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With American Idol season 22 making it to week 10, the number of contestants has been reduced to 8, from the initial 24 the show started with. The two to be sent home in this episode were Mia Matthews and KAYKO, who ended their journey after a tough fight for the spot in the final 8.
In accordance with this week's theme, the contestants had to sing songs from their birth years, and Shania Twain was there to guest mentor them. With Jayna Elise and Roman Collins' elimination in the previous episode, the stage was set for episode 14.
Eliminations on episode 14 of the American Idol season 22
The episode, which opened with clips of all the contestants' childhood, perfectly transitioned into its first performance, which was from Mia Matthews. In an ode to Shania Twain, Mia chose to sing No One Needs to Know, but her choice backfired, cutting her American Idol journey short. However, the entertainment aspect of her performance bagged her a standing ovation.
While she was appreciated by Luke for the "commercial quality" of her song, he also pointed out that she had forgotten her words. Lionel agreed with him when he said, "I caught you thinking on that song".
KAYKO was in the fourth place in the list of performers. He had initially planned on singing Oops! I Did It Again by Britney Spears but changed the song upon Shania's request at the American Idol rehearsals. She said that he didn't sound like the pop star he was trying to be, and suggested he go for something else.
He went with Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus instead and gave an amazing performance. Luke said that he staged the performance to the point of believability, while Katy referred to him as a turtle when she said, "sometimes the turtles do win." Shania also watched his performance from home and made a video call to congratulate him for his great performance.
However, his performance failed to hit the mark when compared to the other performances of the night and he had to leave American Idol.
Meet the contestants who made it to the top 8 of American Idol season 22
1) Triston Harper (15)
Youngest on the show, Tristan was seemingly familiar with music since before he was born because his mom would sing him nursery rhymes while he was still in her womb.
2) Kaibrienne (20)
Kaibrienne was exposed to music through YouTube and through her older sister, who is a singer.
3) Abi Carter (21)
Music was natural to Abi since she came from a musical family. She has a singer mom and siblings.
4) Julia Gagnon (22)
After her chorus teacher heard her sing, there was no turning back for Julia, as she encouraged her to achieve her fullest potential.
5) Will Moseley (23)
Moseley developed his singing during the COVID years, when he played the guitar due to the absence of a television in his dorm.
6) Emmy Russell (25)
Emmy was introduced to music because of her legendary grandmother, Loretta Lynn.
7) McKenna Faith Breinholt (25)
McKenna used to play the piano since the age of seven, but didn't find her voice until she took guitar lessons and the guitar teacher needed her to sing.
8) Jack Blocker (25)
Introduced to music at the church, Jack started playing the guitar when he was 16.
New episodes of American Idol season 22 drop on Sunday and Monday, on ABC at 8 pm ET.
