Has 'American Idol' found the 'next-closest thing to Joni Mitchell'?

In the understatement of the season, Lionel Richie told McKenna Breinholt, "I'm going to pay you a major compliment"... then compared to one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time.

McKenna Faith Breinholt delivers an emotional dedication of a Brandi Carlile song on the first publicly voted episode of Season 22.

On Sunday, the American Idol top 24 headed to Hawaii to shoot what was basically a two-hour infomercial for Disney's Aulani Resort, and along the way half of them also performed on the Aulani stage, competing for America's votes for the first time this season.

Mentoring and guest-judging these 12 hopefuls was Tori Kelly — who Idol producers keep claiming as one of their own, despite the fact that they embarrassingly cut her before the live shows of Season 9 — and Tori clearly felt a kinship with her fellow would-be Idols. Tori seemed especially fond of fellow singer-songwriter McKenna Faith Breinholt, saying McKenna had "one of the voices that I can already picture on a record." But it was regular judge Lionel Richie who really gushed, actually comparing McKenna to one of the most celebrated and legendary singer-songwriters of all time.

McKenna covered Brandi Carlile's "The Story" Sunday, in what is known as the episode's the final "pimp spot," and there was quite an amazing and heartstring-tugging, tear-jerking personal story behind its dedication. Get out the Kleenex for this one.