Luke Taylor, a Commercial Music major at Liberty University, is one of the newest recipients of “American Idol’s” coveted golden tickets, which sends a vocalist on to the next round of the competition.
The Liberty University student shocked the judges with his extremely deep baritone voice as soon as he walked on the set and responded with, “nothing much, how are you,” after he was greeted by the “American Idol” celebrities.
After the judges remarked that his voice sounded like famous actor James Earl Jones, the 20-year-old Taylor sang Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” for the panel.
“I went from being four foot eleven and singing alto to being six foot one and singing below bass,” Taylor explained as he described the transformation he went through his junior year of high school.
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“American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest told Taylor that he should be making money doing movie trailer voice-over’s right before he auditioned. After hearing Taylor speak, the judges agreed with Seacrest.
While singing “Ring of Fire,” judge Lionel Richie told the other two judges, Luke Bryan and Katy Perry, that Taylor sings “lower than Cash.”
Bryan interrupted Taylor’s audition a minute into him singing, telling him he’s going to Hollywood. He then asked Taylor if he’d sing “Frosty the Snowman” for him.
“Well, listen, son. You’re going to Hollywood—I don’t care if I’ve got to cut an arm off” to make it happen, Bryan told him. Taylor then obliged Bryan and sang the children’s Christmas song.
“We don’t want you to be a novelty Christmas song singer,” Bryan told Taylor. “But voices like you have, there’s always a place for it.”
Richie said, “If you pick the right songs, you’d be an ‘Oh my gosh’” type of singer.”
Although Perry was impressed with Taylor’s voice, she wasn’t quite sure how much he’d be able to offer the show. ”I think it’s cool,” she said. “But if you don’t give us those other notes, it’s just one gimmick. I’m worried that it’s just going to be funny, but not seriously able to compete.”
While two of “American Idol’s” judges, Bryant and Richie both gave Taylor a “Yes,” which moves him into the Hollywood portion of the show, Perry told the college student, “I like you a lot. I want to hear Christmas songs forever from you,” but shared with him she believes it’s an impractical idea that he’d be crowned the winner of the show.
Taylor has nearly 3 million followers on TikTok who have given him close to 40 million likes for his videos that mostly feature his singing.
“I’ve never known much about life or what I’m supposed to do with life, but I feel like God presenting this beautiful gift to me is really just a sign that no matter what happens, through the ups and downs,” Taylor told Liberty University, “He gave this opportunity to me so I could glorify Him and so that I could share music with the world. This is a really, really cool opportunity.”
