Hunter Metts Breaks Down on 'American Idol' After Forgetting the Words - See the Judges' Reaction

Things didn’t go the way Hunter Metts was hoping they would during the latest live episode of American Idol.

The 22-year-old software developer from Tennessee is one of the frontrunners this season and he performed the song “Falling Slowly” from Once during Oscar Songs Night on Sunday (April 18).

Near the end of the performance, Hunter forgot the words to the song and he stumbled just a little bit, but it definitely did not detract from his performance. After he was done singing, he was clearly upset and broke down in tears.

Click inside to find out how the judges reacted to the performance…

The judges definitely did not mind that he forgot the words!

“Hunter, that was the best performance you have ever given,” Katy Perry said. “Perfection is an illusion. It doesn’t matter. That shows that you are a human and vulnerable. Everybody relates to that. It’s amazing, it’s emotion. That’s what music is! I know this is a lot of pressure, but it’s not about perfection. It’s about resonating with people, and you just did… you connected with us. You kept your eyes open, your heart open, you were so connected you forgot where you were and that is perfect.”

“I don’t even know what happened at the end, but I didn’t care. You did no wrong. You could do no wrong in that moment,” Luke Bryan said before praising Hunter‘s falsettos.

Lionel Richie compared the moment to people telling him, “Oh my god Lionel, I was there the night you forgot the lyrics to ‘Hello’.”

Lionel said how he thought it was the worst night of his life, but the crowd loved it.

There’s a crazy rumor spreading around about American Idol, but someone close to the show just denied it.