American Idol 21: Jon Wayne Hatfield, Matt Wilson audition
Entering this episode, these two singers are the ones that ABC has spotlighted behind the scenes, and both of them have great voices — and, of course, also compelling stories. With Jon, you have a guy with an awesome Southern rock / country voice performing an original song dedicated to his grandfather Ray. Ray has a powerful story of his own about coming out later in life, and there is a great message in here about acceptance and identifying true self through adversity and fear. Jon and his grandpa clearly have a great relationship, and anyone who can compose original music is someone we’re going to watch out for over the rest of the season.
Of course, there is also a challenge here in that doing an original can set the bar super-high for everything else you do later. We’ll have to see how he combats that.
When it comes to Matt, meanwhile, you have the case of a day-care teacher who is obviously gifted, but is also having a hard time finding his confidence. This is something that he’s going to have to work through in part over his time in the competition, and we hope that the success of this audition really helps to boost him. After all, how can it not? You’re getting some validation from some of the best in the business.
You can watch some of the auditions now over at the official American Idol YouTube Channel. We have learned over the years not to put too much stock in just a single performance, but how can you not be excited after seeing what these two are capable of doing? There is room for SO much more moving forward here…
How do you think Jon Wayne Hatfield and Matt Wilson are going to fare on on American Idol season 21?
Be sure to let us know in the comments, and also come back around here for some other updates as we keep pressing onward. (Photo: ABC.)
This article was written by Jessica BunBun.