Throwback Thursday: Allison Iraheta, ‘Papa was a Rolling Stone’

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly series showcasing an album, single, music video or performance of a bygone era and its personal and/or cultural significance.

It took me years to fully recover from Allison Iraheta‘s tragic fourth-place ouster in American Idol‘s ninth season. She could and can sing damn near anything. The judges, as was their way, issued mostly good reviews but never quite gave her the credit she deserved. They couldn’t risk busting up the boys club that was the Top 3 that year. Iraheta’s voice possesses an earthy richness not many singers have, harkening to rock’s golden age. During her run on the show in 2009, she was among the most consistent performers that year, alongside should-be winner Adam Lambert. In Top 10 week, the then-16-year-old reinvented The Undisputed Truth’s 1971 hit “Papa was a Rolling Stone,” injecting the groovy, soul number with her thunderous, soul-shattering vocal.

Her approach is often fragile, tender even, and when she needs to, she blows the roof off the audience. Iraheta is a masterclass vocalist, and in her young age, she learned quickly how to ably unravel stories, often cutting far below the surface for what’s lurking underneath. Her wealth of accomplished and compelling live performances that year include “Someone to Watch Over Me” (Gertrude Lawrence), “Blame It on Your Heart” (Patty Loveless) and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (Bonnie Raitt), among others. If it weren’t for those pesky judges ⎯⎯ that year, it featured Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson ⎯⎯ she would have finished no lower than second. Oh, what could have been.

Fun fact: her band Halo Circus are set to drop a new electronic-based record called Robots & Wranglers next Friday (March 16). Don’t sleep on it.

Watch below:

Photo Credit: Fox

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