The 20-year-old American Idol winner, Noah Thompson, a construction worker from Louisa, Kentucky, had an interview with “Good Morning America” in New York Monday morning.
“I just got shoved into this competition basically by my buddy, but I’m grateful for it,” he says. “I just didn’t expect this outcome at all. After Top 3 was when it really hit me.”
With not a lot of prior music experience, Thompson was a pretty nervous when he walked into his audition for judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie.
“I can promise you, nobody’s walking into that audition room more nervous,” he says. “My heart was beating out of my chest. I couldn’t even look at the judges.”
Thompson says he still prefers not to warm up before singing, even after going through “Idol.”
“I don’t like all the noises people make when they warm up,” he says. “I don’t really do that. I feel weird when I do it, but I’m learning. I’m trying to take everything I can in from this whole process.”
He says the best advice he received came from Richie.
“I remember Lionel had told me to step out on that stage with my big boots and just own the stage, and that always stuck with me,” he says. “I think about that a lot.”
Thompson says he looks up to Carrie Underwood and admires how she has stayed true to herself, even as she catapulted to stardom. He hopes to stay true to himself.
“I’m not trying to be somebody, you know what I mean? I’m just trying to be myself,” he says. “I didn’t wanna change for nobody or no one. I wanted to be who I was, and hopefully that was good enough.”
Noah Thompson Performs After Winning American Idol – American Idol 2022 WATCH: