'American Idol' Season 18 Episode 3: Meet Dillon James, Post Malone's country version who fans are rooting for
Dillon James from Bakersfield, California, might be a country version of award-winning rapper Post Malone.
'American Idol' Season 18 returned on March 1 night as the idol fever continued, with hopeful contestants auditioning for a chance to get a Golden Ticket and go to Hollywood. Judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan returned to their panel alongside in-house mentor Bobby Bones.
Performing his rendition of Bob Dylan's 'Make You Feel My Love', Dillon had the judges rooting for him. Luke said, "I think it was done with feeling and honesty. And your voice is a little not what I expect... I'm in all the way." Katy added that it was unusual. She also called Dillon a country version of Post Malone because of his tattoos and cowboy hat.
Taking to Twitter post his performance, fans affirmed that they are rooting for him. "HE MADE IT!! Dillon deserves to succeed!! #AmericanIdol," a fan wrote.
"Dillon just blew me away. I'm definitely rooting for him #AmericanIdol," a fan wrote. Adding to that another said, "'I'm in all the way'. Me too!! Dillon is SO talented! @LukeBryanOnline #AmericanIdol."
"Dillon James I am rooting for you 100% and I haven't even heard you sing yet," a fan shared. While another wrote, "Dillon James is my favorite for @AmericanIdol would love to see him do some Incubus!! #AmericanIdol." But there is more to this 26-year-old country singer than his looks.
During his audition he revealed that though he had a happy childhood, he changed with age and developed a drug and alcohol problem. That led him to become homeless and have suicidal thoughts.
After he hit rock bottom, he went back to his parents' and started to seek help from them. Now, he works with his father and has been sober for over two years. On 2012, Dillon also won a songwriting contest and the following year he applied to a casting call to play the role of a 16-year-old country singer in a Dolly Parton movie.
In 2019, he released his first six-track EP titled 'Good Ole Boy' and according to his Facebook page, he is preparing to release his second EP sometime soon.
Now that he has started his journey on 'American Idol', we cannot wait to see where this leads him.
'American Idol' Season 18 airs every Sunday night only on ABC. Check your local listings for more information.