A sneak peek from the March 3rd installment of American Idol shows a new Season 22 contender named Aniston Pate whose voice and style bear a strong resemblance to Dolly Parton.
Aniston wowed Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie during her audition so much this fall that she earned a highlight on the show. We don’t know exactly where she stands with the competition, but ET released a promising clip of what’s to come.
In the video, the West Texas native walks in as Katy Perry and Luke Bryan are up to shenanigans as usual. Katy forces Luke to take vitamins intravenously because he refuses to swallow pills.
When Aniston takes the stage just after the needle prick makes him scream. She smiles at Luke, who explains he’s taking his “first-ever IV”. Completely unphased, Aniston introduces herself as “a tractor driver here to play country music.” The video cuts to the middle of her singing a song she co-penned for her mom called Hummingbird.
As she performed, the judges looked shocked by her vocals, and when she wrapped up, Luke said he had some tips for her.
“That’s a great one, really good. I got like four things I want to tell you to do to it,” he shared. Aniston eagerly shouted, “Come on! Give it to me!”
Luke gave her some advice on her lyrics. Then he sang a snippet of Hummingbird that showed off his edit. Katy Perry also tried Luke’s version. And she thought his suggestion was on point.
“Luke Bryan just sang a song that I wrote,” Aniston said gleefully. “Katy Perry sang a song I wrote too!”
Lionel Richie jumped in to tell Aniston Pate that her American Idol audition reminded him of the country music legend Dolly Parton. Judging by her face, he paid her the highest compliment possible.
“About halfway through the first verse, I had to open my eyes and go, ‘Is that you, Dolly?’”
“Oh my gosh,” she replied bashfully. “What?!”