Jack Blocker Is the 'American Idol' Who Made Katy Perry Apologize

Jack Blocker

If Kayko was the “accidental” American Idol contestant, Jack Blocker is the “resurrected” American Idol. During his audition, Luke Bryan was the only judge to give him a yes, but when Jack left the audition room, Luke was determined to get him a Golden Ticket and turned to the crew for support to try to get either Katy Perry or Lionel Richie to change their vote.

With the crew’s backing—something that had never happened before, Lionel changed his vote and ever since Hollywood Week, Katy and Lionel have been apologizing to Jack, who so far has made it to the Top 8.

“It’s hard to put [my journey] into words because it started off with the biggest no I’ve gotten so far,” Jack told Parade at the American Idol Top 10 celebration. “So, I didn’t really have much expectation coming into Hollywood week, much less being in the Top 10 of the show. So, it’s crazy to still be here. I’m so grateful for it. But it’s been cool, I’m enjoying it.”

One of Katy’s original problems with Jack was that “he had some bad habits the way he was delivering,” meaning the way he contorts his mouth to deliver a note. Jack did take that into consideration during Hollywood Week, and we saw him singing in the mirror, trying to change things up. But in the end, he decided he had to be himself.

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“I’m trying to,” he said. “I’m not old, but I’m old-ish in this competition. There’s 15-year-olds, I’m 25. And so, I’ve been doing this for a minute, and I’ve been singing for a good while. I know where my lane is at this point and so I’m confident to stick with what I know and what I believe in. I know that it’s not necessarily going to please everybody, but I’m content with that at this point. I’m just having fun up there.”

Jack’s audition for American Idol was an original song, but since then he’s been doing covers. So, the theme nights – No. 1 Billboard hits, American Song Book and a song from the year he was born -- haven’t been as difficult for him as some other artists who’ve only sung originals. He sang Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” to make the Top 12, The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" to make the Top 10, and Cher's "Believe" to make the Top 8.

Related: Accidental American Idol Kayko Is Still Close Friends With Abby Blake

“I have a pretty wide variety with my music taste of what I enjoy listening to,” he explained. “I’m not a pop singer but I listen to pop music, I listen to rock music. I like to sing these songs because I like to sing in my bedroom. I sang a song by The Weeknd tonight. If I try to sound like The Weeknd, I sound dumb. So, I sing it enough times until I like the way it sounds, and I end up sounding a little more like myself.”

Jack doesn’t have a country-sounding voice, but country music is another genre that falls into his eclectic taste in music. So, rather the pinpoint his specific genre at this point in time he says, he’s more of an Americana singer-songwriter and he’s hoping that American Idol will take him to the next level in his music career.

Related: Will Katy Perry Plan Her Wedding After Her American Idol Exit?

“I had zero expectation of coming on the show and winning it,” he admitted. “Just being able to be on a platform like this is a blessing. It’s hard, I’ve been writing music for a long time and finding a platform of people that are going to listen to your songs is the hardest part. I’m grateful for being here. If I get cut the next round, I just will feel blessed for the platform. This isn’t the end of my career, this is the very beginning of it, hopefully, using this as a springboard into whatever’s next.”

American Idol airs Sunday and Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Streaming next day on Hulu.

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