Jeremiah “Jay” Copeland, of Salisbury, and his “American Idol” peers were thrown a new songful curve on episode 15, Monday night.
For the first time in the show’s 20-season history, performers were introduced to the Judges Contest where viewers were initially told America gets to vote two contestants off the show live, trimming the group down from 11 to nine.
But the show had a trick up its sleeve. Only one person was getting voted off.
The way the Judges Contest worked was the celebrity judges selected three songs for each contestant to choose. Contenders were required to pick only one tune.
Here’s the catch: The contestants didn’t know which judge picked the song they selected until after their performance. Correctly guessing the judge that picked each song granted that celebrity one point. The judge with the most points was crowned winner.
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Here’s a bigger catch: Once the two contestants facing elimination were announced, it was then revealed that the winner from the Judges Contest could save one of the performers.
The two contestants on the hot seat were Lady K and Tristen Gressett. Since Katy Perry and Luke Bryan were tied with 4 points for the Judges Contest, they both voted to keep Lady K on the show.
Perry and Bryan ended up tied in the first place because of Copeland. That’s because the JMB grad was the last to perform for the judges. He guessed right that Perry selected the song he sang: Jeff Buckley’s “Lilac Wine.”
The other two song choices for Copeland were The Jackson 5’s “I’ll be There” and Usher’s “Caught Up.”
Perry loved his rendition of Lilac Wine.”
“That was your best performance yet in my opinion,” Perry said. “It was controlled. It was so beautiful. You could hear a pin drop. It was you. It was showing off your artistry.”
The star judge alluded to some of Copeland’s previous performances on the show being a little too extra at times. But on Monday night, however, “Everyone was so zoned into you, Jay. You did it,” she added.
Bryan was stunned by the performance, especially since Copeland wasn’t familiar with the song.
“You just learned that and it was like Nat King Cole reborn in front of my eyes,” Bryan said. “It was so classy, classic, beautiful, perfectly … we don’t have enough time for me to tell you how great you just did. It was amazing.”
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Judge Lionel Richie might’ve offered Copeland the highest praise of the three judges.
“That was probably one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen in my life,” Richie said.
Copeland’s fans on Facebook were amped that he’s continued to show out on the biggest stage of his life.
“It’s obvious he’s going all the way! (Unless America is crazy–and America does seem pretty crazy right now.),” a confident fan wrote.
“We back next week Jay Copeland just keeps on showing God has a plan!” a supporter wrote on his Facebook wall.
“It was enchanting and mesmerizing. Completely took me away for a minute. Love just poured out of that performance!” another excited fan said.
ABC’s ‘American Idol’ airs Sundays and Mondays at 8 p.m. The show live streamed on Fubo.tv and Hulu.com. For more info, visit ABC.com.
Andre Lamar is the features/lifestyle reporter. If you have an interesting story idea, email Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com
