Is Angie Miller American Idol’s Next Kelly Clarkson?

Photo by Michael Becker via FOX

Angie Miller may have performed “I Surrender” for her Top 10 performance on American Idol, but the 19-year-old from Beverly, Mass., is not going down without a fight. In fact, some might say that she and fellow contestant Candice Glover are leading the season 12 pack into tonight’s elimination episode.

After Angie auditioned for this season’s judges, Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, and Keith Urban, all four agreed that sending her through to the next round was easy, and Randy said the girl had real “PO-tential.”

Now Angie’s in the Top 10, and yesterday she channeled her inner Kelly Clarkson, the season 1 winner of American Idol. The theme of the episode was to sing a song performed by a previous Idol contestant, so Angie picked Clarkson’s performance of Celine Dion’s “I Surrender” to try to live up to. And she did.

The judges gave her high praise, but perhaps the best response was from Nicki, who had a little less to say about Angie’s performance and a little more to comment on her look:

Your legs are giving me everything I needed in life today. I love the way you walk in heels.

Um, OK. Moving on then… Nicki also mentioned that she preferred when Angie sang from behind the piano. Angie’s piano chops are one of a few key characteristics that set her apart from the other competitors. Another is the fact that this untrained singer also had hearing problems her whole life. She revealed during her audition that she has 40 percent hearing loss in her left ear and 20 percent loss in the right.

But Angie’s singing is anything but tone-deaf. So far, she has performed songs by the likes of Jessie J and Beyonce, and while no one can best Celine Dion, her rendition in yesterday’s performance was, as Mariah called it, “Stellar.”

To win American Idol, however, Angie was faced with two obstacles yesterday:

1. While preparing for the performance, producer Jimmy Iovine told her, “Sometimes when you come on, I feel like I’ve tuned in to a beauty pageant…you know, like “I sing and I dance and I also look great in a bathing suit.”

2. Candice Glover, Amber Holcomb, and Kree Harrison. All season, the general consensus has been that the women are the ones to beat this season, and so far it would seem that the only people standing in Angie’s way are these three. Yesterday Amber and Candice, who sang “A Moment Like This” and “I Who Have Nothing” respectively, received standing ovations from the judges (minus Mariah, who does not stand).

Will Angie’s voice and “pageant-y everything legs” be able to win the season 12 title? We’ll find out…right after a bajillion commercial teases from Ryan Seacrest.

Below, check out Angie Miller’s performance of “I Surrender.” American Idol airs Wednesday and Thursday nights at 8 p.m. on FOX.