Look, Black people are dramatic, especially those who grew up in the church singing. And if said Black people have an audience, every expression they make is deep fried in melisma and served with a giant church fan to prevent them from passing out if they get too hot (click here for an example). Don’t believe me? Look at the following GIF from the Jennifer Holliday/Jessica Sanchez duet of And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going on Wednesday night’s American Idol finale if you need an example of the drama:
Jessica, a sweet 16-year-old Filipino girl, is standing and singing the song normally. Jennifer isn’t singing and is danger of her wig falling off her head because she’s doing the classic, “You ain’t shit, your momma ain’t shit, and you ain’t never gonna be shit,” stank face/bobble head/neck rolling move or as white people call it, “I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
And I bet all the young’uns in the audience were thinking the Kansas line as well as most of them probably aren’t familiar with J-Hollie’s over-the-top performance style. Even if you are a fan of Jennifer Holliday, nothing could’ve quite prepared you for how delicious and YouTube worthy the next three minutes and forty-nine seconds would be. Lucky for you, I’m going to walk you through this awesome performance by providing my expert breakdown of the most epic duet in American Idol history:
