MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) - A Mississippi native is still in the running to be crowned the season 21 winner of American Idol. News 11 spoke with Colin Stough about his journey thus far.
Stough is from the small town of Gattman, Miss., and says his time on American Idol is all thanks to his mom, who wanted to share his talent with the world.
“My mom signed me up for Idol, and in the beginning, I thought she was getting scammed. But then we went through the whole process and now we’re here, top 3,” said Stough.
Week after week the 18-year-old country singer has wowed not only the judges but the audience with his performances. Now Stough is heading to the finals to perform one last time on the national stage for the viewers’ votes.
“It has been fun. I’ve had more blessings in this opportunity than I can even count. The people I’ve got to meet and have conversations with. Just how I’ve grown with musicians as well. Really putting in the late nights and early mornings and really treating this as a lifestyle has been fun,” said Stough.
Stough’s hometown is only 17 miles from the town of Amory, which was hit by a deadly EF-4 tornado more than a month ago. Although they are still picking up the pieces, the community couldn’t help but take time to celebrate Stough’s achievements on American Idol by throwing him a congratulatory parade.
“Man, it makes my heart happy because not a lot of communities come together a lot, and if they do, I’ve noticed that come together over tragedy, and I just feel blessed to be able to bring people together over something that’s not tragedy. You know, something that’s actually really good,” said Stough.
Stough says his time on American Idol has been an incredible experience and he has learned a lot from the judges.
“What I love about the judges is that they give amazing constructive criticism and it really helps you grow as an artist, of course, depending on how you take it. Just really one thing I value about everything they say is that, yeah, it ties to music but it can also tie to life. There’s a lot the judges say to us off camera, like before we go into the press line or things like that, and it means a lot because you can see that they’re taking time out of their day to make sure we’re great artists,” said Stough.
Stough said win or lose, he is going into the finale with the mindset of having fun and taking in the moments. The live show is Sunday, May 21, at 7 p.m. on ABC and WTOK.
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