Noah Thompson won American Idol Sunday night. (ABC Photo)
He’s the one who signed up Noah Thompson for American Idol, something the county singer admits he wasn’t about to do himself.
In fact, Noah’s initial reaction when co-worker Arthur announced his intent was: “No, you’re not.”
But the 20-year-old from Louisa, Kentucky, relented.
And, on Sunday night, confetti rained down on Noah Thompson as the 20th American Idol.
Noah beat out runner-up HunterGirl and third-place finisher Leah Marlene for that honor.
The judges clearly thought they had something special after hearing Noah audition with “Giving You Up” by Kameron Marlowe, a former Voice contestant.
Lionel Richie complimented him on having “a real life, bad-ass, story-telling voice.”
Katy Perry was more prophetic, calling him “the American dream” — a young man from a small town who worked construction, dreamed of doing something with music, but wasn’t certain of his talent.
Arthur was, impressed by the raw vocal ability Noah would sometimes show off while working.
Noah?
“Came into this competition scared out of my mind,” he recently wrote on social media.
But he clearly got more confident on stage as the season progressed. And his earnest delivery and his back story — he said he wanted to succeed at Idol to provide a better future for his young song Walker — struck a chord with the show’s fan.
It didn’t hurt that he was good at putting a country spin on non-country songs. He recently said his cover of Stay” during Hollywood Week was his favorite performance because of the judges’ reaction to him singing a Rihanna song.
He survived a bout with COVID as well, forced to perform from his hotel room during Top 7 week and missing a trip to Las Vegas to be mentored in person by Carrie Underwood in preparation for the Top 5 show.
The mentoring session took place by zoom instead. No matter, Noah performed Carrie’s “So Small” and advanced to the Top 3.
A sure sign that Noah was a fan favorite came about a week ago when the Top 5 released original songs.
Noah’s was “One Day Tonight” and it bolted into the Top 10 on iTunes, climbing as high as number 4 on the Top 200 chart. A week later, it was the only of the original songs still in the Top 100.
Given all that, how fitting was his Bruce Springsteen song choice Sunday night?
Noah performed “I’m On Fire.”
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