American Idol: Luke Bryan gushes about Abi Carter after she covers Hello on Adele Night as field narrows to five

Luke Bryan was blown away by Abi Carter’s performance of Adele’s hit Hello on Sunday’s two-hour live episode of American Idol’s Adele Night on ABC.

Abi, 21, from Indio, California, closed the season 22 episode in a sequin dress and sang Adele’s iconic hit while playing the piano. The judges gave the Platinum Ticket winner a standing ovation and the crowd cheered her on when she finished.

“I think you made Lionel Richie forget he wrote the original Hello,” said Luke, 47. “He wrote the original, she just crushed the last one.” That magical zone, sometimes you found it, sometimes you didn’t give it to us, you just gave that magical thing in your voice the whole performance. It was amazing.’

“It was so delicate, it was so soulful,” said Lionel Richie, 74. ‘That was amazing!’

“That was the angelic frequency right there,” said Katy Perry, 39. “That was on another level.”

When the show started, the top seven battled to reach the top five. Singer Ciara, 38, joined the show as one of the mentors to help inspire the contestants as they first performed songs that got them dancing, followed by an Adele song.

Jack Blocker, 25, a graphic designer from Dallas, was up first, playing Long Tall Sally from Little Richard. During rehearsals, Ciara encouraged him to move around the stage and dance more. Jack danced while playing the guitar.

“It was fun watching you dance,” Luke said. ‘Ten out of ten!’

Julia Gagnon, 22, a college student from Cumberland, Maine, chose Roam among the B-52s to sing. She was surprised during rehearsals when Ciara told her that one of the guitarists from the Idol band was actually in the B-52s.

During her performance, she danced across the stage in a pink strapless dress. When she finished, host Ryan Seacrest, 49, pointed out Greg Suran of B-52’s in the house band and waved hello.

“It was fantastic,” Lionel said. ‘I loved it.’

Abi chose the Fall Out Boy hit My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up) for her dance number, but worried during rehearsals with Ciara that she wasn’t much of a dancer. When she took the stage, Abi’s microphone pack almost fell out while she was singing. The crowd chanted her name when she finished.

“You can do that?” Katy said. “That performance made me afraid for my job!”

McKenna Faith Breinholt, 25, from Gilbert, Arizona, chose Katy Perry’s song ET for her dance song.

Ciara encouraged her to move as she sang on stage. The judges gave her a standing ovation when she finished.

‘Good job!’ Katy said. “I didn’t know you had all that in you!”

The judges drank giant margaritas during intermission to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

Will Moseley, 23, from Hazlehurst, Georgia, chose the song Gimme Three Steps by Lynyrd Skynyrd for his dance number. Ciara tried to ‘push him out of his comfort zone’ and taught him choreography during rehearsals.

“That was so good,” Lionel said when he finished.

Loretta Lynn’s granddaughter Emmy Russell, 25, of Nashville, chose Walk The Moon’s Shut Up And Dance as her song. Ciara encouraged her to keep the energy high during her performance. Emmy stayed at her piano the entire time.

“You’re the most confident I’ve ever seen you, even if it was through a profile,” Katy said. “Chills everywhere.”

“That might have been the best voice we’ve heard from you!” said Lucas.

“You are now entering the path they call superstardom,” Lionel said.

Triston Harper, 15, a high school student from McIntosh, Alabama, met Ciara. She told him that she was also 15 when she started in the music business. He chose TROUBLE by Travis Tritt and Ciara helped him with his dance moves. Triston danced around the stage as he sang and the audience gave him a standing ovation.

‘You just keep laughing, dancing and having fun!’ said Lucas.

“I thought you were on a whole different level, Triston,” Katy said.

Meghan Trainor sang her new hit To The Moon in a black bodysuit, accompanied by a group of dancers. For the second round, each of the participants took the stage again to pay tribute to Adele. McKenna took the stage first and sang Make You Feel My Love by Adele and Bob Dylan.

‘It was so great!’ said Lionel.

“It was really perfectly done,” Luke said.

Jack sang Adele’s hit One And Only.

“You have your own kind of charisma that is authentic to you and man, it really fires me every time you step on stage,” Luke said.

Will sang Rolling In The Deep by Adele.

“Good job, great delivery,” Luke said.

Julia sang Adele’s hit Set Fire to the Rain.

“It was all you, it was incredible,” Katy said. “It’s exactly what Adele wants on her birthday.”

Emmy sang the song Water Under The Bridge by Adele. The judges gave her a standing ovation.

“I got so lost, I felt like I was on an Emmy Russell show?” Katy said. “You’ve never sounded as good as you did tonight!”

‘You are standing in your light!’ said Lionel.

Triston sang Adele’s hit Easy On Me with a country flair and the crowd swayed to the music. The judges gave him a standing ovation and the performance brought Triston’s mother to tears.

“It was really real, you really, really well done, a lot of realies,” Luke said. “And you’re actually on this stage making it happen.”

“I still want to make sure I check your birth certificate before you leave,” Lionel said as Triston laughed.

“Because you’re doing really grown-up things up there,” Lionel said. ‘What I love about it is that when you take the microphone out of the microphone stand, you transform into yourself. You did a great job with that song.”

At the end of the episode, after the votes were tallied, Ryan announced that Abi, Jack, Triston, Will and finally Emmy would move into the top five.

Julia and McKenna did not make the cut and were eliminated.

American Idol returns this Sunday on ABC with Disney Night.