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American Idol contestant Genevieve Heyward earned a standing ovation from the panel of judges when she delivered a powerful rendition of Brandi Carlile song.
Heyward, 26, a musician from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, covered “The Story” by Grammy-winning Carlile, who was recently named on TIME’s list of Women of the Year. Judges Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan applauded the performance during the Hollywood Week episode that aired on Monday evening (March 2). Underwood cheered and exclaimed, “love her!”
“Wow,” Bryan reacted. “You have this energy around you that you just feel like you want to be on stage, owning the moment and you should be very, very happy.”
Hollywood Week: Music City Takeover, held for the first time in Nashville, Tennessee, led to “the biggest Hollywood Week cut in Idol history,” per ABC. Underwood, who won the show’s fourth season in 2005, said this year’s Hollywood Week “was brutal,” leading to the Top 30. American Idol airs on ABC on Monday nights from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET/PT. It’s available to stream the next day on Hulu.
Bryan is also part of the star-studded lineup of the 2026 iHeartCountry Festival. The show also includes Kane Brown, Parker McCollum, Riley Green, Shaboozey, Dylan Scott, Russell Dickerson, Gretchen Wilson, Chase Matthew and Lauren Alaina. iHeartRadio's Bobby Bones is returning as the event’s host. The show will take place on May 2 at Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Tickets to the show are available as of January 23. Fans across the country will be able to catch all the action as the 2026 iHeartCountry Festival will be broadcast live across iHeartCountry stations nationwide and the free iHeartRadio app on Saturday, May 2nd at 8pm ET/5pm PT (7pm CT).
Watch Heyward’s performance here: