Braden Rumfelt had everyone melting in his hands when he took the stage during the American Idol Top 20 performances at Disney’s Aulani Resort & Spa on Monday, March 16.
The pop-soul singer delivered a rousing rendition of “Love On The Brain” by Rihanna during the episode, impressing the crowd and judges alike.
Superstar mentors Brad Paisley and Keke Palmer were on hand during rehearsals and received a bit of insight into why Rumfelt chose the song for a performance he hoped would carry him into the Top 14. The Top 20 contestant, who has been singing since childhood as the son of a pastor, revealed that the idea actually came from someone close to him.
“My girlfriend suggested that I do this song,” Rumfelt shared.
When he gave the mentors a preview during rehearsal, Palmer immediately knew he had something special. “He blew me away,” she said excitedly.
Paisley echoed her sentiments, saying, “That’s maybe my favorite thing about this show, the person who walks out and you just go, ‘Wait a minute. No way that’s happening.’”
The mentors didn’t have many notes for Rumfelt, telling him that if he simply replicated what he had already shown them, he would deliver a standout performance.
And he did.
Making his first trip to Hawaii, alongside his family, including his twin brother, who accompanied him on guitar during the ‘Ohana Round,’ Rumfelt made the moment count. Drawing the crowd in from the first notes, he delivered swoon-worthy vocals filled with soul and smoothness, effortlessly moving between powerful belts and delicate runs.
“Must be love on the brain / That’s got me feeling this way / It beats me black and blue but it loves me so good / And I can’t get enough / Must be love on the brain,” he sang.
The performance left the judges impressed.
“From the first note, it was like, pew — immediately,” Carrie Underwood said afterward. “You just have an incredible voice, and you have this aw-shucks thing about you that makes people like you. And you’re so stinking good. You guys, we did a really good job picking the Top 20.”
Luke Bryan agreed, praising both Rumfelt’s talent and stage presence.
“When you start singing, you’re like, ‘Whoa, what is that?’” Bryan said. “Now we just need to build on it and get some swagger and even more confidence. The best way to know what you’re doing is to look at the girls, and Keke was about to fall out of her chair over here. She had ants in her pants. That’s kind of important in the music business, right, Lionel? You’ve got this instrument. Use it to your advantage, work the room, and just keep delivering from the start of the song to the end. Just slay, slay, slay.”
Lionel Richie was equally stunned.
“I have never in my eight and a half years on this show called for a check on Ancestry.com,” Richie joked. “Whoever they say you are, you are not. That was so soulful it scared me to death.”
Palmer also praised Rumfelt’s natural connection to the music.
“I love watching you in your flow state,” she said. “You were strolling across that stage like it was nothing. It was golden. Your voice is beautiful — you went high, you went low, you were in the chest voice, you were in the head voice. I could tell that you love it, and that made all of us happy. It was amazing.”
Though his family has supported him throughout the journey, Rumfelt shared that he is ready to step further into his dream.
“I think it’s time for me to push myself and chase this dream on my own,” he said. “I want to make it as far in this competition as I can. I’m going to try and win it.”
Rumfelt, a 22-year-old North Carolina native and substitute teacher who grew up performing with his twin brother, first met fans during his American Idol audition with a performance of Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush.” The performance earned praise from all the judges, including Underwood.
“I didn’t know what I expected to come out of your mouth, but not that,” she said at the time, clearly impressed.
Since then, Rumfelt has continued to showcase his vocal abilities with performances of Sam Smith’s “I’m Not The Only One” and Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You.”
Over the next week, the remaining Idol hopefuls will perform for America’s votes from Disney’s Aulani Resort & Spa in Hawaii, hoping to advance to the Top 14 while guided by superstar mentors Brad Paisley and Keke Palmer.
Voting also looks a little different this season. Fans can cast their votes in three ways: online at AmericanIdol.com/Vote, by commenting the first name of the contestant they want to support on the pinned @AmericanIdol voting post on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, or by texting the contestant’s number to 21523. For Rumfelt, that number is 9.
Fans can vote up to 10 times per contestant per voting method and social platform. Voting begins once the contestant appears on television and closes at 6 a.m. EST on March 17.
American Idol airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC and is available to stream the next day on Hulu.
