Haley Johnson’s rationale for auditioning for American Idol Season 11 was pretty simple.
The show came to her. Well, to Portland, Oregon, more specifically.
But as a resident of Beaverton, a graduate of the high school there and a student at Oregon State University, that made it mighty convenient.
“They’re always telling me, ‘Haley, you can sing. Why not try out for American Idol,'” she says of friends and family. “They came to Portland. I knew I had to do it. There was no excuse.”
The idea that she can sing might come from the splendid cover of “Rolling in the Deep” that you can listen to below.
Or the fact that she performed with the OSU Divine, Oregon State’s women’s a cappella group.
But unlike many of the Hollywood-bound on American Idol, Haley’s interest in singing came rather late.
She said the first time she really performed for an audience was at a homecoming assembly in high school where she sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
“Like many other people, I’ve gone through stages in my life where I’ve been confused and haven’t really known what my calling is,” she told Idol in her golden ticket interview. “I’ve always loved it (music), but never knew it was something I was capable of.”
As promised, here are a couple of non-Idol performances from Haley. There were also a couple of excellent covers on YouTube about a month ago that have since been made private, a sign Haley might have done well in Hollywood.
“Rolling in the Deep”
“Wish You Were Here”
“Something to Talk About” with OSU Divine
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