American Idol Judges Rush The Stage as Kayko Turns In Unexpected Performance of Gotye Hit
American Idol continued on Monday night (April 22) with performances from the Top 12 who covered Billboard Hits with the help of their mentor, Meghan Trainor. Host Ryan Seacrest revealed the Top 10 at the end of the night. One standout performance came from the show-closer, 23-year old Florida singer-songwriter Kayko. (Read our Recap)
In rehearsal, Kayko shared that he is worried about staying on pitch in the live performance. But when he told Meghan his plans to jump up and down during the performance, she questioned him saying, “You have pitch issues and you’re going to jump?” He pleads that he has to. Meghan liked his spin on the song, but advised him to cut out the unnecessary parts if he is worried about his pitch. The two have a blast in rehearsal. As the clip ended, Kayko admitted, “I might dive into the audience, who knows what’s going to happen”.
In his performance, Kayko made an entrance swinging the mic stand and from the moment he started singing, his energy was contagious. The arrangement went more rock than the original, full-on with growls, and surprisingly, it turned out to be one of Kayko’s best vocals (minus when he was jumping around as he was rightfully a bit out of breath). He also made the song his own, showing a new side of himself. The jumping up and down plan seemed dubious in rehearsal, but on stage he seemed like a touring alternative rock performer. It was a moment for him. The voting audience will dig his out-there style, but showing new sides to himself as an artist is a smart move as it will attract more attention outside of the show.
‘Wow, wow wow!”
The judges also felt the incredible energy from his performance, rushing the stage immediately after the performance. Katy Perry exclaimed, “Meghan Trainor, if you are watching, stay back. He’s my best friend.” Luke Bryan liked Meghan’s advice about pitchiness, declaring, “it worked.” The performance impressed Lionel Richie, as well. He simply remarked, “Three words. Wow. Wow. Wow.”
Kayko made it into the Top 10, and he wasn’t the only one who gave a captivating performance. The other three performances that wowed me were McKenna Faith Breinholt who fought through some sickness but gave all the feels with “Cardigan” by Taylor Swift, Julia Gagnon’s risky song choice of “Something In The Orange” which was her best performance since her audition, and Mia Matthews beautiful take on “Over You” by Miranda Lambert as she proved she may just be the most consistent performer this season. Although the night started a bit slow with some of the vocalists sounding tired on Night 2, great moments continued to make up for it.
