Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Beckett of American Idol Season 21

American Idol returns to ABC on Sunday, Feb. 19 for its Season 21 premiere.

Here’s more about Beckett.

* His name is Beckett McDowell and — get this — he’s the 19-year-old son of actor Malcom McDowell, who came to fame for his role in 1971’s “A Clockwork Orange.”

* In fact, one of the two songs Beckett has released to date is called “Pale Blue Eyes,” named after his dad’s eyes. What’s more, Malcolm is featured in the music video, which you can check out below. The song dropped about a year ago.

* Malcolm told People “there is nothing more special for a parent to witness (than) one of his children blossom into an extraordinary talent.”

* That said, the song isn’t necssarily about his dad, Beckett told the site. “”To me, this song can represent so many things. and when I wrote it, I intended for it to be open-ended and mysterious … it could be about a loss of a loved one, or a breakup.”

* The song is one of two he has released as Beckett. The other is “Weirdo,” a Simple Plan song presented to him by Pierre Bouvier, lead singer of the group. Pierre was Beckett’s producer on those two tracks. “Weirdo” has racked up more than 170,000 plays on Spotify alone.

* According to his Spotify bio, Beckett was born and raised in the small southern California town of Ojai.

* He began singing at an early age and fell in love with the music of Elvis Presley, begging his mother to play his albums every day.

* By age 8, he was performing on stage. By age 14, he had picked up his guitar and started writing his own music.

* Beckett said a turning point came in 2020, when the pandemic hit and he had a chance to transition to online learning, allowing him to spend more time focusing on his music.

* In addition to Elvis, Beckett says his inspirations include Billie Eilish, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Joe Armstrong and many others. And he recently opened for Dave Mason of Traffic fame.

Beckett on social media:
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