American Idol loves a bit of drama. Hollywood is a drama factory. Match it up, and Sunday night’s Hollywood Week episode of Idol delivered so much of the stuff you could chew on it.
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Ziggy, the so-called Dutch pop prince, has gone full diva during this 22th season, sporting colorful, custom suits with matching candy-colored hair. Ziggy isn’t just testing his talents, he’s keen to make his old man proud; the rocker passed away before the season began, before getting the chance to see Ziggy shine in the U.S. singing competition.
Mackenzie Sol, a Las Vegas-based TikTok content creator known for his prank videos, has sailed through to LaLa Land, and made fans along the way.
With a spot in the final 24, the drama intensified. Ziggy (real name: Ziggy Krassenberg) went first with “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman. Sol followed up with a performance of The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends”.
The judges couldn’t separate them, so a challenge was set: a sing-off to “Jealous” by Labrinth or Harry Styles’ “Falling,” with just one hour to prepare. “Jealous” it was. Drama.
Neither singer was happy about the scenario. Nerves were shredded. “I don’t like the fact I’ve got to sing against him, he’s incredible,” remarked Sol backstage.
A crestfallen Ziggy took his concerns to another level. “This is just insane,” he stated. Sol is “such a good singer, such a pure soul.”
At one point, Ziggy was so freaked out, he stepped into Sol’s rehearsal space and asked him to stop singing. “I am so nervous and you’re making me really nervous,” was the explanation. More drama.
If Ziggy was mortified, he had right to be. Sol, we learned, isn’t just familiar with the song, he used to sing it with his ex, to whom he assured he’d never sing it again if they broke up. “Why not use that pain and sing it for the last time ever,” Katy Perry remarked.
The youngsters took their turn to belt it out. “They both are really good,” Perry later remarked. Good, however, isn’t enough for one competitor.
Perry, speaking on behalf of the three judges, praised Sol’s energy that is “a little unbridled.” Ziggy “you should be so proud because you were so pure and honest,” she enthused. “It’s going to take you to the highest of heights.”
Not in this competition.
Sol shone bright enough to secure a spot in the top 24, and progress to filming at Disney’s Aulani Resort & Spa in Ko Olina in Hawaiʻi.
Watch the sing-off below.
