Chayce Beckham won American Idol last season, and while he hasn’t had as much time as other past winners to figure out his career, he still has advice for this season’s hopefuls.
Specifically, Chayce has some advice for what the finalists should do heading into that big finale where everything is on the line.
He said the most important thing is not their actual singing but it is their performance and connecting with the voters at home, trying to win over their votes.
Chayce Beckham on winning American Idol
Chayce Beckham spoke to Taste of Country about appearing on the American Idol finale and what advice he would give to this season’s finalists.
“For them, I would just be trying to connect with my audience and getting them to vote,” Beckham said.
For many voters, it is too late to sway them. These voters have picked out their favorites and will vote for them as long as they are in the competition, no matter how good or bad their performances are.
However, two more people will go home this Sunday, and the final three singers have a chance to win them over and convince them to vote for them in the finale the next week. Chayce said that connection with fans is what will carry over into the finale.
“That gave me confidence. I was just looking at my audience,” Chayce said. “But I was engaged with my audience and my social media, and I kind of wear my heart on my sleeve a lot. I think I was just able to connect with people.”
Connecting with the audience is more important that vocal talent
This is one big reason that Luke Bryan feels that Noah Thompson is a frontrunner. While his voice is far from the best of the top 5, his personality and humbleness have fans voting for him week after week.
“When I look at the way Noah is able to really just humbly connect; I think America really loves those stories. But, I think it’s anybody’s game. I really do,” Luke said.
“Everybody in that Top 5 … has their things that really make them stand out. So, we’ll see, I think Noah might be my frontrunner right now,” Luke continued.
Chayce Beckham sees that in himself, as well.
“I think, and I’m very hard on myself, but I hands down think I may be the worst singer that has won American Idol, just based off of singing,” he admitted. “If you’re going off of vocal capability, they’d all beat me.”
However, Chayce connected with fans, and they voted him to the win, and that is the best advice he can give anyone on American Idol this season.
American Idol airs on Sunday nights at 8/7c on ABC.