Makiyah Mustiful earned a new title from country music star Luke Bryan: Miss Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
Mustiful received the praise from Bryan, as her rendition of “Love You I Do” by Jennifer Hudson earned her a ticket to the “Hollywood Week” round on “American Idol.” Mustiful’s tryout in front of Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Bryan led off the second episode of “Idol’s” 24th season Monday night.
All three judges voted “yes” for Mustiful, a lifelong Pine Bluff resident and assistant branch manager at Simmons Bank, to advance to the round being taped this year at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.
Two more rounds of auditions will air in the next two weeks before “Hollywood Week” airs Feb. 23 and March 2, according to People magazine. “Idol” airs at 7 p.m. Mondays on ABC (KATV, channel 7).
Shortly after she introduced herself, Bryan – one of the three celebrity judges on “Idol” – commented: “You’re voice is already filling up the room. They can hear you all the way from Pine Bluff.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“That’s what I want,” Mustiful responded.
Richie turned around his chair slightly away from the judges’ table in amazement of Mustiful’s powerful voice, her command of the audition room drawing a standing ovation from the triumvirate.
“My cheeks have been smiling the whole time,” Bryan said. “Your energy is just like, it’s the energy. It’s the energy! I don’t even think she still knows how great it is.”
Said Underwood, the 2005 Idol: “You didn’t miss a note. So good, so strong and in control of everything. Easily the strongest voice we’ve heard so far. You are meant to be here.”
Mustiful was visibly brought to tears upon hearing that statement.
“We pray for the standout,” Richie said. “We pray for the one who’s going to kind of put the pressure on everybody else and set the curve. Who’s going to lead the class? You understand me? It’s you.”
Her mother Leondra Williams, an educator, and aunt Leslie Williams, a vice president and market retail manager at Simmons, were among family members who joined Mustiful in the audition room. Mustiful’s brother Christopher Savage Jr., 11, rang out his own performance of Keyshia Cole’s “Love”.
Said Bryan: “What ‘American Idol’ is all about is, in walks Miss Pine Bluff, Arkansas, that just grew up shaking the rafters of a church somewhere. Why have we not seen you yet?”
“God’s timing,” Mustiful responded.
Approriately enough, Mustiful’s segment closed with her being celebrated with her golden ticket in hand at her home church, True Vine E Baptist Church in Pine Bluff.
Mustiful wasn’t the only Arkansas Deltan featured in the episode.
Michael Garner, 16, who’s listed as a Forrest City resident but orally claimed nearby Palestine as his hometown, sang with his guitar “I’m Still Fine” by The Red Clay Strays. Garner punched his ticket to “Hollywood Week,” but it didn’t come easily.
Underwood voted no and Bryan voted yes for Garner. The episode cut away from Richie mulling his decision and showed Garner emerging from the front doors with his ticket to Hollywood.
On March 9, a new “Ohana Round” will air, featuring what ABC calls “a stellar lineup of industry tastemakers, adding a fresh element when the show heads to Hawaii.” The top 20 from that round will continue toward becoming the next Idol.