When Ada Vox sang "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," she meant it. Audiences did not vote through the American Idol contestant, but judge Katy Perry made an executive decision and sent the singer immediately into the Top 10.
"I don't know everything," Perry said after Ada sang. "I've got a lot to learn, but I have worked my butt off for over 10 years in the spotlight and these gentlemen on my side, all of us collectively together—how many years would that be? Maybe 60? Collectively…as a sum…I think we do know talent when we see it. So I would say we would like to make an executive decision right now. Ada, you get that seat."
After the show, Perry told E! News' Will Marfuggi she was going home to "stress eat" some kind of bolognese or a Papa John's small pizza with pepperoni.
"I'm literally going to PostMates it right now," she said.
Perry said she, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan were "all there" when they saw Ada Vox and Catie Turner standing with just one spot left to take. "We all just looked at each other and said, ‘No, sorry, that's not happening," Perry said. "There were too many of them in a row and we were like, ‘What is going on?!"
Perry reiterated her comments from the live show to us. "We don't say that we know everything, ‘cause we don't. We've got a lot to learn. We've all learned so much on this show, but we have spent—we have paid our dues. We have spent time on the road, we have had songs, we have had moments. We still have a lot to learn, but we know talent when we see it!"
Ada said she went on stage and performed "with everything that was inside of me. I gave it my heart and my soul."
"It felt right. I feel like I did what I needed to do and now I just have to keep proving myself next week," Ada said.
American Idol airs Sundays and Mondays on ABC.