Former Miss America gets her ‘American Idol’ moment, and the judges are pleased

Updated: Mar. 07, 2022, 1:24 p.m.

Betty Maxwell, then Betty Cantrell, won Miss America in 2015 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Miss America 2016, a singer, is now vying for "American Idol" glory.Tim Hawk | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

By Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Betty Maxwell is no stranger to performing on national TV.

In September 2015, she sang opera for her pageant talent during the Miss America competition in Atlantic City. Despite wavering on a question about Tom Brady and “Deflategate,” she wowed the judges enough to become Miss America 2016.

Maxwell, formerly Betty Cantrell, had her big Miss America moment onstage at Boardwalk Hall before the pageant moved out of town (to Mohegan Sun in Connecticut).

Now she’s back on ABC — only on a different show.

Maxwell threw her sparkly crown into the ring to audition for “American Idol” on Sunday’s episode of the talent competition.

Yes, the former Miss Georgia brought her Miss America crown to the show, and the sash — “It’s filthy from a year of spray-tanning,” she said in a segment.

Looks like Maxwell is aiming to extend that ABC/Disney streak a bit further.

“My biggest dream would be to be the voice of a Disney princess,” she said on the show, then proceeded to do various impressions of Disney characters, including Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” and Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.”

After a bit where “Idol” judge Katy Perry teased her about putting on the crown — Maxwell said she wasn’t allowed to let other people try it on — she auditioned.

“The real question is, will you be Miss ... American Idol?” Perry said.

Maxwell, 27, went with a bold choice — “A Moment Like This,” Kelly Clarkson’s No. 1 song after winning the first season of “American Idol” in 2002.

Throughout Maxwell’s performance, Perry slowly lowered the crown almost to her head, teasing the former Miss America. Then she asked her to sing some country — one of Maxwell’s specialties. The pageant winner moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a country singer after her reign was over.

Maxwell stuck with the “winning” theme as she went with “Jesus, Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood, the “Idol” champion in 2005.

The verdict?

“Pageant girls sing like pageant girls,” judge Luke Bryan told Maxwell. “You don’t sing like a pageant girl, you sing like a real singer.”

Judge Lionel Richie said that in a departure from other contestants who have to be taken a up a notch, Maxwell has to take it down a notch, but also get the notion that she sings all types of music out of her head.

“I don’t want you to sing everything,” Richie said. “I want you to have a style.”

Betty Maxwell singing opera at the Miss America pageant in 2015. She won a talent award in addition to the 2016 Miss America title.Tim Hawk | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

“I want you to help me find that,” said Maxwell, who grew up in Warner Robins, Georgia.

“I think you could be country and big,” said Perry, who attempted to put the crown on her head one more time. Maxwell said Perry could deal with any related fallout from the Miss America Organization, since she’s not even supposed to wear it anymore. Ultimately, Perry settled for placing the crown on Maxwell’s head.

Maxwell, who got a “golden ticket” to officially perform in the competition, joins New Jersey “American Idol” contestants Camryn Champion and Cole Hallman, who were shown getting their golden tickets to Hollywood in the Feb. 27 premiere of the talent competition series, which is now in its 20th season.

In 2015, Maxwell’s pageant opera performance — “Tu Tu Piccolo Iddio” from “Madame Butterfly” — won her a talent award at Miss America and propelled her to win Miss America. 

About two years later, Maxwell, then Betty Cantrell, married Spencer Maxwell, who she met on Tinder before competing at Miss America. The two got engaged when she was still Miss America, but maintained a long distance relationship during which she only saw him a handful of times after her win, mostly because of rules around the pageant titleholders and dating. 

(“I really wasn’t supposed to be engaged as Miss America,” Cantrell told NJ Advance Media in 2017. “She’s supposed to be America’s sweetheart,” she said of Miss America. “She’s supposed to remain single. ... They don’t want people to think that you’re ... taken.”)

https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2022/03/former-miss-america-gets-her-american-idol-moment-and-the-judges-are-pleased.html