Everhart shines in Hollywood

Gluckstadt’s Hannah Everhart beat the odds during Monday night’s Hollywood duets round and moved on to the next round of “American Idol” after performing with Kellyanne Conway’s daughter Claudia, who was eliminated.

Everhart sang “Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles with her partner Conway, who is the daughter of Kellyanne Conway, an advisor to former President Donald J. Trump.

Everhart was one of two Madison County “American Idol” contestants this season and both of them made it to the opening Hollywood round. 

After Sunday night’s Hollywood genre round, however, only Everhart, made it to the duets round which aired Monday night.

Madison County’s other “American Idol” contestant, Conner Ball, earned the golden ticket to the Hollywood genre round where he performed but never got any air time on the show before being eliminated by the judges.

Everhart and Conway, who were teamed up by “American Idol” celebrity judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, did not seem like the ideal pairing at first, but after getting together and rehearsing, they put on a performance that received a huge round of applause in front of the celebrity judges. 

“I was hoping to get paired with an older person. I do get along with people my age, but it’s hard finding common ground with them,” Everhart said. “But this is a week where you have to live in the now and go with the flow. You stress yourself out if you think too far ahead.” 

Perry observed Everhart and Conway’s rehearsal for the duet and told Conway that she had a more raspy kind of voice, while Everhart had a “big ole’ voice,” and to be mindful not to overshadow each other. 

Perry said the key thing she would be looking for in the performance was teamwork. Since they’re both on the same ship, it’s either going to float or sink, Perry said.

“Claudia needs to shine, too. That’s what I want,” Everhart said. “This is a duet, and I know that on the ‘together’ parts we’ve got it. I just want her to push herself.”

The time for the duet arrived, and Everhart took the stage with Conway. When the duet was finished, the judges huddled together to reach a decision on who would be moving forward. 

Bryan said he felt Everhart carried most of the load throughout the performance, and he wished there had been more time for each of the singers to shine instead of mostly harmonizing throughout the song. 

Perry noted that she felt Everhart could have done better and agreed with Bryan that harmonizing too much is what brought them both down, since there wasn’t enough space for both of them to shine. Richie simply said “in the great words of Elvis…it’s now or never.” 

Perry delivered the final verdict, and announced Everhart would be moving to the next round. 

“Hannah, you come from a town of about 1,200 or less,” Perry said. “Everyone knows you’re here. Don’t let them down. You’re going to the next round.”

Everhart and Conway parted ways after the judging, and Conway commented that she was incredibly proud of Everhart and she will be cheering for her. “You could win this thing,” she said to Everhart.

“It was wonderful working with you and I appreciate your support for me through it,” Everhard told Conway. “You’re a really wonderful person and I wish you the best of luck on whatever route you take.”

Everhart said she plans to FedEx a chicken to Conway. “Do you want it dead or alive?”

“Surprise me,” Conway said. 

Everhart is the daughter of David and Nekia Everhart of Gluckstadt.

Tune in to “American Idol” on ABC to watch Everhart’s next episode on Sunday, March 28.