ABC/Paula LoboOn Monday, Luke Bryan enters a new realm in his American Idol career, as the first live show of the season premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The top 14 will perform, and eventually be narrowed down to ten finalists.
Luke is painfully aware of how brutal the competition can be. Take, for example Bebe Rexha, who has a #1 country hit with Florida Georgia Line right now, “Meant to Be,” but didn’t make it very far on the show.
“We had [pop stars] Colbie Caillat and Bebe Rexha on the [show] other day…” Luke tells ABC Radio. “They went through the Idol process and got sent home in the early rounds. And look at them.”
“So, I think the Idol situation is a great platform to push kids out of their comfort zone and get them going in the entertainment business. Now, how much it pans out for ’em still has a lot to do with their work effort, and what they do with this exposure.”
The “Most People Are Good” singer points to fellow country hitmakers Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, as artists who’ve taken their Idol experiences and turned them into careers…even though it didn’t happen instantly.
“I think they were first and second, right?” Luke asks. “And now they’re making their names be known. So once you get the exposure from Idol, you still have to get out there and work it. And Scotty and Lauren have been workin’ it ever since, and finally, it’s starting to pay off.”
Scotty won season 10 of American Idol in 2011, and Lauren was the runner-up. Scotty recently scored his first #1 with “Five More Minutes,” while Lauren had two numbers ones in the past year, with “Road Less Traveled” and “What Ifs” with Kane Brown.
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