Australian Idol
Chanel auditioned for Australian Idol in both Canberra, where she was not put through, and Sydney, where her performance earned a standing ovation from Ian Dickson. Her bizarre sense of humour and atypical song choice immediately sparked an interest with viewers, particularly on the Internet. In the Solo Heat, Cole performed Alcoba Azul, a track featured on the soundtrack of the Frida Kahlo biopic, Frida, which Cole sang entirely in Spanish. After the performance, Dickson asked her to leave the room as she was "clearly above" the other contestants in terms of talent. Cole later confided that she felt "horrible" for being put in such an awkward position. In the group heat, Cole arranged a version of Dionne Warwick's Anyone Who Had a Heart. When one of the other girls fumbled with her lyrics, Cole improvised a duet to cover it up. All four girls involved in the song went on.
In the final vocal heat that determined selection into the final thirty, Cole performed a version of Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman, titled Pretty Boy. When the top thirty were announced, betting agency Centrebet named her the favorite to win. Overwhelmed at being pushed so abruptly into the public eye, a curious Chanel logged onto an Idol forum and burst into tears after being dismissed by an Internet troll as a "Björk impersonator". Her reaction was filmed and aired on an episode of Inside Idol. Cole later felt embarrassed that such a private, melodramatic moment was revealed to the Australian public.
In the first round of the semi-finals, Cole, who was wearing peacock feathers in her hair, performed a version of Portishead's underground hit Glory Box. She advanced to the final twelve. She performed a rendition of The Badlove's Green Limousine on "Australian Made" night. This performance was found to be mediocre, however. She reignited interest in herself with a performance of Shirley Bassey's History Repeating. Her performance was well received by the judges.
The next week, Cole performed the Dionne Warwick pop classic, Walk On By. Her performance was either loved or hated; Rolling Stone referred to her as "the thinking person's idol" while her odds on Centrebet began to drop. Cole's next performance, Jackson 5's Never Can Say Goodbye, was poorly received by the three judges. She won back some adoration the following week when she performed a version of k.d. lang's Constant Craving. She was still not as popular as she had been; Cole was in the bottom two that week, and barely escaped elimination.
Cole ended the following week in the bottom two when her performance of The Beatles' Across the Universe failed to earn her strong support. She survived, however, and performed Stop!, by Sam Brown the following week to exceptional reception. During "Up Close and Personal" week, Cole sang a rendition of Joni Mitchell's A Case of You. On R'n'B/Soul week, she performed Hit 'Em Up Style by Blu Cantrell. Despite a strong performance she did not receive enough votes to keep her in the competition. Chanel Cole ended the second season of Australian Idol in fifth place.
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