Watch this formerly homeless man wow ‘American Idol’ with an emotional original
.png "Sir Blayke experienced homelessness in Atlanta while interning at a studio before moving to Los Angeles to pursue his songwriting.")
Sir Blayke’s journey in music hasn’t been easy, but he now has a golden ticket sending him to Hollywood Week after an emotional “American Idol” audition full of power ballads.
“It hasn’t been great,” the Chicago native told judges during March 21’s episode.
Blayke’s mother was a choir director while he was growing up, and the now-28-year-old always knew he wanted to pursue music.
But after moving to Atlanta to pursue music, he found himself experiencing homelessness.
“I was an intern at a studio, and didn’t nobody know I was homeless,” he explained. “I literally would go to sleep on a bench. At that moment I just knew what I wanted to do, and going home just wasn’t it.”
With his music, he’s aiming to show America that Black people can’t be put into a box.
“I wanna show that Black people can do pop music,” Blayke told ABC7. “We don’t always have to be stuck in the box of R&B, soul and gospel. We are more, we can do more, it doesn’t just always have to be that.”
The singer-songwriter now lives in Los Angeles, where he is “still struggling” but is happy that he feels as though he is on the right track.
“It’s not quite hitting just yet,” he told the judges. “But it’s been a ride that I wouldn’t change.”
Blayke started off singing “Dive” by Ed Sheeran with a soaring and emotional rendition of the ballad before Katy Perry requested an original song.
He complied immediately and started singing an original pop heartbreak ballad. After finishing a portion of his original, Luke Bryan told the singer he loved his voice but felt as if he may have been trying too hard at some points.
“Every time you slipped up into that falsetto, it felt like I lost the little bit of the power and the connection that I had with you,” he said.
Lionel Richie echoed Bryan but said he loved “the texture” of Blayke’s voice.
“You don’t need all those curls, remember the crowd, you want them to sing along with you,” he said.
Perry told Blayke that she enjoyed his original song more than his rendition of Sheeran’s hit.
“I thought you had a lot more control,” she said. “I think you sound good, but I just really want to connect with you more emotionally.”
Bryan started off the voting with a no, while Blayke turned to the remaining judges to assure them he would do the work to improve and that he was a “quick study.”
“I believe in you,” Richie said, giving Blayke his first “yes.”
Then it was down to Perry, who said, “Bring it. It’s a yes from me,” eliciting screams from a joyous Blayke.
“That’s the note we’ve been looking for!” Richie joked.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Watch this formerly homeless man wow ‘American Idol’ with an emotional original."
