Haley Reinhart picked Led Zeppelin’s What Is and What Should Never Be as her first song of the night, a choice that American Idol mentor of the week, Beyoncé, thought was “interesting.”
Haley was joined by her dad on guitar Wednesday night (5/18). She proved she is now a force to be reckoned with, and remained poised and unphased even when she fell during her first song.
Randy Jackson: “This is what it’s all about! I love the fact that now in this moment when you need to be great, this girl is slammin’. You are fearless, you chose a song that is not for the weak at heart. This is crazy vocals and one of your best performances ever. Crazy, crazy.”
Steven Tyler: “Haley, did you fall for me? It’s not how many times you fall, it’s how many times you get back up. That was superb.”
Jennifer Lopez: “You keep going. That’s the sign of a professional. It was a tough song and you sang it really really great.”
The judges picked Haley as having won the first round. Watch her first song performance:
She did not impress the judges as much on her second song, Rihannon” by Fleetwood Mac, chosen for her by Jimmy Iovine. Jackson called it somber even though he thought her pitch was perfect throughout the whole song. Tyler said “You sang that song so beautifully, I remembered why I fell in love with Stevie Nicks in the first place.” Lopez, said the camerawork did Haley well and thought she could have taken the song a bit further at the end, but called it “beautiful” nonetheless. Watch for yourself:
Haley’s last song of the night was Alanis Morissette’s You Oughta Know. Jackson said, “America’s got their work cut out for them, because I don’t know, those were some amazing choruses. I love seeing you rock out like that in a soulful way.” Tyler said, “Amazing, that was so perfect. You so nailed the choruses. Beautiful.” J.Lo said, “There is no one that can match you there as far as how high you can go and how much power you can put behind your growling.” Watch the performance for yourself: