After his elimination from American Idol at the Top 9 last week, versatile singer, Beane, dropped by the Ellen Degeneres Show to talk about his American Idol journey, and perform an acoustic version of his Top 16 song, “Searching for a Feeling.”
“I’m a little bit in shock that I’m sitting here talking to Ellen,” Beane replied when the host ask how he was doing, “But it’s pretty cool, nonetheless.”
Why did Beane sing The Time Of My Life? He believed it “might have been my last song”
Right off the bat, Ellen asks Beane if he felt that he jinxed his chances to advance by singing “I Had the Time of My Life,” for his Top 12 Oscar nominated song, because it’s basically a goodbye song. Interesting, Beane confessed that he believed it “might have been my last song.” And he wanted to create a moment.
Initially, the singer was afraid to audition for Idol, because of the small town, Williamsport, he comes from in Central Pennsylvania. “I love my people from Williamsport,” said Beane, “but I definitely don’t walk around there in my get up. Any time you put yourself out there in such a way, you’re leaving yourself open for judgment and exposure and comments.” But he added, “People from back home have been nothing but sweet and loving.”
The Berklee alum also talked about the difference between working as a wedding singer in Boston where he lives now, and appearing on a national singing competition.
“Definitely a big difference, an insane difference for sure!” Beane continued, “I mean one thing is when you do a wedding, you have the tiniest stage. You’re trying to squeeze [on] 10 people. So the space was nice. I will say that.” Beane also spoke to the freedom to be himself on the show. He got to dress as he wanted and “present as an artist.” He said it was “super super lovely to really feel like myself every time I was on stage.”
He was grateful that American Idol allowed him to be himself
Beane also talked about doing the pronoun shift when he duetted on Robbie Williams “Angels” with Josh Groban. “He was so so wonderful and he let me sing the word ‘He’ instead of ‘She.’ The singer continued, “It’s like those tiny little moments [that] correlates to painting a hand, or a little bit of eyeliner.”
But for Beane, the tiny shift had even more significance. “I think it acts as almost a form of of protest in a way, just changing the normal [a] little bit and maybe not screaming about who I am, but those little tweaks let people have themselves be seen.”
Before the segment ended, Beane sang his Top 16 song “Searching for a Feeling” by Third Story.
“I’m gonna sing a song I sang on the show and I hated how I sang it on the show. So we’re going to do take two,” Beane joked with Ellen, “If I don’t get it right, you’re going to have to have me back to try it again!”
Watch Bean on the Ellen Degeneres show below.
