It was Taylor Swift Night on “American Idol” season 24 tonight on ABC. The Top 7 on “American Idol” 2026 were taking on a new “era” of songs in hopes of staying in the competition. In addition, they took on songs from some of California’s biggest artists. Chris Tungseth has been one of the standouts this season, but could he stand out with his two performances tonight on “American Idol” 2026? Check out the Chris Tungseth performance videos from tonight below in our “American Idol” spoilers.
Taylor Swift Song Performance
This song choice was a Grammy-nominated song for Taylor Swift, which featured Bon Iver. Chris starts the night singing “exile.” To be honest, this is another one of those subtle songs. Chris is just singing on this one, and it’s nice to hear. He put a big note towards the end, which was nice to hear and showed his rock side to it. A very solid performance from him.
For the judges, Carrie said he has a tender quality to his voice, which lends itself to storytelling. He picked a great song to show that. Nikki said that whenever he sings, she knows she’s in good hands. She’s never nervous with him. The softness of it. She was getting goosebumps throughout it. It was so good. Luke said he loved that he was locked in. He had me locked in, and he had his own character. It’s one of my favorite performances he’s done. Lionel said this is one of my favorites from you. Your ability to take someone else’s song and make me forget it’s someone else’s song. Your delivery was spot-on.
California Song Performance on ‘American Idol’
Chris said this is one of his favorite songs. He’s gone through life, not knowing what direction his life is going. This song he relates to. He is singing “What Was I Made For? by Billie Eilish. This one started strong for me. He seemed to have the emotion of the song going strong. He sounded good and was hitting some great notes. Then, as it went on, something seemed lacking for me. I don’t know what it was, but hsi tone didn’t work for me on it.
For the judges, Luke said really special, beautiful moment. That’s twice tonight, he slayed for us. Lione said that for a song that needs so much feeling, he felt it, and he made us feel it. Carrie said that was a moment. She felt like she was at an award show and he was having a moment. Nikki said what was he made for? That!
The judges definitely loved it, but they seemed nervous. They talked about what’s going to happen tonight with the results, as I feel a lot of people think Chris might be going home. He did have some great performances tonight, but was it enough to save him? We shall find out soon enough when the results come in.
What did you think of Chris’ performances on “American Idol” tonight?
