ABC unveiled the three “fan favorite” American Idol alums who will compete for a spot in Hollywood during the American Music Awards.
All three artists made to the Top 24/20 of their respective seasons, which is pretty far! Layla Spring competed in 2018, the season which crowned Maddie Pope. Logan Johnson and Shawn Robinson competed in 2019, Laine Hardy’s winning season. Laine was cut from the showcase during the 2018 season and came back the following year to win it all.
To refresh your memory: Layla Spring was the teen southern country singer with the adorable 7 year old sister who tagged along to her judges audition. Lil sis got a golden ticket from judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan to use when she turned 15! They pimped the heck out of Layla before the show premiered, which is why I remember her so clearly. But she was cut at the Top 24 after performing “A Broken Wing” in addition to Stuck Like Glue with Sugarland.
Logan Johnson from season 2019 had a sad backstory. The Boise Idaho native was addicted to painkillers. He was only 8 months sober when he auditioned for the show. (Which I found problematic, for reasons. If he’s auditioning again, he must still be clean. Good for him.) He performed “Sober” for his audition, but was eliminated at the Top 20 after performing “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” in addition to “What a Time” with Julia Michaels.
Shawn Robinson is also from American Idol 2019. He worked as a “garden associate” at a hardware store. He performed an acoustic version of “Who Are You” by Jessie J. for the judges. Shawn was eliminated after performing “Jealous” in addition to “Proud Mary” with Ellie King.
Here’s how it will work: Layla, Logan and Shawn will record audition pieces from the Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles. Their performances will then be shown (probably just a short clip) during Sunday’s (Nov 24) broadcast of the American Music Awards. Likely the full performances will be uploaded to the American Idol Youtube channel After, viewers will have the opportunity to vote their favorite singer through to Hollywood by visiting www.americanidol.com/vote.
Voting will remain open through Monday, Nov. 25, at 1:00 p.m. EST. The winner will be announced live on the Dancing with the Stars grand finale, airing Nov. 25 at 8:00 p.m. EST.
All three singers advanced far in their respective seasons. Why couldn’t all of them advance to Hollywood? Because there wouldn’t be a gimmick to promote the show. Heh.
Interestingly, Layla posted a Youtube video on October 7 where she confesses she’s too scared to audition for Idol again, afraid that it wouldn’t be the same. Maybe she’s fibbing to keep a secret, and she actually DID audition. But my theory is that all three singers were cast for this specific stunt, and never auditioned in the first place. I COULD BE WRONG!
Check out the big reveal. It didn’t happen during Dancing with the Stars, but on a promo that aired during a commercial break. American Idol returns to ABC February 2020.
