There was a shocking moment on the Season 20 premiere of American Idol when Aretha Franklin’s granddaughter arrived and auditioned for the show.
Grace Franklin, 16, came in and sang the Lauryn Hill version of Killing Me Softly. The judges wanted to hear more, so she also sang Aretha Franklin’s Ain’t No Way.
After this, the vote was 2-1 to send Grace home.
The only detractor was Katy Perry, who said she saw stardust on Grace.
However, it was Lionel Richie, a friend of Aretha, who had the final decision and he sent Grace home.
Grace Franklin agreed with Lionel Richie on American Idol
In an interview with TMZ, Grace said that she thought about it and agreed with what Lionel Richie said.
“Grace Franklin, I love you and I think the best thing for you in life is to take a shot at going backwards,” Lionel said. “Go back and get a running start and come at this again.”
Katy Perry got mad and stormed off the set, but Lionel walked over and hugged Grace, giving her some more advice.
“Put the work in,” he said, before hugging her. He said she should return and would be better for it.
Grace said she was disappointed, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Lionel was right.
“I’m a good artist, I know that, but I do know I need to work on some things,” she said.
“The fact that he told me he didn’t want me to stumble and fall too early stuck with me,” she said. “I get exactly what he was saying.
“I do know that I’m young and a lot of times when people start their careers too early they tend to stumble, and it affects the entire course of their career. So I do believe he was speaking from a place of love.”
Grace Franklin won’t be back on American Idol
The judges said they wanted her to work on her voice and return for a future season, but that likely won’t happen.
Grace said she probably wouldn’t be back to audition on American Idol again in the near future.
“As of right now, I probably wouldn’t audition again,” Grace said. “Maybe a couple of years down the line, but as of right now, I don’t [have plans to].”
She said her goal now is to work on her voice and writing; she writes a lot of music and wants to release new music soon.