Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Blake Proehl of American Idol Season 22

Idol returned to ABC on Sunday, Feb. 18 with the coaching trio of Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan back intact.

Here’s more about Blake:

* He’s a 25-year-old wide receiver and singer from Charlotte, N.C., with a back story American Idol is going to love.

* His father Ricky played in the NFL for 17 years. Blake dreamed of following in his footsteps and joined the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent after the 2021 NFL draft.

* But he suffered a torn ACL in a joint practice with the Denver Broncos that spring, an injury that would sideline him for an entire season.

* “It was my dream to play in the NFL,” Blake told BigNewsNetwork. “So I finally get here, doing well … and then obviously this happened. I’d be lying if I said I was just totally fine. It was really, really tough.”

* It’s during the rehab process that he rediscovered his love for music, something he’d used a stress-relieving outlet growing up while focusing on being on three-sport high school athlete.

* One turning point came when he posted a TikTok of himself singing Brett Young’s “In Case You Didn’t Know” to his grandmother. The video was viewed more than 26 million times.

* Blake now has nearly 600,000 followers and nearly 8 million likes on that TikTok account.

* He also has five pre-Idol singles on Spotify, the most recent being the uplifting “Waves,” which dropped last spring. “I hope this song inspires you to keep moving forward regardless of what’s going on in your life,” Blake wrote at the time. “There is ALWAYS hope; you just have to believe.” Check out “Waves” below.

* Around the same time, Blake posted this message on social media: “I became an official artist one year ago today. I never thought people would like my music, but I wanted to try anyway … Thanks for letting me take a dark time in my life and make something that brought me, and hopefully you, hope and purpose.”

* A former standout at East Carolina University, Blake makes it clear in his Spotify bio that he hasn’t given up on his NFL dream but that’s he’s equally committed to his musical journey. In fact, he performed his first show as the headline artist last July in Minnesota.

* Blake, accompanied by his grandmother, auditioned for American Idol with Brett Young’s “In Case You Didn’t Know.” Katy got goosebumps and proclaimed him a potential Top 10 finisher.

* Blake released his latest single, “Closure,” on March 29. Says Blake: “I wrote this song for anyone who has ever been heartbroken or left without answers.” You can check out a snippet of it below as well.

Blake on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube