What. In. The. F, y’all.
During the very first live taping of American Idol Sunday night, San Antonio’s Ada Vox made it into the top ten.
But it wasn’t without a little help from judges Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan and Katy Perry, who pulled a move that pretty much shocked America.
If you don’t know who Ada Vox is by now, what are you even doing with your life? JK, we love you, here’s a quick recap on this singing, slaying, San Antonio drag queen:
Adam Sanders, better known as Ada Vox when in full drag (whom we recently interviewed), made it through the grueling rounds auditions and performances during the notoriously intense Hollywood Week. A few weeks ago, she destroyed her cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” and left us completely gagged. Next came her incredibly powerful rendition of “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone, which brought judge Katy Perry to her knees. Last week, the South San High grad sang a duet with Glee’s Lea Michele as part of the top 24 duets portion of the contest, which ultimately secured her a spot in the top 14.
This past Sunday, Ada strolled out in a dramatic, raven-like ensemble combining black feathers, silver fringe and rhinestones fit for the likes of Diana Ross and decimated the audience with her rendition of “The Show Must Go On” by Queen.
The performance got even got a shout out from, arguably the most famous drag queen of all time, RuPaul of the Emmy Award-winning show RuPaul's Drag Race.
SHANTAY, you slay! @AdaVox XORU pic.twitter.com/CSZFmxbkLT
— RuPaul (@RuPaul) April 23, 2018
Monday night, even though this fierce queen wasn’t voted through to the next round by American Idol viewers (San Antonio, click here to learn how to vote for your girl), Ada Vox was given a chance to redeem herself and sang a powerful rendition of Jennifer Holliday’s “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.”
“I don’t know everything,” Perry told a tearful Ada as the crowd chanted the queen's name. “But I think we do know talent when we see it.”
Without waiting for host Ryan Seacrest’s directions, the three judges simultaneously pointed to the side of the stage where the Top 10 were seated and said she belonged there.
“When the Ada moment came, it wasn’t just one person’s idea,” Perry, 33, told People Magazine after the show. “We all looked at each other and we saw the math … excuse us, we’re going to step in now. Were we allowed to do that? We found out we were.”
“I'm not sure that the majority of America is ready for someone like me to be on that platform of saying that I am the next American Idol,” said Ada Vox in a recent interview with The Advocate. “But what I do know is that there is a big part of America that is ready to accept me into their hearts. It's the people that love what I do that are the reason that I do what I love.”
America may not be ready for a drag queen to be the next American Idol, despite the gigantic strides our LGBTQ community has been making concerning our own queer visibility in this country. But, the fact that show's first drag queen contestant has made it into the top ten is already a history-making achievement, and America will be forced to recognize that whether it wants to or not (insert pink nail emoji).
Watch American Idol this Sunday, April 29 at 7pm on ABC and find out of Ada Vox makes it into the next round.
Ada, we love you, you got this, girl.
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