Weyburn’s Brayden King on to next round of ‘American Idol’

Saskatchewan has been well-represented on American reality TV this season, with Moose Jaw’s Kane Fritzler on “Survivor” and Weyburn’s Brayden King on “American Idol.”

King, who’s moving on to the next round, joined the Greg Morgan Morning Show to talk about his experience so far after going through two rounds.

“It’s been an absolutely crazy week. I think it’s been just over a week since I made the first announcement,” he said. “It’s just been absolutely wild getting all this support from not only Saskatchewan but Alberta, Manitoba (and) kind of just across Canada.”

He said he hadn’t watched the show in years, but one of the show’s producers reached out to him after seeing his videos on TikTok.

After two virtual auditions, he was invited to audition in front of celebrity judges Lionel Richie, Luke Bryant and Katy Perry in Las Vegas.

King said Richie is his favourite judge, adding he’s the kindest person someone can ever meet, especially off camera.

“Lionel really enjoyed spending that extra time with us in Hollywood Week, sitting and hearing our stories. (He was so) encouraging. (It was) so, so much fun. He’d take a picture with anyone,” the contestant said. “(He’s) an amazing person and looks great for his age.”

King added he performed an original song during his audition called ‘Down that Road,’ which Bryant described as being a mix between Chris Stapleton and Ed Sheeran.

“As soon as he said ‘Ed Sheeran,’ Katy Perry asked me to sing an Ed Sheeran song, which made me extremely nervous, but I pulled something out. (It) went well,” King said. “They liked my versatility and that I could do things on the fly like that.”

Richie then looked at King and told him he wanted to join the fan club. Perry later brought King’s dad into the room.

“(She told my dad) Lionel had given the one ‘yes,’ she wanted to give me another ‘yes’ and Luke gave me my third and final ‘yes’ and they screamed ‘You’re going to Hollywood,’ ” King said.

Despite being on the show, King’s performances haven’t been aired during the weekly broadcast. He said reality TV isn’t as real as people think it is.

“They only aired about 60 people, but 160 people have gotten golden tickets. They don’t show absolutely everyone,” King added. “I’ve been spotted in the crowd a lot in Hollywood Week. I’m pretty hard to miss. I’m 6-foot-9.”

Even though King felt it’s a bit of a bummer that he doesn’t get to pick which parts get aired, it’s still an honour for him to be a part of it.

“I will be able to say whether or not I return after this showstopper round, which is this weekend on Sunday. I’m currently in the top 55 of ‘American Idol.’ I think they said there (were) 130,000 applicants this year,” he said. “They’ll be cutting down to the top 24 after this. We’ll see if I get shown this weekend.”

“American Idol” airs Sundays on ABC and Citytv.