Rion Paige Performs Carrie Underwood’s ‘See You Again’
Carrie Underwood knows a thing or two about impressing Simon Cowell, so Rion must have been thrilled when the notorious grump gave her a standing ovation the first time she ever sang a Carrie song on the show.
“I remember the first day I met Carrie Underwood, and I remember predicting that this girl was going to go on and do special things with her life,” Simon said. “I’m going to say the same about you, Rion. I’m going to remember this for a long, long time.”
When HollywoodLife caught up with Rion after the show, she gave us her EXCLUSIVE thoughts on all of those comparisons to the mega-star — be sure to grab some tissues!
“It felt really great [to be compared to Carrie] because this song in particular I really related to,” she said. “It actually came out the same time that my papa passed away, [and] my papa was a chicken and dumplings papa. He was that papa that you never forget, and that song was dedicated to him. To be able to go out there and sing my heart out to him and to America and to God was in itself perfect, but Simon connected with it and I think that was important.”
Rion Paige: ‘I Was Me, And That’s All I Could Do’
However flattered Rion may be, she still feels that the comparisons to Carrie aren’t the most important factor when it comes to winning the show.
“I went out there and I was me and that’s all I could do,” she told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “I did the song to the best of my capability, and I think that that is special. When we decided on the song I decided that emotion is what really is me, and I have to make sure that I bring emotion. That’s what I did.”
What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Could Rion emerge as the next Carrie?
— Shaunna Murphy, reporting By Russ Weakland
Follow @ShaunnaLMurphy
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