And Spence has had the support of the judges nonstop all season long. For his performance last Sunday of Coldplay’s “Yellow,” Katy Perry told him, “You were back in that connected place between heaven and earth. That spot you get to when you let go and let God.” And for his take on “You Are So Beautiful,” which he dedicated to his mother, Lionel Richie said, “The way you navigate the notes is unbelievable. I was there when Billy Preston wrote it and Joe Cocker sang it. You Willie-ized it.” But Grace is a serious contender, battling it out in the polls with Willie, coming in second in some and beating him in others. Her comments from the judges haven’t been as consistently glowing as Willie’s, but she finally got the wholehearted support of Katy this week for her performance of “Fix You” by Coldplay. Katy told her, “That was intimacy. It was breaking through the façade of show business. You finally arrived with that song. When you are vulnerable, your vulnerability is your strength.” As for Arthur’s loss, Parade.com had a chance to talk to the judges last week after the show to see if they agreed with us that his inflexibility when it came to working with Chris Martin may have been what led to his downfall. Arthur performed Coldplay’s “In My Place,” and totally changed the melody, despite Chris’ mentioning to him the melody was the best part of the song. And in her critique, Katy said, “Chris is saying the best part of the song is the melody. You made it yours. I wanted to sing along but I didn’t know the melody. I think sometimes it is about playing along a little bit.” So, we followed up with Katy and Lionel afterwards to see if they felt that the disrespect that Arthur paid to Chris’ song may have been the reason for his being voted out. “I was listening and watching when they cut to [the conversation about the melody],” Katy told Parade.com. “I think that was Chris’ kind way of saying, ‘Don’t overstep it.’ As artists we can be stubborn, and we can sabotage ourselves. I think that that was a little bit of a lack of awareness moment, because Arthur did Lynyrd Skynyrd right after that and sang the melody note for note and we could lock in. It’s about locking in and we didn’t get the chance to. I don’t know if that was a part of why he went home tonight, but the greatest thing is that everybody will learn from their mistakes. They should keep on taking risks because what makes you a unique artist is carving out some of those risks or failures and making them your own.” And Lionel added, “There’s an edge but you’ve got to be very careful and not get too far and fall off. When the greatest thing you have going for you is a singalong melody and you decide you want to write a new melody, you missed the point of doing the song that everyone knows in the first place.” Updated May 6: Now that the Top 10 has been reduced to the Top 7 and Arthur Gunn has won “The Comeback” episode, the prediction for the winner of this season of American Idol needs to take that into serious consideration. Willie Spence and Grace Kinstler are still top contenders among this season’s competitors, with Casey Bishop a close third, but Arthur’s entrance into the race has many thinking he could win the entire thing with the unfair advantage that as last season’s runner-up, he already has an established fan base to vote for him. That said, both Willie and Grace have the powerhouse voices that America loves, and which judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan have praised and lauded, while Arthur gets props as a singer/songwriter/stylist-type of artist. On the Disney Night (Top 10) episode, Willie sang “Circle of Life” (The Lion King) and Katy told him, “You are a bona fide Idol. You just climbed the mountain with all of those notes. The arrangement was sparkly and wonderful. It was real spiritual. I love you and I am excited to see you sing again, and again, and again.” Arthur performed “Remember Me” (Coco), and Katy commented, “That was one of your best performances. The delivery, the enunciation, it was all there. It was amazing. I love when you do your own thing. You are Arthur Gunn through and through.” But it was Grace, who closed out the night with the showstopping performance of “Into the Unknown” (Frozen II), causing Luke to say, “You walked to the mic with a look in your eye that said you were going to slay this. The eye of the tiger. You went beyond all that.” And while her chances of taking the top prize could be affected by the fact that Casey hasn’t quite established the type of music she wants to perform, changing it up each week, like she did once again with “When She Loved Me” (Toy Story 2),” she isn’t out of the running. Katy told her, “You have shown us so many different colors. I love that you can do almost anything. Actually, you can do anything. You just have to believe.” May 2, 2021: The search for the next singing sensation continues on American Idol now that the field has been narrowed down to nine of the Top 10, including Alyssa Wray, Caleb Kennedy, Casey Bishop, Cassandra Coleman, Chayce Beckham, DeShawn Goncalves, Grace Kinstler, Hunter Metts and Willie Spence. The contestant to fill the final spot will be announced on May 2 when the results are in from America’s vote from “The Comeback” episode, which featured 10 artists returning from last season for their chance at the title. But before that announcement is made, Parade.com has its predictions as to who will win from this season’s artists, but like Lionel Richie declared on last Sunday’s episode, we see five possible winners. “For some reason, the fourth season has brought out amazing talent,” Lionel told Parade.com in a press conference after last Sunday night’s show. “I don’t even know if we could even count the first two years of us being here because this talent is on another level, and so what’s happening now is these kids are showing up with actually their goods in order.”
So, who will win American Idol 2021?
At this point, first place looks to be a tie between Willie Spence and Grace Kinstler. Grace sang “Happy” by Pharrell Willams during the Top 12 performances, and Katy Perry told her, “You can sing the telephone book. But who are you as an artist? That’s what I’m trying to say.” If Grace can show America who she is, she could walk away with the whole thing, Plus, she is my personal favorite. Willie Spence sang “Stand Up” by Cynthia Erivo from Harriet, causing Luke Bryan, who had earlier predicted Chayce as the frontrunner, to say, “You taught me to never use the word frontrunner again until the whole show is done.” If Willie wins, he will make history as the first Black male winner since Ruben Studdard won season 2 in 2003. Third and fourth could go either way between Casey Bishop and Chayce Beckham. Casey showed a different side of herself in her last performance, stepping away from rock ‘n’ roll to sing “Over the Rainbow” by Judy Garland from The Wizard of Oz, which definitely put Katy in her corner. Katy told her, “You can do anything you want. You can sing rock, you can sing pop, you can sing Judy Garland. To switch it up at the end, what a wild card. It is all inside of you and it is so beautiful. I think maybe Casey is the frontrunner.” Chayce Beckham performed “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” by Bryan Addams from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and received a positive comment from Luke, “I am so inspired by how much you have grown since the auditions. Your ability to be yourself and deliver songs, I think you are the frontrunner.” But let’s not count out Alyssa Wray—another personal favorite of mine. Her journey may have been a little rockier than the other four, but she has a powerhouse voice, which she last demonstrated with “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman. And she proved that she could take constructive criticism, when she didn’t go over the top on her performance. Lionel recognized that, saying, “I was praying through the entire performance, ‘Hold it.’ You are such a force. We know when the guns go off, it is going to be amazing. You held it [to the end].” That leaves Hunter Metts, Cassandra Coleman, DeShawn Goncalves and Caleb Kennedy in the bottom of the Top 10. Of course, this all could be moot, depending on who wins “The Comeback’ and joins the Top 10, because they could take it all! As Katy pointed out, “[Season 3 contestants] have been announced on the internet and they have nurtured their fan bases. Once you have a fan base and you love on them a little bit, they are going to love on you back. Arthur Gunn was trending on Twitter the last season several times and all of his fans will go, ‘I’m voting. I’m voting.’ It’s a curveball, but that is what happens in life. You have to stay on your A-game.” When American Idol returns on Sunday, May 2, the season’s Top 10 contestants, including the Comeback winner, will perform a song from the Disney songbook, with the top seven finalists revealed at the end of the episode. Next, Make Your Vote Count! How to Vote on American Idol 2021
