Who is Hunter Metts? Meet 'American Idol' contestant from Tennessee who judges say could be in Top 10
Hunter Metts is one of the frontrunners on 'American Idol' Season 19. Judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Katy Perry confirmed this during this audition by calling him one of the Top 10 contestants. For the auditions, the Tennessee-based singer performed 'All the Pretty Girls' by Kaleo and the judges were quick to praise him.
Bryan, while looking at the other judges, said that a note Hunter hit gave him "the real deal chills" and that the beginning note almost made him cry. "I think you are Top 10," Katy said while Richie with the biggest smile said, "We got plans for you son.. you understand me?" He then told the 22-year-old Hunter to "stay in your lane and take us on a journey".
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Who is Hunter Metts?
Hunter Metts from Franklin, Tennessee, is an aspiring musician and he came to the auditions with his sister Mattie who he's very close to. Metts's Spotify account states he has close to 2,162 listeners every month and it's not wrong to assume that he is showered with a lot of praise from his fans because his sound is truly pleasing to the ears.
However, when the judges told him about how delighted they were to listen to him sing, Hunter couldn't hold back his tears. It seemed like he wasn't truly expecting such a positive response from these stalwarts during the audition round. And when it happened, he just couldn't process it immediately. It was a beautiful moment to watch an artist with so much potential exhibiting such humility and that's exactly what drew the judges even more.
"The show hasn't even aired yet and I feel like I don't even have words to describe how humbling and awesome the people around me have been," Metts said. Metts was born and raised in Franklin. He moved to Tennessee with both his parents, both musicians, who wanted to realize their musical dreams. However, his dreams to become an accomplished singer started to crumble after high school, according to Williamson Homepage. "I had pursued music a little bit after (high school, but) then my family had gone through some hard times; some things kind of fell through for my dad in the music industry," Metts said.
Hunter Metts got a job in coding to support his family
"During that time I decided that I didn't want to really pursue music because it was so unsteady and it's just such a risk, so I decided to go to coding school and from there and got a job coding. I played it safe," Hunter said. Once a musician, always a musician, and the same was the case with Hunter who never stopped being one and when 'American Idol' started their virtual auditions, he lapped up the chance.
Hunter auditioned over Zoom calls in August which led him to the one-on-one auditions in front of the judges. "Just the opportunity to be in the same room with those names is something I never thought I'd get to do, so the fact that they'll get to hear my voice, hear my heart, and my story is something really special to me," Hunter said. You can stay connected to Metts via his Instagram account, his handle is @hunterjmetts.
Catch new episodes of 'American Idol' Sundays at 8 pm ET on ABC.