During ‘American Idol’s’ Live Top 12, Lucy Love Tackles Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long”

On Sunday night (April 30), American Idol went live for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night.

To kick off the evening, rock singer Adam Lambert performed a rendition of Tina Turner’s hit, “I Can’t Stand The Rain.” The powerful offering, featuring the singer looking glamorous as all get out, was the perfect opening for the night, which featured the top dozen Idol contestants performing for the new Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees and the show’s three acclaimed judges, Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, Katy Perry.

For her performance, Lucy Love, who recently made the Top 12 after a rendition of the song “Radioactive,” sang Richie’s classic hit “All Night Long.” Normally, it can be bad luck, or at least a bigger challenge, to perform a judge’s own song in a singing competition of this magnitude, but Richie was especially supportive of Love, who took on the number because Richie originally gave her a second chance on her opening audition.

Lambert, who served as an advisor on the show after performing the Turner track, said Love was overthinking the performance. His advice for her was to just smile and have fun.

Love gave her all for her performance, including her signature vocal acrobatics, which fans and the judges have come to expect (and others have been mildly critical of). But her vocal pyrotechnics paid off with the judges on Sunday, with Bryan saying, “You showed us so much character in your vocal movements.”

And Perry added, “Trust in your voice.”

But the ultimate praise came from Richie, who said Love made his song hers.

Sadly, though, for Love (and contestant Nutsa), she did not make it through to the Top 10. This ended both their journeys on the show. (For more on Love’s journey, including her performance of her own song “Boulders,” click HERE, HERE, and HERE.)

Check out Love’s final performance below.

Photo ABC/Eric McCandless