Emmy Russell is proud to be a coal miner’s great granddaughter.

On Monday, April 29, Russell took the stage and performed a rendition of her grandmother Loretta Lynn’s hit song “Coal Miner’s Daughter” on American Idol. 

Speaking to PEOPLE in a group interview, Russell opened up about embracing her roots and singing a song so close to her heart on the competition show.

“I would always run away from my family and just not want to be a part of it. And I think this was the first time that I said, ‘I’m proud.

 I’m proud to be in this family ’cause with the family comes a blessing, but with it comes a curse,” Russell, 25, says.

She adds, “I think just closing my eyes and telling her, ‘I’m proud of you.’ I did that in rehearsal. I was like, ‘I’m proud of you.’

 I want people to feel proud of their story, where they’ve come from, and I hope that that song made them feel like, ‘Oh, I can be proud of where I come from.’ I’m just really grateful.”

Monday’s episode was the judges’ song competition — and Katy Perry chose the song for Russell.

“I feel this weird connection with Katy. I feel like she encouraged me so much and I just felt like it was her wanting me to be Emmy but then be proud of where I’ve come from too,” she says.

Russell’s performance moved Perry, 39, to tears and during the feedback portion she told Russell of coming into her own: “You are Emmy Russell and you can do anything as Emmy Russell.”

In a group interview after the show, Perry told PEOPLE she knew it was “the right time for her.”

“I think she came in when she auditioned, she was a little bit hesitant to really reveal all of it, because she wants to stand on her own two feet,” she says of Russell’s famous family. “She wants everyone to know her as Emmy Russell and it can be hard when you’re the daughter of someone or the granddaughter of someone.”

“It’s like you want to forge your own path and I think she has,” Perry continues. “I knew she was going to ace it because she sang it a thousand times. She really did and it was just a jaw-drop moment.”

At the end of the episode, Russell was voted through to the Top 7 with Abi Carter, Jack Blocker

Julia Gagnon, Triston Harper and Will Moseley. McKenna Faith Brienholt was saved by Perry.

Earlier this month, PEOPLE caught up with Russell and she said that if she were to sing one of her grandmother’s songs on the show it would be “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

“I just love that one so much. Since she is gone, I love the line, ‘Nothing left here anymore except the memory of the coal miner’s daughter.’ That line now that she’s gone … it hits me,” she said at the time.

She also said that if her grandmother — who died in October 2022 — was still alive, she’d be proud of how far she’s come.

“She’d be just like, ‘About time, honey.’ That’s all I hear her saying. ‘About time, honey. You have it in you.’ She used to always tell me — and I say this a lot — ‘God doesn’t give a plumber tools not to use.’ And so it’s like, if God gives you a gift, don’t just throw it away,” she said

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Source: Forbes