When “American Idol” contestant Mattie Pruitt met Miranda Lambert — this week’s guest mentor and performer — she said was so excited that she wanted to cry.
Fast forward to her performance during Sunday night’s episode of the competition, and Pruitt was indeed shedding a few tears, along with judge Carrie Underwood and Lambert herself. During a “Ladies Night”-themed round, Pruitt performed Lambert’s song “The House That Built Me,” honoring an artist she described as one of her biggest country music inspirations.
“I learned this song in my bedroom with the guitar and I thought it’d be cool to play it for you,” she told Lambert during rehearsals.
Initially, Pruitt only wanted to perform the song for Lambert behind the scenes and not during the competition. But a little encouragement from her new mentor steered her in a different direction.
“I want you to let Mattie fully shine through,” Lambert said. “I’ve been watching you and I feel like I haven’t gotten to know exactly the whole Mattie yet, and I want to see her.”
Pruitt followed Lambert’s advice and competed with her song, performing without a band and just an acoustic guitar. When judges Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan shared their feedback, the singer was visibly fighting back tears.
“You held your emotions perfectly, and we felt every moment of that performance,” Richie said.
“We were hanging on every single note, every single word,” Underwood added. “That was really quite brilliant, and towards the end, I’m just trying to hold my own tears in.”
Lambert watched on the sidelines, also wiping away a few tears.
“I wanted to see you, and I saw the full you,” she told Pruitt.
The episode’s results revealed that Pruitt will advance to the Top 8 contestants and compete again Monday night during a “Judge’s Song Contest”-themed episode.
