Idol Chatter & Voice Views

He also has some pretty impressive talent, judging from his performance on the fourth audition episode for American Idol Season 15.

A junior at Bentonville High School in Arkansas, Thomas sang Ed Sheeran’s “Give Me Love” and turned in one of the night’s most impressive auditions.

He was paying tribute to one of his favorite artists. And perhaps fulfilling his destiny.

Thomas said he started singing at a fifth-grade talent show.

“Someone put it on YouTube,” Thomas recalled during his pre-audition interview, “and said, ‘This is your next American Idol.”

Obviously, he’s come a long way in the six years since that talent show. Thomas told his hometown TV station he got serious about playing guitar during his freshman year of high school.

Once home from school, he said he would “just stay in my room and practice for a couple of hours every day.”

During his Idol interview, Thomas spelled out another reason he was hoping for a successful audition.

“My family fosters kids. And I’ve seen so many kids come through there who have had their hearts broken and their family taken away, and they’re just alone and hurt.

“I want to show the foster kids that if they have a dream, they need to go and grab it and never let it go.”

His first step toward doing that was certainly successful. Jennifer Lopez said there were lots of aspects of his performance that told her he was an “artist.” Keith Urban complimented him for not delivering a carbon copy of an Ed Sheeran song.

And the vote to advance Thomas to Hollywood was unanimous.

In that TV interview, Thomas described the audition process as “very nerve-wracking.”

“But when you have all your family and friends there to support you and telling you you’re going to do great, it really helps a lot.”

You can follow Thomas through his Facebook page. On Twitter, he is @thomas_jakob98.