Mariah Faith performs on "American Idol"
ABC/Eric McCandless
Entertainment

'American Idol': Mariah Faith Advances to Top 26 With Performance of Waylon Jennings Classic

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American Idol is paring the group of contestants down to the top 26 this week, and contestant Mariah Faith made the cut with a determined rendition of a classic Waylon Jennings song.

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Faith opted to perform Jennings' 1979 song, "Ain't Living Long Like This." In a clip shared to the show's social media pages, Faith gives a rousing rendition of the tune, infusing a great amount of energy into the performance and having fun along the way. The singer wore a pink fringe jacket and black and pink patterned pants for the performance, which only added to her rockstar look. The show revealed on social media that the performance allowed Faith to move forward into the top 26.

Faith began her Idol journey when she auditioned with a passionate performance of Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me." This rendition came after she sang Vince Gill's "Whenever You Come Around," but the judges desired to hear more from the singer. As she sang, Perry continued asking for more power to come through in her voice, and Faith delivered by taking the song up a few notes and adding her own flair. This led to the judges to give her a ticket to the Hollywood round.

The judges were initially supposed to choose the top 24 this week, but after impressive performances from so many artists, they chose to keep two extra contestants. That determination was made by judge Katy Perry when she decided that Matt Wilson, Colin Stough and Iam Tongi would move on instead of choosing one of them.

This week's episodes of American Idol featured many other highlights, including a rockstar-worthy performance from Warren Peay, a cover of Chris Stapleton from Colin Stough and a powerful cover of a Carrie Underwood tune from contestant Marybeth Byrd.

American Idol will continue Sunday, April 16 and  Monday, April 17 on ABC.

READ MORE: 'American Idol' Judges Say Colin Stough 'Looks the Part' After Chris Stapleton Cover

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