Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Daniel Seavey said he sort of knew he was likely to be leaving American Idol Wednesday night.

The realization came over him as the show wound to a close, and just he, Rayvon Owen and Clark Beckham were still sitting among the contestants, waiting to learn their fate.

“I knew Rayvon’s song was amazing, I knew Clark’s song was amazing, so I kind of knew at that moment,” the youngest contestant to make the Season 14 American Idol finals said. “I was like, ‘I think I’m going home,’ but I was okay with it because I get to go home. Like it was a great experience, but it is super tiring.

“Once you know you’re going home, it’s kind of like, ‘Okay, I get to go home, I get to sleep, I get to get my life back,’ and so I was okay with it.”

Daniel had a bumpy road during the finals, drawing some of the most critical feedback from the judges. It didn’t help that he came down with laryngitis before he had to tackle a Kelly Clarkson song on Wednesday’s show.

But he gutted it out and showed the upbeat attitude he displayed throughout the competition.

And there were those who said he only made it as far as he did because he’s a cute 15-year-old. Well, 16 now. He also celebrated a birthday this week.

“I don’t know how to respond exactly to that,” Daniel said of his “cute” appeal and how much it factored into his success. “It might be true. It might not. I just had fun with the experience, and I am so thankful for it however I got this experience.

“I do want to be able to prove that I am an artist, and I can sell music, and so that’s my next step, is to start writing music and putting it out there to show the world that I’m not just a cute kid.”

During the session with the media, Daniel was also asked if he now wishes he’d found himself in the Idol spotlight a couple years later, after he’d gained more experience. After all, he went to performing on the streets of Portland once a month to performing on Idol in front of millions of viewers in a heartbeat.

“I think this was a perfect time for me because it was like a huge kick in the butt for me to grow even more,” he said. “This has doubled me in growth, I feel like, and so for me to be able to do this at 15, it excites me about what I’ll be able to do later on in life. This was just a huge platform and opportunity for me.”