the same path.”
Things then got a little heated, as Bryan voted no and Perry voted yes, insisting Grace had “stardust.”
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Encouraging the contestant to come back after working on herself and her shyness, Richie said: “Trust me. If you go and come back and put the shyness behind you and the voice in front of you, you’re going to be something amazing and I don’t want to be the one to make you tip over and fall at this infant stage.”
By that point, Perry had already stormed off stage, shouting: “She might be a little shy. I will lie down on the ground. I quit this show. I’m going to the bar. There’s something wrong with your ears.
“Y’all are insane!”
