American Idol: Katy Perry gives harsh critique to Heather Russell after cover of Harleys In Hawaii

Katy Perry gave a harsh critique to a young contestant who performed her song on Sunday’s episode of American Idol.

Heather Russell, a 20-year-old musician from Toronto, wowed judges Lionel Richie, 71, and Luke Bryan, 44, with her jazzy, run-filled rendition of Katy’s tune Harleys In Hawaii.

Her vocals were light and flexible, and Lionel called theme ‘phenomenal,’ saying, ‘I have never in my life witnessed a voice that had total control.’

Luke agreed that Heather had ‘immense amounts of potential,’ and seemed awestruck by her.

Katy, 36, however, was not impressed after warning Heather not to outdo her on her own song. 

‘Heather, if I gave you a piece of cake, and one piece was just made of all frosting, and one piece was made of the cake and the frosting, which would you enjoy more?’ she asked the girl, who said it was the latter. ‘You are all frosting right now, honey,’ Katy said.

Stroking her crimped hair thoughtfully, the Grammy winner added, ‘It’s way, way too much. It’s like this hair is too much. But I have earned this. You have not earned this hair yet. You hear me? You have the best voice in the world. You just gotta learn how to use it.’

When it came time to vote, Luke and Lionel both sent Heather through while Katy demurred.

‘As fun and frosting as that sounded, it felt dead inside,’ she told Heather flatly.

‘Ouch,’ Heather said, looking crestfallen.

‘We’re not here to tell you what you want to hear,’ Katy said. ‘We’re here to find the next American Idol.’ She paused. ‘And you, you might be it. It’s a yes from me.’

Heather then got a standing ovation as Luke urged her, ‘Be an artist, not a singer.’

As the girl took her ticket, Katy said, ‘She got a good little voice, but she has no idea how to use it. When she figures it out, it’ll be really powerful.’

The judges had no such reservations about another singer, Alyssa Wray, 18, a 6-ft, 2-in college student from Perryville, Kentucky. The small-town girl had huge stage presence and earned a standing ovation for her take on I Am Changing, from the musical Dreamgirls.

When Lionel told Alyssa she was a ‘once-in-a-generation’ talent, a tear rolled down her face.

‘How lucky are we to finally say ‘We knew you when, and we had something to do with it,’ Lionel mused aloud.

‘I just want to touch my makeup up,’ Katy offered, putting on more lipstick. ‘Cause when this moment goes down in history, I want to be looking my best as well.’

A thrilled Alyssa got her ticket and practically bounced out of the room with her mom.

‘How cool is it to be in the room with that?’ Luke asked his co-stars. ‘You just saw Beyoncé get born.’

Memorable stories and original songs united some of the evening’s best contestants.

Phillip Murphy, 27, a musician from Baltimore, had a hard-luck tale that flattened the judges.

He was born half-blind and lost his mother at an early age, finding her body himself; his father then developed a heroin addiction and an alcohol addiction before he died.

His father had told Phillip he could be anything he wanted, which inspired his son to embrace music and busk nationwide for three years.

Phillip’s quirky cover of Bill Withers’ Just The Two Of Us divided the judges, who felt it was a ‘novelty’ performance, but they liked his follow-up, an original called The Painted Man.

‘If I can get you to peel back some layers and give us the artist inside, we can walk a long way together,’ said Lionel, as Murphy was voted through.

Ash Ruder, 22, a social media manager from Turlock, California, sang a song she’d written for her dad Bryan, who’d struggled with addiction before becoming sober two years ago.

Brought into listen to the song for the first time, Bryan cried along with the judges as Ash sang of how proud she’d become of the man she once failed to understand.

After Ash finished, she hugged her dad—whose birthday it was—and they wept together.

‘I am so lucky that we have that sort of relationship that we do now,’ Ash told the judges. ‘It’s like a void that’s gone inside of me.’

She was quickly voted through by all the judges, who were incredibly moved.

‘It was so beautiful to witness this sort of healing that went on,’ Katy told Ash.

High schooler Laila Mach, 15, from New Paltz, New York, wrote an angry update to ‘I Hope,’ by season 16 idol runner-up Gabby Barrett.

In her version, she wished that an ex would suffer even nastier fates than Gabby had written for hers in her song.

Gabby herself wished Laila luck via video, but the teen didn’t need it as her voice and songwriting was so strong that she went straight through.

‘For 15 years old or any age, that was a great song,’ Lionel marveled.

Caleb Kennedy, 16, a high school student from Roebuck, South Carolina, scored his ticket with the original song Nowhere, which in one verse fully described a desperate life.

‘You’ve got a grit and a gravel and a crack in your voice that says, ‘I’m in pain, someone please come save me through this song,’ Katy told Caleb. ‘If you want to change your reality, the power is in your hands right there with that guitar.’

Some auditions took place on a Saturday, when the University of Georgia Bulldogs were facing off in a football game against the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide.

Bulldogs fan Luke was so eager to watch he started judging contestant Michael Gerow, 16, from St. Louis, Missouri, before his fellow judges even got there.

Just in time, Katy ran into the room in Alabama gear to provoke Luke, yelling ‘Roll Tide!’ 

All three judges voted Michael through, wowed by an original song that had Katy calling him ‘exceptional’ and ‘Top 10 material.’

At the same set of auditions, Crimson Tide fan Cameron McGhar, 16, from Clanton, Alabama, turned out a fairly wooden cover of Little Big Town’s Girl Crush.

The frequent pageant contestant had a tough road to the auditions but was winningly determined and did much better with Loretta Lynn’s You Ain’t Woman Enough.

‘I’m not going to Roll Tide with you, but I will roll the dice with you,’ Katy said, sending Cameron through.

Brennan ‘Beane’ Hepler, 23, a wedding singer from Boston, made it through with an upbeat attitude and the support of his grandmother Connie, aka ‘Neen.’

Beane sang Vulfpeck’s Wait for the Moment, which got him called ‘a walking pocketful of sunshine’ by Katy and ‘a modern-day Mr. Rogers’ by Lionel.

Abby LeBaron, 19, a social media manager from Springville, Utah, won her golden ticket by singing a pretty version of Kodaline’s All I Want, which she played on piano.

Also going through was Re’h, 27, from Houston, the lead vocalist of the United States Army 40th Infantry Division Band.

Re’h after an outfit change sang Donna Summer’s Bad Girls in a ’70s-era silver sequined dress that Lionel loved.

‘You’re amazing!’ Katy told Re’h before sending her to Hollywood. ‘I wanna know you!’

Just a few contestants failed to survive the onscreen auditions, among them Anthony Key, 27, a DJ from Merrillville, Indiana, who did a too-faithful cover of BTS’ Dynamite.

Cheryl K, 24, a Lionel superfan from Malaysia, dueted with the former Commodore on Endless Love, but it wasn’t enough to impress.

American Idol returns next week on ABC.