How did a former Clover, SC, High School student land on Sunday’s ‘American Idol’ show?
Folks in Clover, S.C., who haven’t seen Aiden Adair for awhile will get their chance on Sunday night. So will the rest of the country.
The former Clover High School student traveled to Nashville for an American Idol tryout. Adair couldn’t say ahead of Sunday’s new episode how the tryout went, but did say Thursday morning it was a great experience.
“It was a lot,” Adair said. “I’m very introverted and to myself, so definitely out of my comfort zone.”
Adair, 19, was born in Pennsylvania but moved to Clover at age 6. Adair went to Clover High, and followed in siblings’ footsteps through the popular Choraliers singing program.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit when Adair was a junior, which was the last time he sang live in front of crowds prior to American Idol.
Adair started creating music and went through a physical transformation since the pandemic sent him online for his senior year of high school, so even old friends may not recognize him. After high school Adair briefly moved to Los Angeles and just recently to Charleston — both places where he has family — while pursuing passions of music, fitness and boxing.
Adair hasn’t started live music performances yet.
“I just don’t really know how to play instruments, so that’s kind of been the thing that’s holding me back,” Adair said.
Adair began making music during the online days of pandemic. His Tik Tok following grew to more than 350,000 followers. Adair prefers to sing indie, folk music. The online presence led to an invitation to try out for Idol.
Adair watched American Idol with his family when he was younger. He recalls artists like Scotty McCreery and Phillip Phillips. Adair didn’t watch as much through high school. Then, music became a more serious passion.
Adair covered a song of another Idol contestant who blew up on Tik Tok, Benson Boone. Adair spoke with Boone ahead of the recent audition.
Adair said he was more nervous than he expected he’d be at the Nashville audition. Like other hopefuls, he had to perform in front of Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie. But the invitation fit Adair’s no-regret philosophy.
“I felt like it was a good opportunity for me to take, and I would be dumb not to take it,” Adair said.
As a high school sophomore, Adair vowed to never settle.
“I decided that I would dedicate my life to only doing the stuff I love doing with people I like being around,” Adair said.
Adair didn’t listen if someone said he had to go to college, or get a job straight away. Now Adair plans to live with a friend and continue to pursue music.
“There’s no backup plan,” Adair said. “I believe if you have a backup plan you don’t believe in your first plan.”
Adair said he only has to get a job, until he doesn’t. He said he sees everyone on a rock spinning through space, with one life to live. Adair said he believes people should do what makes them happy, which for him means betting on himself and pursuing dreams.
“No one really does the out-of-the-ordinary,” Adair said.
The American Idol audition certainly was extraordinary. Adair went to Nashville with his dad and walked the city. Adair isn’t sure if it will show on the coming episode, but the experience opened him up in unexpected ways. Adair also recalls the most beautiful sunset he’d seen -- on audition day.
American Idol is old enough now for generations to have grown up watching it. Perhaps dreaming what it might be like to audition. The show is older than Tik Tok or many of the other platforms artists now use to grow a following. For anyone who may watch the show and consider a tryout, Adair shares his philosophy.
He never wants to be the old guy who looks back and wonders what it would have been like to chase a dream, to truly and wholeheartedly go for it.
“If you’re passionate about something, if you have a dream, just go for it,” Adair said. “No matter what.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 12:56 PM with the headline "How did a former Clover, SC, High School student land on Sunday’s ‘American Idol’ show?."
