If you had to pick one singer you think is overdone in reality competition shows, who would you pick?
If we’re looking at shows across the board like The Voice, The X Factor, American Idol, America’s Got Talent – and every version of these shows across the globe, I think its safe to say there might be a few standouts.
For me, I think the most overdone song is “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston. In general, people tend to pick Whitney songs too often!
I can’t even count how times I’ve heard someone sing the intro to this song:
If I should stay
I would only be in your way
So I’ll go but I know
I’ll think of you every step of the way
I swear, sometimes the judges even roll their eyes when they hear someone singing a Whitney song. It is because she is not an easy artist to cover!
Whitney was one of the greatest voices of all time, not even just her generation. There’s a reason Guinness World Records cited her as the most awarded female act of all time.
But Mara Justine decided to take on the hard task of tackling a Whitney song for her Top 24 Solos on American Idol. She made the smart choice and skipped over “I Will Always Love You.”
Instead, Mara opted for a less popular song that is just as powerful.
For this performance, the 15-year-old chose Whitney’s song “Run To You,” which was the fourth single released off The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album.
Mara did Whitney a lot of justice in this performance and sounded incredible. By the end of it, Mara was in tears!
Luke Bryan was impressed by how different Mara sounded in this performance than her last.
“Mara, we’re obviously spellbound here. Because you have shown us this edgy, rambunctious rocking side and then you just deliver us this.
A whole other side, a whole other platform of what you can so, so way to show up today.”
Much like Luke, Katy Perry commented on Mara’s versatility.
“This looks so good on you. This sounds so good on you. I know how versatile you are and how you can sing anything you want to sing. You could sing addresses in a phone book and I would still listen.
You’ve been really taking the advice and applying it and I really appreciate it. It is so nice to see something in its original state. You know, I think sometimes you feel like you need all the bells and whistles and all the hair flips and all the turns and stomps and twirls.
And all of that is great. But today you showed us today is so raw and so beautiful and so you.”
Then Katy went on to make an analogy about baking a cake in the right order and then putting the cherry on top.
Lion Richie was proud of the growth that Mara has made so far during the competition, as he felt she’d come in so vulnerable and scared.
Please SHARE this amazing performance with your friends and family on Facebook.
If you’re not caught up on American Idol, you can take a look back at Mara’s original audition.
When she first appeared on the show, she sang a very different song, “Love On The Brain” by Rihanna. It makes sense that the judges felt she could sing just about any song!
Mara has now made her way into the Top 14 for the competition, so we’re going to see a lot more of her on American Idol.
What do you think of this 15-year-old’s voice? I think Mara is incredible!
