Jennifer Lopez thinks Dalton Rapattoni is "soo cute." There's a lot more to Dalton Rapattoni than "cute," they quickly learned during his American Idol audition.
For starters, the Sunnyvale, Texas, resident is a former member of IM5, a boy band put together in part by Simon Cowell and Perez Hilton. Urban Dictionary calls Rapattoni "the dangerous one" in IM5 for reasons unknown. (Could it be the guyliner?)
He's also a vocal coach at a local branch of School of Rock, an after-school program that teaches kids music and teamwork.
But when Rapattoni stood in front of the Idol judges, all they knew was he was a rocker dude wearing flowery boots, singing an acoustic version of "Phantom of the Opera." They were rightly puzzled.
"You just took this famous Andrew Lloyd Webber song and sang it like you wanted to sing it," said Idol judge Harry Connick, Jr. "I dug it, man!"
Lopez pointed out his interesting mix of "soft and hard -- like, masculine, but a little feminine with the makeup and the flowers on the shoes," she said. She liked it, too, and eventually Rapattoni landed in Idol's coveted top 24.
Rapattoni followed up his audition with a purposefully desperate rendition of "Hopelessly Devoted To You," from Grease. The timing was perfect, as Grease Live! aired on FOX just a few days prior.
"But, like, who does that?" Connick, Jr., said of Rapattoni picking Sandra Dee's sweet, vulnerable song. He and judge Keith Urban seemed impressed.
Rapattoni showed he was a pro when his guitar didn't work as "Hopelessly Devoted" began. Instead of fussing with a broken instrument, he slung the guitar around his back, playing it off as if he meant to focus on vocals the whole time.
American Idol returns Feb. 10, though we hear Rapattoni won't be back on screen until mid-February.
