The final season of American Idol kicked off last week, and not only were the judges – Keith Urban, Harry Connick Jr. and Jennifer Lopez – were blown away by the immense talent during the first round of auditions, but the rest of the nation, including Mickey Guyton, were as well. In addition to the other contestants, 15-year-old Tristian McIntosh from Nashville, stunned the judges with a piano version of Mickey’s song, “Why Baby Why” and then brought them to tears when her mother, Amy, who is deployed overseas, surprised her during the audition and gave her the golden ticket to send her on to Hollywood.
Mickey first heard of Tristan several months ago when the young girl posted a video of herself singing “Why Baby Why” on Instagram. “I actually heard of Tristan about six months ago when my EP came out while I was on tour with Brad [Paisley], and she posted a video of her singing ‘Why Baby Why.’ I actually posted it on my Instagram, and I was like this girl is really freaking talented, and the fact that she’s 15 is just insane,” says Mickey. “Once I saw the actual audition, it was just so, so emotional, like I’m still a mess. I can barely talk about it now, because of how special it is…It was a really cool moment for me.”
American Idol airs Wednesday and Thursday nights at 8pm ET on Fox.
Audio / Mickey Guyton talks about American Idol contestant, Tristan McIntosh.
DownloadMickey Guyton (Idol contestant) 1 OC: …moment for me. 1:10
“When I saw that this young girl named Tristan was going to be auditioning for American Idol and singing my song, I thought it was so freaking cool. The funny thing is I actually heard of Tristan about six months ago when my EP came out while I was on tour with Brad [Paisley], and she posted a video of her singing ‘Why Baby Why.’ I actually posted it on my Instagram, and I was like this girl is really freaking talented, and the fact that she’s 15 is just insane. When I found out she was auditioning with my song, I was like, ‘That was so cool.’ But once I saw the actual audition, it was just so, so emotional, like I’m still a mess. I can barely talk about it now, because of how special it is and how much love she has for her mom and that her mom serves our country and with us going through so much, it just means so much that her mom flew all the way out there to be there for her audition. And let me tell you – Tristan sang her butt off and totally did ‘Why Baby Why’ justice, and I’m just excited! I’m excited that more people got to hear my music, as well. It was a really cool moment for me.”
