Jordan Moyes, who wowed the American Idol judges with his rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” during his audition, has come to the end of his journey on the reality TV show. During his audition, as he played, Katy Perry, one of the Idol judges sang along. She commented, “Your guitar playing is my favorite kind of guitar playing. I can hear every note. It’s so crisp and well-tuned, and you are a studied musician. Thank you so much.”
However, on Sunday night, 22 March 2020, after Jordan performed a duet of “Use Somebody” by King of Leon with fellow contestant Franklin Boone during the show’s Hollywood episode, Perry delivered tougher words to Jordan. She said, “There’s room for both of you in life, but going forward, there’s only room for one. Jordan, I’m sorry. It’s the end of the road for you.”
Jordan is not disappointed in the least. In his eyes, American Idol is just the beginning of bigger and better things to come. Even with his brief airtime on the show, Jordan says that he has seen an increase in listeners and followers on social media. That is good news for him because that means more people will hear his new single, “Birmingham,” which is due to release on 27 March 2020.
Jordan said that although the judges loved his sound and the fact that he channels a style that has done well on American Idol recently, they wondered if that style could go as far this time around. He spent about 10 minutes with the judges during his initial audition round and they mentored him, giving him advice on how to improve so he could advance in the show.
He told Deseret News, “In their minds, they’re kind of trying to separate between an artist or a songwriter that they want to listen to and then a performer that appeals to the masses on this type of show.” He continued, “There’s definitely artists and performers that know how to steal a stage and know how to grab and captivate an audience. And I feel like I’ve always been … the guy that hides behind his guitar and focuses more on the songwriting. A lot of it was them just trying to help me find the balance between the two.”
Although Jordan’s time on American Idol was cut short, Jordan accomplished what he had set out to do – to get his name out in the world. He also told Deseret News, “I’m a musician with or without the show. But it’s exciting to see how this will translate into my own music.”
