Tonight on Australian Idol: judges Marcia Hines, Kyle Sandilands and Amy Shark faced their toughest decisions so far as the star-making series continues to shine on Channel 7 and 7plus.
With only 12 Golden Tickets left and a slew of super singers ready to make their dreams come true, a record 10 artists were put through to final deliberations, with four awarded a life-changing spot in the coveted Top 30.
Country music star-on-the-rise, Denvah Baker-Moller, even changed Kyle’s mind about the genre with her rendition of Pony by Kasey Chambers.
Kyle admitted: “I was never a fan of the country music genre, but my mind has been changed on this because there’s quite a few good country singers coming through the door. And if I like country, that’s almost a miracle. That’s how good they are!”
Named after John Denver, the 23-year-old from Rockhampton, QLD beat out four other fierce country competitors to progress to the Top 30.
Kyle declared: “You really have a good chance of taking this right through.”
Three more Victorian contestants received Golden Tickets tonight: 18-year-old Gab Hester, whose “awesome tone” on the Men at Work classic Down Under impressed; 25-year-old tradie and young dad Jackson Smith, with his signature rasp on Ed Sheeran’s Closed Eyes; and backing vocalist Jess Chalmers, 24, who showed she’s ready for the spotlight with her high-energy version of Domino by Jesse J.