White auditioned for American Idol, in Philadelphia, where she sang "Like a Star" and received positive reviews from all of the judges.
During her audition, she admitted to never having seen an R-rated movie, which prompted Cowell to state that he could "bring her over to the dark side."
During Hollywood week, White performed "Beautiful", by Carole King, and accompanied herself on piano.
After that performance, judges commented that White reminded them of a young Carly Simon or Carole King.

In the live rounds of the competition, White accompanied herself on guitar for her performances of "You're So Vain", "Jolene", and "I'm a Believer" and on piano for "Let It Be", "Every Breath You Take", "Hero" and "I Am...I Said".
Judge Simon Cowell chose White early as one of his four favorites in the competition when he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on March 17, 2008.

During the 1970s theme week, while White performed "You're So Vain", by Carly Simon, she stared at Simon Cowell.
 It caught the judges' attention and received good reviews from them.
White performed an acoustic version of "Love Is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar, in the next week to good reviews, as well.
 During the Lennon–McCartney week, she performed "Let It Be", a classic song by The Beatles.
Randy Jackson said it was a very heartfelt performance and Simon Cowell said that it was believable and one of the best of the night and that he thought that Brooke had picked good song choices in the past three weeks.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, who served as guest mentor for a show, based on his own music, was particularly impressed by White and predicted a big night for her.
However, three lines into her performance of "You Must Love Me", White apologized, stopped the band and restarted the song from the beginning.
She later explained, "I lost the lyric."
Simon Cowell stated that he would have done the same thing, had he been in her situation.
It was the first time in the show's history that a contestant restarted a performance from a point so far into the song.
 (White had previously restarted "Every Breath You Take", after a single odd note.)
Despite this, she was the third contestant to be named safe on the subsequent results show, while Carly Smithson went home.

When White performed "I'm a Believer" and "I Am...I Said", during Neil Diamond week, she personalized the latter, at Diamond's own suggestion, by changing the lyrics from "I'm New York City born and raised" to "I'm Arizona born and raised."

White was in the bottom three three times, once on April 2 after performing Dolly Parton's song "Jolene", again on April 16 after performing Mariah Carey's "Hero", and when she was eliminated on April 30, 2008 after performing "I'm a Believer" and "I Am...I Said".
White auditioned for American Idol, in Philadelphia, where she sang "Like a Star" and received positive reviews from all of the judges. During her audition, she admitted to never having seen an R-rated movie, which prompted Cowell to state that he could "bring her over to the dark side." During Hollywood week, White performed "Beautiful", by Carole King, and accompanied herself on piano. After that performance, judges commented that White reminded them of a young Carly Simon or Carole King.
In the live rounds of the competition, White accompanied herself on guitar for her performances of "You're So Vain", "Jolene", and "I'm a Believer" and on piano for "Let It Be", "Every Breath You Take", "Hero" and "I Am...I Said". Judge Simon Cowell chose White early as one of his four favorites in the competition when he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on March 17, 2008.
During the 1970s theme week, while White performed "You're So Vain", by Carly Simon, she stared at Simon Cowell.  It caught the judges' attention and received good reviews from them. White performed an acoustic version of "Love Is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar, in the next week to good reviews, as well.  During the Lennon–McCartney week, she performed "Let It Be", a classic song by The Beatles. Randy Jackson said it was a very heartfelt performance and Simon Cowell said that it was believable and one of the best of the night and that he thought that Brooke had picked good song choices in the past three weeks.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, who served as guest mentor for a show, based on his own music, was particularly impressed by White and predicted a big night for her. However, three lines into her performance of "You Must Love Me", White apologized, stopped the band and restarted the song from the beginning. She later explained, "I lost the lyric." Simon Cowell stated that he would have done the same thing, had he been in her situation. It was the first time in the show's history that a contestant restarted a performance from a point so far into the song.  (White had previously restarted "Every Breath You Take", after a single odd note.) Despite this, she was the third contestant to be named safe on the subsequent results show, while Carly Smithson went home.
When White performed "I'm a Believer" and "I Am...I Said", during Neil Diamond week, she personalized the latter, at Diamond's own suggestion, by changing the lyrics from "I'm New York City born and raised" to "I'm Arizona born and raised."
White was in the bottom three three times, once on April 2 after performing Dolly Parton's song "Jolene", again on April 16 after performing Mariah Carey's "Hero", and when she was eliminated on April 30, 2008 after performing "I'm a Believer" and "I Am...I Said".
Brooke White