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Katy Perry
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Katy Perry Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction When Top Breaks During Live Taping Of ‘American Idol’: “It’s A Family Show”
It was a family affair on American Idol this week.
For the Judge’s Song Contest, the judges secretly picked a song for the contestants to sing. Contestant Emmy Russell moved Katy Perry to tears during Monday’s (April 29) episode with her performance of her grandmother Loretta Lynn‘s iconic ballad, “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
After Russell delivered a powerful performance, she successfully guessed that Perry chose the song for her.
“I chose this song not because Loretta Lynn is your grandma,” Perry told her through tears, per The Daily Mail. “I chose this song because you are Emmy Russell and you can do anything now as Emmy Russell!”
Russell, a 24-year-old singer from Nashville, addressed viewers everywhere in a pre-taped package. “I love singing from the heart, and I think this is a perfect song for that. I mean, it’s my grandma’s song — can’t get much closer to the heart than your own blood,” she said.
She added that she knows the song “like the back of my hand” and wanted to perform it as a tribute to her late grandmother, “like a way of hugging her.”
Lynn is a country music icon who passed away in October 2022 at the age of 90.
“I’m a granddaughter singing this to her grandmother,” she said. “I’m Emmy Russell. I’m 24 years old and I’m proud to be a coal miner’s great granddaughter.”
Despite her legacy, Perry expressed that she believes Russell is now coming into her own on the show.
“I think she came in when she auditioned, she was a little bit hesitant to really reveal all of it, because she wants to stand on her own two feet,” Perry told People after the show. “She wants everyone to know her as Emmy Russell and it can be hard when you’re the daughter of someone or the granddaughter of someone.”
She added, “It’s like you want to forge your own path, and I think she has. I knew she was going to ace it because she sang it a thousand times. She really did and it was just a jaw-drop moment.”
Russell managed to make it through to the Top 7, so she will be competing in next week’s episode as well.
Scroll up to check out the entire performance.
