'American Idol' recap: Luke Bryan, Jelly Roll admit song covers are better than their versions

USA Today

15-04-2025

'American Idol' recap: Luke Bryan, Jelly Roll admit song covers are better than their versions
Show Caption
Hide Caption
David Archuleta says Lady Gaga butt-dialed him at 3 a.m.
Archuleta reveals he got an early look at Lady Gaga's breakout hit "Just Dance" while recording his debut, "Crush," and once got a butt dial from her.
Entertain This!
Island living looks good on the "American Idol" 2025 contestants.
The Top 24 singers no longer look dead on their feet after putting in the work to make it through Hollywood Week. And they've made it far enough into the competition to be part of the show's annual tradition of overt cross-promotional marketing efforts at Disney's Aulani Resort.
On Sunday night, half of the remaining contestants put the advice they received from artist-in-residence Jelly Roll and mentor Ashanti to use. And for the first time, the aspiring stars sang for the audience's vote as judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Carrie Underwood gave verbal pats on the back.
Of the dozen performances, nearly all knocked it out of the park. Here were the top moments from "American Idol" Episode 8.
Catch up on last week: Jelly Roll mentors as judges make questionable choices for Top 24
Jelly Roll and Luke Bryan admit contestants' covers were better than their original songs
"Luke, we're 0 for 2," artist-in-residence Jelly Roll yelled back at Bryan after watching Mississippi's Jamal Roberts "beat up" Jelly Roll's own song, as Richie put it.
Both Jelly Roll and Bryan seemed humbled after watching these aspiring stars one-up them with their own songs. Jamal brought Jelly Roll's "Liar" to the stage in dramatic fashion with a stool kick, an uncompromising attitude and grit to his voice. As Richie put it, whenever Jamal goes on stage, he performs "like it might be the last time you ever sing."
"I would feel disrespectful to call this my song in this moment," Jelly Roll said after Jamal's performance. "This is now Jamal's song. I was singing Jamal's song tonight."
Bryan had some attitude about the situation, though: "I am mad at Jelly Roll. He has over-mentored," the country star said.
Earlier, Illinois' Victor Solomon boldly took on Bryan's "That's My Kind of Night" — and the risk paid off. The judges were up on their feet early on in the performance, as Victor massively upstaged Bryan with his hip-swinging, foot tapping moves.
Wearing a cowboy hat, suspenders (that soon came loose due to the aforementioned dancing) and tight jeans, Victor showed impressive voice control as he worked the stage while not missing a single note.
The fast-food director from Peoria was the last person Bryan would've guessed would take on his country rock music, and "You can truly out-dance me" at that, Bryan said. So much so that Ryan Seacrest encouraged the judge to come up on stage and learn some new moves ahead of his summer tour.
"Your voice is perfect for every genre of music, and I don't know if I've ever seen that before — or heard that before," Underwood said.
Carrie Underwood gets emotional: Singer reflects on 'how difficult it is' to be vocal about her faith
Kolbi Jordan makes roaring comeback after sickness
Sinus infection who?
Platinum ticket winner Kolbi Jordan brought some "New Attitude" (Patti LaBelle's, that is) to the stage after suffering from an illness during Hollywood Week's Showstoppers round. Because she had something to prove.
Kolbi's voice is like a rubber band; it makes you want to play with it and see how far it will stretch. Her vocals went high, they went low, and she left it all out on the field. Hers was the first performance that the judges stood for, with Bryan commenting, it was "one of my favorite performances I've seen on this island."
"America, she is back," he said.
Who is in the 'American Idol' Top 24?