Few American Idol hopefuls have been accompanied by a parent during their audition. Even fewer have been backed by a famous one. Kaya Stewart was added to that small list on Sunday night (March 26).
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Joined by her superstar father, Dave Stewart, or one-half of the pop duo Eurythmics, the 22-year-old wowed Idol judges with an original song, “This Tattoo.”
The panel of judges—made up of Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan—were stunned when the pair first walked into the room. Last year, Richie and Stewart were both inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the two seasoned performers quipped about it before the audition.
“Just to have you with your daughter, I think is so cool,” Richie told him.
Perry asked the younger Stewart why she chose American Idol as a starting off point instead of using the connections a second-generation musician would have access to. “A huge part of me coming on was getting to sing my own music,” she explained.
Performing a song the father-daughter duo wrote together, the two launched into a guitar-driven heartbreak ballad. The young Stewart’s sturdy vocals urged the impassioned tune onward and sent her straight to Hollywood.
“This is much more difficult than being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” her dad admitted to the panel.
Setting pressures and famous lineages aside, the judges gave their honest assessment of the young artist.
Richie started off by giving her props. “In the midst of all of this, you slayed it,” he told her. “I love the tone of your voice and you’re an artist. You’re really an artist.”
Bryan complimented her confidence. “You can tell that you’ve grown up on the stage, around the stage,” he said, adding his excitement to hear more of her work. Perry remarked on her sparkle, admiring the tone in her voice.
With that, it was yeses all around for the star-power Stewart.
Photo by Eric McCandless / ABC
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