Brett Young will be performing this Sunday night on ABC’s American Idol. He’ll sing “Mercy” with Top 14 contestant Laci Booth.
As Brett tells us, he has been a fan of American Idol for a long time, and gets pretty emotional watching it, “I love those shows, I watch them all the time. Those shows make me cry more than like, dramas. Like the best drama you could ever find on Netflix I’ll cry more watching the contestants talk about their upbringing and how much they want it on a singing competition. Obviously it started with Idol, that was one of me and my mom’s things when I had to move back home – starving artist – I had one of those stretches where I had to move back home and me and my mom would always watch Idol, and [I’m] so, so honored and excited to be a part of it.”
However, Young tells us that he actually auditioned for another singing competition: NBC’s The Voice: “Funny story – I auditioned for The Voice three times and never got the call back either time. Three seasons, no call backs. And then, right after I moved to Nashville, I got an e-mail saying, you know, we reviewed your tapes and this season was kind of light in terms of talent, and you can skip the audition process and move straight to The Blinds, to TV. We would love for you to come be a part of the show.”
He continued, “And so I said yes and I went and did the psych evaluation and everything in L.A. And I was a couple days from flying to L.A. to start filming. And you know, when you get there, you sign the final agreement and everything, which ends up being your record deal and this whole thing. And it was like less than a week before I left that I had my first meeting with Big Machine. And so yeah, I would have done it, absolutely, and would have been so grateful for the opportunity.”
-Nancy Brooks