the Top 30 semi-finals, her song choice for that round of an old jazz standard, "The Frim-Fram Sauce", puzzled Cowell and Randy Jackson, although the following night Cowell deemed Starr "a dark horse" and predicted that she could excel in the competition with better singing material. After she was voted through to the Top 10, Starr opened the first round of the finals, singing "If You Really Love Me" by Stevie Wonder; this marked the first live performance in the history of American Idol. Starr was well-received by the judges for that performance but was voted off the series two weeks later in seventh place. The second of Starr's live performances, "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks, was panned by the judges and resulted in a Bottom 2 placement for that week. While Starr's final performance of the competition, "Last Dance" by Donna Summer, was praised by the judges as an improvement over the previous week, it prompted Cowell to reflect on Starr's disparate song choices throughout the competition and express confusion over what kind of artist Starr wanted to be. The judges felt that Starr struggled with aspects of her performances throughout every round of the finals but communicated a shared belief in Starr's potential. Upon Starr's elimination from the competition, Cowell gave Starr an offer to call him anytime for help with pursuing a music career. Performances "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" Nancy Sinatra, (solo part in Group performance) Post-American Idol music career Starr blamed her stalled music career on a two-year restrictive recording contract with RCA. Under this contract, she refused to record an album claiming producers wanted to turn her into an Avril Lavigne type singer. After an intense three year legal battle she was released from contract in 2005. Upon release from her contract, Starr went on to host "TRL" on "VH1". Starr then released an iTunes Exclusive Single, "My Religion." The song went all the way to number one on the US Billboard Hot Digital Songs Chart, and was noted in the 2005 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records to have sold the most exclusive single downloads in iTunes's history. They also went on to detail the fact that My Religion was slated to be released to stores in early 2006, however, iTunes refused to release Ryan Starr's single from contract. One of the highest selling exclusive singles ever, it