Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Michael Rice of American Idol Season 22

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

Here’s more about Michael.

* He’s a 26-year-old British pop singer with singing show experience who’s already released original music.

* According to Michael’s Spotify bio, his career began when a video of him busking went viral, amassing millions of views on TikTok overnight.

* In 2014, he auditioned for Season 11 of The X Factor UK. He made the show at age 16 with an impressive performance of Whitney Houston’s “I Look to You,” but was eliminated in the Bootcamp round.

* He fared much better on BBC One’s “All Together Now” singing competition in 2018, winning the show. His performances included “Proud Mary” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” His “Proud Mary” performance has been viewed 11 million times on YouTube.

* A year later, he earned the right to represent Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest. The song he recorded for that competition — “Bigger Than Us” — has been streamed more than 6.8 million times on Spotify.

* He’s released a handful of singles and collaborations since, four of which have more than 400,000 streams on Spotify.

* His most recent single, “Boy I Used to Know,” dropped over the summer and has an accompanying music video you can check out below. It’s the lead single off an upcoming album.

* Michael says he wrote the song “during a time when I was at my lowest with my mental health. I sat in my bedroom up north and I just let everything out that I was feeling in that moment.”

* He adds: “This is one of the most emotional, real and soul baring songs l’ve ever wrote … I just knew that ‘Boy I Used To Know’ had to be my first single of this new exciting chapter in my life!”

* Calling himself “just another dreamer,” Michael has more than 54,000 followers and 350,000 likes on his TikTok.

* He is also releasing a full version cover of his Idol audition song, Adele’s “Turning Tables.” It should be available March 31.

Michael on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube