‘American Idol’ Runner-up Blake Lewis Claims He Was Forced to Beatbox
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American Idol season six runner up Blake Lewis got candid for the show’s 20 anniversary. In a recent interview, he explained that showing off his beatboxing skills in his audition was not his choice.
In 2007, Blake Lewis auditioned for American Idol, but began his audition out with a bit of a surprise. As soon as the 25 year old met the judges, they asked him if he was a musician. After Lewis explained what he could do, judge Randy Jackson asked if he knew how to beatbox. Since it was mentioned, Lewis showed off his beatboxing skills before singing.
Blake Lewis Claims He Was Forced to Beatbox in His American Idol Audition
In present day, Lewis has admitted that he wasn’t happy with how American Idol portrayed him in his audition. Even though he had a lot of local experience under his belt, he felt that the judges were “making fun” of him by calling him “Mr. Bigshot.”
At the time of Lewis’s audition, he was a regional beatbox champion in Seattle and had been working with multiple hip-hop groups. He claims one of his songs was a No. 1 hit in Seattle at the time. Even though this was a huge accomplishment, the singer didn’t want to talk about it in his audition.
Lewis claims that Jackson asked him to beatbox, but he hadn’t planned on doing so in his audition. While recalling the story, the singer explained that he “literally said no three times” to the judges. He claims that eventually he felt pressured into beatboxing for them.
“They forced me to,” he said. “And then the way they cut it, they made it seem like I was cocky.”
At the end of his audition, he explained his experience in Seattle once again. In return, Jackson claimed that his beatboxing was better than his singing, while Cowell expressed that he was “not as good” as he thought.
By the time his audition aired on television, the singer solidified his hatred for reality television shows. He didn’t want to get criticism from people within the beatbox community, since the show was “1234
just turning me into a gimmick.”
Even though Lewis doesn’t love the way his audition portrays him, he’s “really proud” of what he did on the show. In the end, this singer was announced as the runner up behind Jordin Sparks. Since finishing the series, he has released seven albums. His most recent album, Wanderlust Unknown, dropped in 2020.
