The cuts continue on American Idol as coaches Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan weed through the Hollywood Week performances with the goal of figuring out the Top 24 for Season 8 on ABC (Season 23 overall).
After Sunday night’s “Hollywood Week: Showstopper” 62 performances, only four artists were named as part of the Top2 4: Mattie Pruitt, Zaylie Windsor, Gabby Samone, and Platinum Ticket holder Canaan James Hill.
Several others were eliminated, and the remaining 42 artists will perform duets on Monday night’s head-to-head episode, including 27-year-old PE Teacher Jamal Roberts from Meridian MS, who took a chance with a country song that paid off.
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“I’m doing ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ by Chris Stapleton,” he told the audience assembled at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. “It’s different. Country singer. Not used to it. I’m stepping out of my comfort zone. I want them to see that I have the potential to be the next American Idol, so I’m pulling out all the stops here. I’m doing this for my daughters. I want to show them whatever you put your mind to, you can achieve it.”
For “Showstopper” night, the judges didn’t critique the artists, who had to wait until all 62 of them had performed to get the results. But we did get to hear a little bit of what they said to each other.
Luke said, “He missed one or two. He didn’t get all the way there.”
Lionel pointed out, “Normally, that little growl he has on top, he missed it twice. I know what he can do.”
Related: Watch the Passionate Performance of a Luis Miguel Classic on American Idol’s ‘Hollywood Week: Showstopper’
But Jamal rightly felt that he did enough to make it through to the next step.
He said, “This performance right here, I feel like it already changed my life. I didn’t think I was going to make it this far, and look at me. I’m here. I’m doing this for my kids. I don’t think there’s a word in the dictionary that can explain how bad I want this. I just have to wait. I hate waiting. I don’t have patience, and I don’t know why because I work with kids for a living. But something like this, my patience is at a bare minimum.”
Disney/Eric McCandless
Jamal is a “girl dad.” He is the father of two little girls, Harmoni, 6, and Lyrik, 3, and American Idol is the first time he has been away from them for an extended period of time.
Related:Watch the 17-Year-Old Final American Idol 2025 Platinum Ticket Winner That Has Lionel Richie Out of His Chair
“Being a parent and having a music career is hard,” he said. “Being a father is like a roller coaster. You get on, and you keep on turning. I love them to death. When I was younger, I didn’t have everything I wanted, but I had everything I needed. Now, raising two little girls, I just want to get them everything they want. Since my audition, I purchased a home for my two little girls. It was just a house at first, but I’m making it a home.
“The biggest sacrifice I made, and the hardest one, was leaving my girls. I’ve never been apart from them this long. I’m doing this for them, so that’s the only thing that keeps me motivated.”
The next step for Jamal would be making it into the Top 24. Tune in to American Idol on Monday night at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC to get the results. Streams next day on Hulu.
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