‘American Idol’ Contestant Stuns With ‘Circle of Life’ Performance

Although the main talking point from the recent Disney Night episode of ABC singing competition show American Idol was Katy Perry’s fall (i.e. the actress’s fall while wearing an unwieldy Little Mermaid costume for the episode), the performances of Disney songs were also a big highlight from the Disney-themed event — and a Lion King-inspired performance from contestant Christian Guardino blew the judges away!

The Long Island, New York native is from Patchogue village in Suffolk County, and when he’s not performing on America’s Got Talent or American Idol, Christian works in the kitchen of his family’s restaurant PeraBell.

The singer already made judge Katy Perry cry during his rendition of “Imagine” and has received rave reviews from the other judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, so it’s not surprising that Christian Guardino just wowed the judges again with his version of “The Circle of Life”!

Check out his rendition of the iconic Lion King song below!

We think that Mufasa, Simba, and Nala would all approve of this performance, even if it’s not on the savannah! Country singer and judge Luke Bryan told Christian that he “nailed it” as the contestant belted out the power ballad’s big notes, and many viewers agreed. Christian has now made it past the Top 10 category, and who knows what he’ll sing next!

Other standout performances from the Disney Night episode of American Idol are HunterGirl’s performance of “I See the Light” from the 2010 movie Tangled, which Katy Perry called the contestant’s “Cinderella moment”, and Nicolina Bozzo’s performance of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from the 1989 movie The Little Mermaid.

Which do you think was more memorable: Christian Guardino’s performance of “The Circle of Life”, or Katy Perry’s challenges with her Ariel costume (shown below)?