17-year-old Gabby Barrett has always been a daddy’s girl and she loves her father.
“I’ve never come from a wealthy family, I think going through hard times made us a lot closer.”
Her father is a maintenance man for Good Will during the day and at night he cleans apartments, which he has called “toilet cleaning.”
Gabby’s father, Blase, once told her, “I wanna know before the day I die that I gave you everything I could to make your dreams come true.”
He is her rock and has sacrificed so much for her, so, she wanted to go to her Americal Idol audition and make him proud. She felt that the judges would have to pick her.
Gabby felt that auditioning for American Idol would make a huge difference for her family and all of their lives.
The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native gushed to the judges about how much she loved the show. She has idolized Carrie Underwood for years.
So, it should come as no surprise that she chose to sing a Carrie song for her audition. Gabby chose “Good Girl,” a song off of Carrie’s 2012 album Blown Away.
Without any music, just her two hands clapping away, she began her audition and got through a few lyrics before Katy Perry stopped her.
Katy wanted her to try a song that would help her dig a little deeper into her singing. Katy wanted a second song choice.
When Gabby suggested she sing “Church Bells” by Carrie Underwood, Katy asked her to choose a different singer. She then suggested “Redneck Woman” by Gretchen Wilson.
Luke Bryan was quick to shut that song down as well. Lionel Richie then chimed in to explain why the judges were being so critical of Gabby’s song choices.
“You have to understand something, we are looking for you! We’re not looking for, as Luke would say, the jukebox. Every time you go and say ‘I’m gonna sing a Carrie song,’ you go to the personality.”
Luke then explained to Gabby that by trying to sound country, Gabby wouldn’t sound country. Instead, she sounded gimmicky.
It took her a minute, but then Gabby figured out what she wanted to sing. Rather than go with a famous singer’s hit from the radio, she went simpler. She picked a church song!
All Gabby had to do was sing a few bars and the judges were instantly sold.
Luke Bryan quickly confirmed, “That is you, am I, right guys?” To which Lionel agreed and told Gabby, “Your personality is in the church song!”
The judges felt that once she stopped pretending to be someone else, she was on fire. And all they needed to know that was hearing her sing just a few words!
After all of that, the judges voted and agreed right away that they wanted to see Gabby go to Hollywood. Luke even felt that Gabby could make it big in the competition.
As if her audition wasn’t a big enough whirlwind, Katy wanted to take things a step further. She wanted to prank Gabby’s dad!
Katy came up with the idea that she would go out and tell Gabby’s father:
“She didn’t make it through and she’s really upset. But she needs your support!”
Gabby swore that the prank might make her father faint, but was excited to do it. Luke and Lionel got involved by pretending they were consoling Gabby when her dad walked into the room.
You can see just how Gabby’s dad reacted after Katy Perry broke “the bad news” to him!
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