'American Idol' Season 13 Winner Caleb Johnson Slams Show

May 2024 · 3 minute read

Sharing his ideas. (*13*) winner Caleb Johnson didn’t mince phrases when reflecting at the aftermath of his large victory.

The North Carolina native, 31, said he was “actually bummed” after winning season 13 of the truth pageant, which aired in 2014. His major factor used to be along with his winner’s single, which used to be “As Long as You Love Me” written by means of Justin Hawkins.

“I knew that, via de facto, in the event you received you needed to sing the song, and the music was once just utter crap,” Johnson told Insider on Monday, July 4. “Like, it was simply the worst tune ever.”

The former Elijah Hooker frontman went on to mention that he driven back in opposition to the “tacky piece of crap,” but he claimed that manufacturers made him sing the observe anyway. “I pitched a fit about it to the management company and all this stuff,” he said. “And they have been like, ‘Look at this as roughly a commencement provide or one thing.'”

Johnson was once even more incensed after he found out that any other Idol finalist recorded the similar song two years sooner than his personal win. In 2012, Idols South Africa runner-up, Mark Haze, included his model of “As Long as You Love Me” on his debut album. (Johnson’s model had moderately other lyrics.)

“How is that even imaginable that someone else releases the similar music out of the country?” the “Fighting Gravity” singer instructed Insider, including that acting the observe all the way through his excursion used to be a “nightmare.”

Johnson’s comments come months after season 20 frontrunner Kenedi Anderson abruptly quit the show, leading some enthusiasts to wonder if she clashed with manufacturers in the back of the scenes.

“For non-public causes, I’m unable to continue on (*13*). This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, however I understand it’s essential,” she wrote via Instagram in an April commentary. “I’m so grateful to American Idol, the judges, the producers, the superb contestants and all of the lovers who've supported me.”

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Days after her departure, the Virginia local, 18, teased a new song that seemed to reference her time at the ABC collection. “Here is the refrain of a song I wrote no longer too long ago,” she said in a since-deleted TikTok video prior to making a song, “I want to in finding, need to in finding one thing higher than what I had, and with out a strings hooked up. Don’t I deserve that? Something and not using a strings connected.”

The performer hasn’t offered any further information about why she left the show, however closing month, she answered to a fan who asked about her selection to depart Idol. “Ur so candy thank you,” Anderson wrote in a TikTok comment. “But I needed to do what’s very best for me.”

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