Country-Soul Singer Mariah Faith Enters ‘American Idol’ Top 24 With a Waylon Jennings Classic [Watch]
Mariah Faith admitted she was nervous on Monday night (April 10) as she waited to find out whether or not she made it into the Top 24 on American Idol.
“I’m feeling really anxious. It’s hard to see all of your friends coming in and out and the yeses and the nos. It’s really scary,” the 21-year-old hairstylist said before sitting down with the judges in a room away from the other contestants. “So I feel nervous.”
“I’m trying to go in there without expectations. It’s hard not to, though, when you’ve worked so hard,” she continued. “I guess I’m just hoping [the judges are] as proud of me as I am of me and that they can see the growth that I’ve had, whether I get a yes or a no.”
As part of the Showstoppers Round, where contestants performed with a full band in front of a live audience in hopes to enter the Top 24, Faith provided a cover of Waylon Jennings's “I Ain’t Living Long Like This.”
Dressed in colorful bell bottoms paired with a pink fringed jacket, the Conway, S.C., native showed off a southern rock edge as she delivered the lyrics to the country classic.
Reflecting on her performance, which had her dancing and moving about onstage, Faith said, “I've never moved around on stage like that, but I feel like I’ve given them emotional and mellow this whole time. So I think it’s time to release the Kraken.”
“Whew, I tell you. I know I probably could’ve done better vocally, but I performed my little tail off. I’m really proud of myself,” Faith told the judges after her delivery. “I didn’t even pull a mic-stand out there. So I’m really proud of myself. I’m also proud I got to perform on that stage in front of my mama.”
Faith may have been nervous and uncertain of her vocal delivery, but she can now breathe a sigh of relief, as she has advanced into the Top 24 of the televised singing competition.
“You made it to this point because you are real,” Luke Bryan told Faith after the judges deliberated her fate. “You are the soul singer that loves the country and sings, and that’s a conundrum. That’s what makes singers stand out to us with all of these flavors and flairs. But they just are what they are. You sing the country stuff in a soulful way.”
"You’re in our Top 24,” he added as Faith got up from her seat and shared hugs with all three judges.
American Idol airs Sunday and Monday nights on ABC.
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