Idol Chatter & Voice Views

When we met Charlie Askew in American Idol’s Baton Rouge auditions, he described himself as socially awkward.

He sure didn’t look that way on solo night in Hollywood, when he turned out to be one of the brightest stars.

And it wasn’t only that pitch perfect version of “Somebody That I Used to Know” that wowed the judges.

His displayed a little showmanship before the song, with a monologue intro about a girl he used to know, and more than a little flair during the performance.

Afterward?

“I’m obsessed with you,” said Idol judge Nicki Minaj.

Shot back Charlie: “Baby, I could say the same thing.”

Socially awkward?

Perhaps Charlie worked out some of those problems performing in productions by the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s Young Artist Program, which the Arkansas Times says he participated in.

Or perhaps as a member of the Four Reps, which Arkansas.com describes as a rock/doo-wop/barbershop group consisting of Charlie and three other guys.

Apparently, they spent three years performing together all over Arkansas and recorded two CDs before presenting a farewell concert last July in Little Rock.

In other words, 17-year-old Charlie’s not quite the amateur you might have suspected after watching his clip from Idol’s Baton Rouge auditions.

In that clip, Charlie said music provided him with an outlet and a way to express himself. And his mom said “music has been the center of his life since he was born.”

Charlie got a unanimous vote to advance to Hollywood after singing Queen’s “Breakthrough” and Nat King Cole’s “Nature Boy” at those Baton Rouge auditions.

Randy called the unimposing young lad “a seemingly dark, strange, but cool guy,” which had Charlie laughing and indicating he’d never been referred to as “seemingly dark” before.

So Nicki just dubbed him “Mystery Man.”

In his road to Hollywood video, Mystery Man describes his initial inspiration to perform.

“The moment I thought, ‘I want to be a rock star’ was the first time I saw Robert Plant perform,” he says. “I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do.'”

And today?

“I know what I want. And what I want is to change the world with my music and make people happy.”

Here’s Charlie’s Hollywood performance, followed by two clips of him performing with The Four Reps.

“Somebody That I Used to Know”

“For the Longest Time” (with The Four Reps)