Apparently a contestant named Maddie that people on Twitter think sounds like Haley named Haley as an influence and auditioned with "Oh Darling."

"I'm influenced by Beyonce, Adele and Haley Reinhart."

MJ's RECAP:

Quote:Maddie Assel – 17 – “Oh Darling” by The Beatles – She’s one of those “Friends and Relatives” deals. Her grandma nominated her. Randy heads to a big party where she is performing to deliver the news. WOW. She’s fantastic. The battle of the big voiced girls continues! Adele, Haley Reinhart and Beyonce have influenced her. Keith says she doesn’t sound like any of them. She’s got her own style. Yeah, she does have that blusey, confident Haley Reinhart thang going on. Mariah loves her confidence. IT’S 4 YESES.

VIDEO OF THE AUDITION: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx0cls_...QHppidpdCy

TWEETS:

Quote:Julez Carter ‏@IbeJulez
She reminds me of haley Reinhart #Idol

Jessica ‏@JessLovesCarrie
She reminds me of Haley. #idol

Ashlee McQuay ☮ ‏@zombiekillaaa
Wow this girl on Idol is good. Reminds me of Haley Rinehart.

Barbara Contin ‏@BibaContin
I'M NOT EVEV WATCHING IDOL RN BUT SOMEONE IS SINGING OH DARLING. no. LEAVE. i miss haley

♥YanaRae✌ ‏@KeyRaeDynamite
I knew she listened to Haley. It was pretty obvious. #idol #idolauditions

5HSnakeyRayner ‏@MikeSnakeRayne
the next Haley Reinhart in Maddie Assel? perhaps #idol

BigNLiddle ‏@bignliddle
betcha keith never even heard haley sing #idol

AI 12 Retweet ‏@AI12Retweet
Did she just say Haley Reinhart? #weHEARTidol #idol

Serrina ‏@SerrinaK
Haley Reinhart will always be my favorite American Idol!

Jordan Davidson ‏@jordangeville
@AmericanIdol Maddie Assel: Reminded me a lot of Haley Reinhart. But different somehow. Good in any case. Holy cow. #Idol

Haley Darbonne ‏@HaleyMDarbonne
She looks like Haley Reinhart, she sounds like Haley Reinhart.. SHIT SHE EVEN SAID HER IDOL IS HALEY REINHART

Jessica (: ‏@AlwaysLuvScotty
Maddie is so good! #idol I love how she just mentioned Haley Reinhart (: I miss season 10!

Jillian Cifra ‏@JillianCifra
Did you here that @jwjepson she's inspired by your girlfriend Haley #Idol

‏@ontbiebs
this girl on american idol reminds me of haley reinhart one of my fav's

Lindsay Hebert ‏@Linzee_Abear
"I'm influenced by Beyonce, Adele and Haley Reinhardt." #ThingsThatShouldNeverBeSaid #Idol

Lindsay ‏@lindsayyywoo
But I like her for naming Haley Reinhart as an influence. #idol

Amber Dawn Robinson ‏@Amber_Dawn314
It's crazy that Maddie just mentioned Haley because that's exactly who I was thinking of #idol #idolnominate #loveher

James Dean . ‏@joeLIKEwhoaa
but that’s not a bad thing. i was rooting for Haley Reinhart to win when she was on Idol.

Amber Riley Fan « ‏@MarianoRiley
@LilMissFranzi I KNOW RIGHT! And her voice reminds me of Haley from Idol 10!

Sada REiNHART 1/1 ‏@LUVS_Haley_R
HOLY SHIT MY MOM JUST CALLED ME TO TELL ME SOMEOEN SAID HAKEYS NAME ON IDOL WHY DA FUQ CAN'T I WATCH THIS I H8 LYFEEEEEE.

KiddoLondon ‏@iDeArronmis
That's it Haley RT“@joeLIKEwhoaa: “@iDeArronmis: She sounds like that was on Idol before” • she sounds just like the last girl she named.”

Michael C. ‏@MClamb1689
Honestly she too much like Haley Reinhart idk bout her #idol.

Lene (@sparkilene) ‏@sparkilene
She is a less desperate Haley R. IMO Although she doesn't sound exactly like her. #idol

KiallChoran ‏@Kiall_Choran_13
The last girl on #idol reminded me of @HaleyReinhart. Gosh I loved her! I hope she goes as far as Haley did.

AriA montgomery ‏@heyanessas
Some girl on idol likes Haley?! Damnit I forgot to record this episode :/

Allison ‏@StefanoIsMyHeroremember when haley said that she wants to be an inspiration and now someone tried out for idol and said she was inspired by her

Tonight, "#AskIdol" was done by the show's producers.

Norm Betts is the Senior Producer at American Idol Productions.

He was asked if he liked Haley Reinhart.

He responded:

"Absolutely love her!"

Haley replied:

"Awa I love you too Norm, hope to visit ya's very soon!"

Someone else associated with the show tweeted in response:

Quote:Megan ‏@michaem
@HaleyReinhart @WhoIsNorm @SamuelGrantS We miss you Haley!!!!

Haley replied:

"Miss you too Megan! Hope to see you at the studio sometime & that you and your lil family are just peachy"

She also responded to this tweet:

Quote:Brian Robinson ‏@wolfpackbrob
@RealTGPM @HaleyReinhart Really enjoyed working with @HaleyReinhart when she met the crowd in Chicago! She is the coolest.

Haley replied:

"Nooo B Rob.. You're the coolest. See ya soon I hope!"

Just saw Maddie on the west coast. She's cute and has potential, a little OTT performance of "Oh Darlin'" IMO, but like many Xidols say, you tend to go OTT if you want to 'go for it' in your audition, so it's hard to control.

I liked Keith's critique of her list of influences, that Maddie didn't sound like any of her influences. In these edits, Keith is seeming very perceptive, hope it continues in lives.

She certainly got Halien attention though, and her Grandmother LOL

My heart grows big whenever I hear someone talented mention Haley as their influence.

The AI mentions have been nice this early in the season...two songs, an appearance in the opening sequence, face time in Chicago and now a contestant who goes to Hollywood who cites Haley along with Adele as influences...

Love the AI Love

She fangirls about Haley @1:43


The way she describes herself sounds like Haley without the rasp and Haley's musical upbringing. A little worried that she's willing to be molded. I think AI rewards those who know who they are. Hopefully the critiques for her will not be as confusing or contradicting as they were for Haley

Haley is her favorite past contestant because she is so "fierce." And the hair.

Haley keeps popping up one way or another on Idol. It is great to see that so many of the new contestants admire her.

I just realised the irony of Randy giving her the ticket
(she said she got three yesses, but they gave her four....maybe she didn't hear Randy's yes )

She has a bit of a country twang to her singing style more than jazzy...almost like she's a combination of Haley and Lauren Alaina...

Quote:Melinda Doolittle ‏@mdoolittle

Love that she just said Haley Reinhart…cuz, I would have if she didn't. Nice job Maddie!

Press reports:

Columbus, GA newspaper:

Quote:As for the talent, we saw many singers advance to Hollywood. But none of them seemed like potential finalists. The coveted last-singer spot went to Burnell Taylor, who developed a stronger passion for music after Hurricane Katrina. His performance was fine, but my favorite singer of the night was Maddie Assel, a singer reminiscent of "Idol" alum Haley Reinhart.

...Maddie Assel was nominated by her grandmother to audition for "Idol." She sings a pretty impressive rendition of 'Oh! Darling." Immediately, she reminds me of Haley Reinhart...curly hair and all. No surprise, she lists Haley as one of her musical influences. She unanimously advances to Hollywood.

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/01/2...rylink=cpy

EW:

Quote:Maddie, who idolizes Beyoncé, Adele, and Haley Reinhart (holla!), has the whole "add about six syllables to every vowel and enunciate maybe 40 percent of the consonants" singing style down pat. I'm personally a big fan of that style, though it can seem way too try-hard to me when people don't have the chops to pull it off. I think Maddie will at some point if not right away. Her voice itself is very compelling, and a good-natured confidence can get her far.

http://tvrecaps.ew.com/recap/american-id...auditions/

USA Today:

Quote:Up next, it's Maddie Assel, a 17-year-old whose grandmother recommended her to the Idol judges. So Randy Jackson shows up while she's singing Otis Redding's (Sitting On) The Dock of the Bay at New Orleans' Cafe du Monde.

At the audition, she sings The Beatles' Oh! Darling in a voice reminiscent of Haley Reinhart's. It's got the quiver, and the growl and the jump-into-the-head voice that made Haley so fun to listen to. She tells Keith Urban that she has picked up tricks from Beyonce, Adele and ... yep, there it is: Haley Reinhart.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/idolchatte...g/1863097/

TV Line

Quote:American Idol traveled south tonight to Randy Jackson’s hometown of Baton Rouge, LA (city motto: “For Me, For You, We’re Sorry About the Dawg”).

I half-expected a visit to the local elementary school that houses the “Randy Jackson Memorial Alphabet Wall” (it contains only 11 letters) or maybe the Randy Jackson Museum, a damp cardboard box in a back alley that’s filled with mutilated copies of Haley Reinhart’s debut CD. (Nope, I’ll never get over dude’s mistreatment of one of the finest vocalists in show history. #EarthSongBlasphemy!)

...Maddie Assel, “Oh Darlin” | Loves Haley Reinhart but lacks her vocal control. Masked and umbrella’d grandma to Seacrest: “I want to kidnap you and take you home!”

http://tvline.com/2013/01/24/american-id...auditions/

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Quote:Jade McKnight ‏@GaRTeRS_nGuNS__

Up watching these #AmericanIdol auditions #4 since I didn't get to watch it earlier today

Quote:Jade McKnight ‏@GaRTeRS_nGuNS__

Haley Reinhart- "Free" came across this artist at random -I look forward to hearing more music from her Might even purchase a CD

^ Probably checked Haley out b/c she was mentioned with Beyonce and Adele.

(01-24-2013, 10:25 PM)Tusk Wrote: Just saw Maddie on the west coast. She's cute and has potential, a little OTT performance of "Oh Darlin'" IMO, but like many Xidols say, you tend to go OTT if you want to 'go for it' in your audition, so it's hard to control.

I liked Keith's critique of her list of influences, that Maddie didn't sound like any of her influences. In these edits, Keith is seeming very perceptive, hope it continues in lives.

She certainly got Halien attention though, and her Grandmother LOL

Nice that she mentioned Haley but I didn't hear much of Haley in her singing.I'd keep my eye on Megan Miller-the first one up who came out on crutches.She seemed to have that natural feeling that Haley had.Liked her sense of humor too-using one of her crutches as a mic stand.