First Person: My ‘American Idol’ Experience, by Jessica Sanchez
The 15th and final bittersweet season of American Idol is underway, and all season long, Yahoo Music’s Reality Rocks is inviting alumni from the series to share their stories. This week, Season 11 runner-up Jessica Sanchez remembers that crazy results show on she almost went home: the night of the most dramatic Judges’ Save ever. Catch up with what Jessica is doing now at jessicasanchezofficial.com.
The way it all happened, it was kind of surreal at first. They called my name, and in one moment, just like that, I was out of American Idol. It was the top seven and everyone was extremely talented, so in some ways I was actually fine with going home, thankful for how far I’d made it.
I started singing “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here” with no expectations of being saved whatsoever… but then I saw the judges running towards me, and I was really, really confused – you could see it all over my face. When Jennifer Lopez grabbed the microphone out of my hand, I was just lost at that point. Completely blank. When they said they were going save me, everything felt like a whirlwind, everyone was cheering… there was so much going on. I don’t think it really hit me until I got backstage.
After the show, we walked backstage and they had me lie down on the couch and just relax. I guess my adrenaline was really up, because as soon as I calmed down, tears just started falling down my face. It was a really weird feeling. I was so emotional and I didn’t even know it, because it had all happened too fast. There were still post-show interviews we had to do, so I just took a deep breath, happily knowing that I was given another chance to continue in the competition and my dream wasn’t over.
I’m so thankful for the Judges’ Save. In some ways, that night was just the beginning for me. I look back now on my time on American Idol and remember a sense of family and support that pushed all of the contestants, including myself, towards our goals. This year might be Idol’s final season, but I’ll never forget the journey I went through during and after the show.
Since the finale, I have released my debut album, performed my music all over the world, and as I head into 2016, I cannot wait to share my next album with all my fans that have been there since the beginning.
