Carrie Underwood couldn’t help but blush a little bit after watching an audition from Bryson Quick on the Sunday, March 16, episode of American Idol. The 17-year-old aspiring country singer sang “Time” by Pink Floyd, but put his own unique spin on the classic song.

“Whenever I hear somebody come in who wants to be part of the country crowd, I always think about hearing their voice in between other voices on the radio, and I feel like yours stands out in a good way,” Underwood told the teenager. She then added in a comment about his looks.

“And you’re pretty darn cute,” the “Good Girl” singer admitted. “That’s not everything, but it helps.” She couldn’t even look Bryson in the eye as she made the sweet remark!

Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie agreed that Bryson gave an impressive performance. “You got the storyteller kinda voice,” Richie said. “At first I thought, ‘I never heard this before.’ You don’t fit into the genre of that country voice, but the uniqueness rings a bell.” Bryan pointed out that Bryson reminded him of Chayce Beckham, who won Season 19 of American Idol back in 2021 and is now pursuing a country music career.

“You got a good voice and powerful range, a good little vibrato, got your own little style under there,” he added. “So we’re excited to see where things go.”

All three judges voted to send Bryson to the next round, which meant that he got a golden ticket to move on to Hollywood week. Ryan Seacrest then had another surprise in store for the high school student — a chance to sing with Beckham at the Grand Ole Opry that night! Bryson took the stage with the “23” singer at the iconic Nashville venue, which was the biggest stage he’d ever played on.