Emmy Russell, the granddaughter of country music legend Loretta Lynn, is one of only 24 remaining competitors on the 22nd season of American Idol.
Part two of the iconic Hollywood Week rounds aired during Monday’s (March 31) episode of American Idol. Sunday night’s episode made history as the field of 143 was cut to 56. More brutal cuts took place Monday as more than half were eliminated, resulting in only 24 making it through.
One of the lucky hopefuls who earned a spot in the next round was Emmy Russell, the 25-year-old granddaughter of the late Loretta Lynn. Russell, who earned praise for her honest and heartfelt original song “Skinny” during her audition, chose to deliver a cover performance during the Showstopper round.
Russell played guitar and was backed by a small band as she sang Ingrid Andress’ 2020 hit, “More Hearts Than Mine.” Emmy fought emotion as the song started due to following another contestant’s cover of her grandmother’s hit, “You Ain’t Woman Enough.”
“Someone doing her song, her voice…I almost flashbacked to me being 10 years old and sitting backstage and hearing my grandma sing that song,” Emmy said through tears. “And then after she was done she would call me up to sing two songs. I miss her.”
But Emmy overcame the emotion quickly and delivered a flawless performance, and earned a standing ovation from the audience and the judges.
When it came time to find out her fate in the competition, Luke Bryan explained what the judges had hoped to see from her through the competition, leaving Emmy seemingly nervous about the possibility of being eliminated.
“What we have really wanted out of you from day one is your confidence to grow. We’ve heard a lot of promising stuff from original music from you, but there’s still this little underlying timid thing. We gotta get your confidence train rolling,” Luke told Emmy.
Luke then declared that the best way to boost her confidence was to tell her she is in the Top 24.
“We don’t want you to come out here and be something that you’re not. But, you are certainly worthy of being confident. And, I tell you what, I think it’s probably a pretty good confidence to let you know you’re going into the Top 24,” Luke added.
View this post on Instagram
Watch Emmy Russell’s performance of “More Hearts Than Mine” and see her find out that she is moving on to the Top 24 in the video below.