Here's when 'American Idol' 2024 starts and how to watch Arizona singer McKenna Breinholt

McKenna Breinholt's "American Idol" audition was such a profoundly emotional moment that the show's producers had no choice but to edit it down to a 4½-minute clip to share as a sneak peek of the season premiere, which airs Sunday, Feb. 18, on ABC and streams on Hulu.

The 25-year-old singer from Gilbert, Arizona, delivers a heartfelt rendition of "There Was Jesus," a Grammy-winning duet by Christian artist Zach Williams and country music icon Dolly Parton, accompanying herself on piano.

Breinholt truly makes the song her own with her soulful delivery and stripped-down arrangement.

But what makes it such a deeply moving piece of television is the story she chooses to share.

Breinholt's birth mother was Amy Ross Lopez, aka A Whiskey Girl

As Breinholt tells the judges, she was adopted and learned when she was 21 that her birth mother was Amy Ross Lopez, a singer from Bisbee, Arizona, who performed with the folk duo Nowhere Man and A Whiskey Girl and died in October 2013 of complications from lupus.

Breinholt tells the judges she made contact with members of her birth family last summer and they have had FaceTime conversations, making plans to meet in person three weeks after the audition.

What she doesn't know is that her adoptive parents have flown in several members of her birth family, including the grandmother she's never met, who can barely contain her emotions as she waits to meet her.

It's a deeply emotional moment filled with tears and hugging.

A Whiskey Girl: How Arizona native Courtney Marie Andrews honors her Bisbee music mentors

The story behind McKenna's 'American Idol' audition

A week before the show is set to air, Breinholt is on the phone with a reporter from her local paper, reliving the moment when she opened the door to bring her family in and saw that the family she had only met on FaceTime was waiting to see her.

"I just was so overwhelmed with happiness," she says. "There was no sadness, no anxiety, none of that. It just felt like I had already known them."

She and her adoptive mother sat together to experience the video of her audition.

"We both were just bawling our eyes out," Breinholt says.

"We watched it probably 30 times. But that was just a really exciting moment to see it all come together. It was produced so beautifully. It really was nice to be able to see that my meeting with my birth family is on film and is something that I can potentially watch for the rest of my life."

Knowing the rest of the world can watch it too is fine with Breinholt.

"I told myself, 'Hey, if I'm gonna audition for this, I need to be real,'" she says.

"So that was my intention going into that audition, was to be as real as I can be and show true emotion because I wanted other people to be able to connect with my story. That's why I was so grateful, no matter what ended up happening, that they aired my meeting my birth family in their promo."

Meeting her birth grandmother was especially emotional

The footage of her grandmother waiting to meet her is the part that hit her hardest when she saw the clip the show's producers put together.

"Being able to see her and just those emotions behind the room that I was in, that was the part that made me the most emotional, I think, seeing my birth grandma walk in," she says.

"She looked like she was so excited, but just so anxious. She didn't know what was about to happen, I feel like."

She had no idea they were back there.

"That was a really big deal for my birth grandma to get there," Breinholt says.

"She hadn't flown since 10 years ago, when she carried my birth mom's ashes back to Montana from Arizona. I thought, 'Oh, she's not getting on a plane.' She's told me that. She said, 'I can't. You're gonna have to come see me.' So I made those plans to go visit them."

It was a closed adoption, so she couldn't find out any information on her birth mother until after her 21st birthday.

It was the perfect time to have that conversation, as it turns out

"I wouldn't have wanted to find out any sooner than that," she says, "just because, I think, of the state of maturity I was in and just the stages of life that I was in, it wouldn't have done me any good to know who my birth mother was and where I came from, I think."

The judges — Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan — were clearly feeling Breinholt's story.

"The judges are beautiful," she says. "And I'm so excited for everyone to see how beautiful they really are."

Breinholt says she hears some of her birth mother in her voice

Breinholt was 6 when she started playing piano, 12 or 13 by the time she started singing.

"I knew immediately that I connected with the piano because I played by ear," she says.

"I didn't know where that came from. But it turns out later I found out my birth mom started playing by ear around the same age. So that's when I first started to connect with music. And once I kind of found my voice, that's when I knew I wanted to really pursue a career in music."

Discovering that her birth mother had also been a singer, everything made perfect sense to Breinholt.

"Because I never knew where it came from," she says. "And finding out who she was was just really eye-opening for me."

She's done a deep dive into what her birth mother was all about since then.

"I've done all the research and downloaded so many of her songs," she says. "She's got a really unique style. I actually didn't like it at first, when I was younger. But now, I love it. Like, oh my gosh, I listen to her 24/7 now."

She even hears a little of her mother in her voice now.

"I didn't at first," she says. "I was like, 'Oh, we don't sound the same, but we both have raspy voices and we have kind of a similar range.'

"Now I can hear little techniques that she uses that I use as well that I didn't even know where that came from, but things have just come natural to me that would have come natural to her."

Dolly Parton called McKenna's audition 'a blessing'

The video of Breinholt's audition has been viewed more than 6 million times on Facebook, where it's been shared by more than 14,000, since the "American Idol" page posted it on Jan. 31.

A week after the clip was posted, Williams uploaded a video of him and Parton watching and reacting to the clip.

In the video, Parton says, "We felt like it was a blessing for you to sing it, and I'm sure you felt like it was a blessing to have all your people there, so that just work all around for all of us. So thank you for thinking of us and loving the song."

How McKenna chose 'There Was Jesus' for her 'Idol' audition

She says she chose the song she sang for her audition because she felt a deep connection to the lyrics.

"I love Jesus," Breinholt says. "So I really did want to find something that could kind of represent what I believe in and also kind of leave a message. Throughout everything, there really was Jesus. I feel like it fits my life perfectly."

Regardless of what happens after her audition, Breinholt says it's been a great experience for her.

"I've already gotten a lot of traction on my social media just from what I've been able to post," she says.

"So I hope that when it airs, that will help my career out a little bit more. Regardless if I got the golden ticket or not, we'll have to see. But it's already helped me a lot."

Asked if there's anything else she wants people to know about her "Idol" journey, Breinholt says, "I just want people to know that I want to spread Jesus's word. I want to spread good. And that is all my intentions are ever with anything I do."

When does 'American Idol' start?

"American Idol" 2024 starts on Sunday, Feb. 18.

Where can I watch 'American Idol' 2024?

The "American Idol" Season 22 premiere airs at 7 p.m. MST on Sunday, Feb. 18, on ABC. You can also stream on Hulu.

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: McKenna's tearful 'American Idol' audition: Here's how it happened