During Monday night’s episode of “American Idol,” judge Lionel Richie marveled that Jamal Roberts successfully turned the “Beauty and the Beast” theme into an R&B song. But before the performance, the Mississippi contestant wasn’t feeling so confident in his abilities.
As Roberts prepared his performance with guest mentor (and singer/composer/playwright) Lin-Manuel Miranda, he confessed that he didn’t feel any attachment to his song choice.
“I’m worried, I’m stressed,” he said during rehearsals. “I’m not saying I can’t do it, but it probably will be one of the biggest challenges of the season for me.”
The penultimate round of Season 23 found each of the Top 5 contestants singing two of their top Disney songs, while “Idol” viewers voted for their favorite contestants over the course of the program. Roberts first performed “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (which appears in “Remember the Titans”), followed by the theme of “Beauty and the Beast.”
While Miranda praised Roberts as having “an unbelievable gospel-R&B voice,” he noticed Roberts’ concern in the contestant’s demeanor during rehearsals.
”He looked terrified of this song,” Miranda noted. “I just saw him reading the lyrics, and I don’t think he connects with this song.”
But unlike Miranda, Lionel Richie and fellow judge Luke Bryan didn’t detect any nerves from Roberts during the on-air performance.
“Jamal, let’s win this thing baby!” Bryan said.
“How do you make ‘Beauty and the Beast’ an R&B song?” Richie said, noting that only Roberts could “pull that off.”
The end of Monday’s episode revealed that Roberts, as well as John Foster and Breanna Nix, had advanced to this Sunday’s season finale. Slater Nalley and Thunderstorm Artis, however, were eliminated from the competition.
