American Idol judges to Mississippi men — You have what it takes. Watch Colin Stough’s, Zachariah Smith’s Top 10 worthy performances.
Published 7:00 am Monday, May 1, 2023
America has voted, and the two Mississippi singers competing in American Idol are in the Top 10.
The performances from Colin Stough, of Gattman, and Zachariah Smith, of Amory, both garnered enough votes from across the country to advance from the Top 12.
Stough performed “Midnight Rider” by the Allman Brothers Band on Sunday night’s live broadcast.
The judges said Stough sounded great but needed to attack the song with more feeling and energy.
“You need to make the hair move, make the body move,” Luke Bryan said in the broadcast. “We want more body, more big star out of you because you have all the tools to turn into that.”
Lionel Richie agreed and thought all three judges were saying the same thing.
“There is no nice way to put it. You just have to get nasty,” Richie said. “That is a nasty song and a nasty group, and you have to get nasty if you are going to sing it.”
Smith sang “Don’t Bring Me Down” by the Electric Light Orchestra.
Richie, Bryan and Kety Perry were wowed by his high-energy performance and told Smith to keep doing what he was doing.
“Your attitude is brilliant. You are entertaining,” Richie said. “That is what half this business is … You could sing a phone book tonight and make it work. That was brilliant.”
Both Stough and Smith will appear Monday at 7 p.m. where three contestants on the singing competition will be sent home.