When “American Idol” hopeful Sophia Humbert walked into her Season 23 audition, she planned to impress the judges with a performance of Carrie Underwood’s song “Before He Cheats.” Instead, she and the “Idol” judges brought the smash hit to life.
Following Humbert’s strong rendition of Underwood’s song, judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, and Underwood herself agreed that the performance needed a little more aggression.
“It’s exercise time,” Bryan said, before the judges, Humbert, and host Ryan Seacrest embarked on an off-site continuation of the audition. To encourage the singer to emote more during her performance, the “Idol” team told Humbert to sing while acting out the song’s revenge story, effectively wreaking havoc on a red pickup truck.
“This is an accelerated course on angst, anger, frustration,” Bryan said.
Humbert sang the lyrics into a baseball bat (like the Louisville slugger mentioned in the song’s chorus) before smashing the truck’s headlights. Eventually the “Idol” team joined in, cracking the windshield and scratching the red paint with a set of keys.
The exercise was powerful enough to earn Humbert a ticket to Hollywood.
“I get it now,” she said with a chuckle.
