Perryville's Alyssa Wray got a standing ovation from the judges on American Idol and the Golden Ticket to the Hollywood Show
Her phone and social media platforms were all “blowing up” with messages after Alyssa Wray’s dramatic performance on American Idol Sunday night.
“People were all just telling me how proud they are of me and how much potential I have,” Wray, a 2020 Boyle County High School graduate from Perryville, said Monday. “A woman commented and told me her bi-racial daughter said I looked like her. That is super special to me and it has just been really cool to see how I have affected so many people.”
That certainly included American Idol judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, and Katy Perry who had no trouble giving her the Golden Ticket to Hollywood for the next round after she performed “I Am Changing” by Jennifer Hudson from the movie “Dreamgirls.”
Bryan told the other judges that they “just saw Beyonce get born” and Richie said the judges were going to be lucky to say, “we knew you when, and we had something to do with it,” after Wray’s performance to close the two-hour show on ABC-TV.
Wray obviously had known for weeks she had the Golden Ticket but could not tell anyone. Neither could her mother, Tabitha Blackwell.
“It was super hard for me not to tell,” Wray, a freshman at Northern Kentucky University, said. “I was on social media telling people to watch but mom was super secretive because she was worried she would do something to get me in trouble. She was a lot more careful. It was insanely hard for me not to share.”
Wray told me in an earlier interview she had “blacked out” during her audition and didn’t remember exactly what the judges told her. She got to hear their comments again watching the show with family and friends at Big City Pizza in Danville.
She was surprised at the reactions from the judges — who were all standing by the end of her performance.
“I was scared to stare at them when I was auditioning but it was really cool to see Lionel walking around. He was moving around everywhere,” Wray said. “It was so important to see their body language and faces.”
The former Boyle County basketball player said the best moment was seeing Perry’s face when her mom came on stage after her performance.
“Mom was not supposed to come in. I didn’t know she was. I guess they (American Idol producers) felt like it was the right thing to do. They didn’t ask me to go get her. I just looked over and here she came and she was so excited,” Wray said.
The compliments are not likely to stop any time soon. Lyndsey Parker, Yahoo! Music editor, wrote Monday that “Alyssa better hire a PR agent and manager ASAP because she’s going to need their services. This girl is magic, and she is destined to be a star.” She compared Wray to former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood.
Wray admitted she had looked at numerous comments online but did not think it would be hard to stay grounded.
“I saw a few negative comments and my brain probably hyper fixates on the bad,” she said. “That’s not a good thing but it has kept me from being overly excited about all the love I am receiving. Some people don’t like the way I sing. Some don’t like how I perform. I will use that for motivation in some ways but no matter how much I succeed it’s never going to be over and I am going to keep chasing more.”
The judges’ comments — Richie called her a “once in a generation” talent — reassured Wray about her worth/talent.
“I am going to keep that in my heart. That’s special,” Wray said. “It’s not that I use the negative comments to drive me but I know I still have more to offer.”
While it was not shown on TV, Richie gave her a handkerchief after her national TV debut.
“That was so special,” Wray said.
Just like the performance Wray had that has made her a national name overnight.
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Hollywood Week shows will air on March 21 and March 22 on ABC.
