‘American Idol’ outrage: Kaibrienne ‘KB’ Richins eliminated during Top 8 night
After “American Idol” judge Katy Perry won the “Judges’ Song Contest” episode of Season 22 over Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, she had to decide whether to save either Kaibrienne “KB” Richins or McKenna Faith Breinholt — both of whom placed in the bottom of the Top 8. (Read our minute-by-minute recap.) Ultimately, the “I Kissed a Girl” singer chose to keep McKenna in the ABC competition. That resulted in “KB” being the latest person eliminated from “American Idol” — womp, womp.
Throughout the competition, Kaibrienne belted out tunes like “Something in the Orange” (Auditions round), “Simple Man” (Showstopper round), “Heaven” (Top 24 round), “girl i am now” (Top 20, Part 1 round), “Zombie” (Top 20, Part 2 round), “I Hate Myself for Loving You” (Top 14 round), “Wrecking Ball” (Top 12 round), “Here Without You” (Top 10 round) and “traitor” (Top 8 round). The 20-year-old B&B Host from Henefer, UT had her fair share of fans, but in the end, their numbers weren’t strong enough to advance her into the all-important Top 7 segment.
Heading into Kaibrienne’s Top 8 performance, she revealed to the audience she “grew up on Katy Perry.” As it turns out, “KB” and her sisters “jammed to” the “Roar” singer and they were Katy fans “for life,” she confessed. Kaibrienne’s three “Judges’ Song” choices were between “Take a Bow” by Rihanna, “traitor” by Olivia Rodrigo and “greedy” by Tate McRae. As viewers know, she went with “traitor” as the “easy pick,” she explained, due to it being her “cry song” in high school.
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The seven artists who heard good news on Monday night were McKenna, Jack Blocker, Abi Carter, Julia Gagnon, Triston Harper, Will Moseley and Emmy Russell. Next up, each of these Top 7 contestants will perform on Sunday, May 5 in the “Songs That Make Me Wanna Dance” episode with special mentor Ciara.
Since ABC earned the rights to air “American Idol” in 2018, the winners have consisted of Maddie Poppe (Season 16), Laine Hardy (Season 17), Just Sam (Season 18), Chayce Beckham (Season 19), Noah Thompson (Season 20) and Iam Tongi (Season 21). Who will be next singer to join the show’s iconic winners list?
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