American Idol 2024 Runner-up Will Moseley shares that didn’t feel he had to win
Will Moseley came in second on American Idol 2024 last Sunday (May 19), but he’s not mad! The country singer, who will be opening for Zac Brown Band when the country group plays in New York City on June 2, visited Live with Kelly and Mark Show, on Thursday (May 23)
“I think we spent so much time together…since the top 24…we went to Hawaii and then we were back in. L.A. and we were around each other every day for so many months. You really become friends,” Will said about his lack of rivalry with fellow contestants. “You build relationships there. “
Shocked Abi Carter Expected Will Moseley to win American Idol (Videos)
Will shared that before Sunday’s finale, he his fellow Top 3 contestants, Abi Carter and Jack Blocker “came to the consensus that whatever happened was going to be alright.” Will added, “You don’t have to win. The goal was to be there and get that opportunity to play in front of all of America…to be in the finale playing.
Will a former college football player until an injury ended his career, had only been playing music for about a year before he came on the show. He’s used to in person crowds, but admits, “there are different emotions when the cameras came on.”
“I had to give the dream a year” and the end of the American Idol season was exactly one year!
Will talked about graduating from college last year, and only giving himself a year to break into music. After suffering several concussions on the field, Will moved back to Georgia and attended Georgia Southern University. He graduated May 2023, which means the year he gave himself is up now.
“I had to give the dream a year,” he explained. “I had to go try to make music a career.” He considers his time on American Idol an important learning experience, and will be pursuing a music career with enthusiasm. He considers the “full circle moment” he experienced on American Idol a “blessing.”
If anyone saw the clip of Will picking host Ryan Seacrest off the ground, the singer has the story. It’s a thing every season, because producers egg on beefy contestants to do it. They told Will it would be “guaranteed air time.” They also suggested Will ask permission first, and he answered “Why? You’ll get a real reaction. It’s not like he can stop it!”
In the clips circulating online, Ryan doesn’t look THAT surprised. Maybe the producers tipped him off! “He thought it was funny,” Will said.
Next, Will performed his original winners single, “Good Book Bad,” which landed at No. 3 on the country iTunes chart.
What’s next for Will Moseley
Will told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he plans to hire a manager and “book some concerts as soon as possible.”
“This show has provided me a platform,” Will said. “It’s provided me an audience. I want to hit the ground running and play as many shows as I can. It’s been a whirlwind, and everything is up in the air. But I know it will all work itself out in due time.”
Will, who never seemed nervous on stage, admitted to AJC,“It’s not as much nerves,” he said. “It’s stress. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes, a lot to take care of on show days.”
“There were days we had no idea what the schedule was,” he said. “We just knew what time we had to be there. Just showing up was 80% of the battle.”
“‘Idol’ helped me try new things,” Will said, “I performed the last half of the shows without a guitar. I worked on stage presence with just a microphone.”
He told AJC that Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild,” which closed out Disney night, was his favorite performance. He wanted to “really just leave it all out there. That was a cool performance for me. I didn’t feel pressure even messing up.”
