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Nomad musician showed up to ‘American Idol’ in a jazz wagon — and Katy Perry wasn’t ready for her

True to Perry's words, Rislove admitted being inspired by Elton John and Stevie Wonder, the young artist acknowledged he had big plans for the future.

Nomad musician C.J. Rislove entered the 'American Idol' 2024 auditions with his original composition and blew the judges away. "How often do you write a song?" Katy Perry couldn't resist asking. "I write at least a verse and a chorus every day. It's a disciplined thing I have with myself," the then 22-year-old revealed. "What did you write yesterday?" Perry continued, intrigued. "Yesterday, I wrote a song. It's called The Astronaut and the Rock Star," Rislove shared. He then proceeded to belt out a slow love ballad to the amazement of the judges. 

"That was interesting. Where do you usually play?" Perry reacted after the heart-tugging performance. Rislove stated that he usually wrote his tracks while traveling on his custom-built bus - the Jazz Wagon. "Do you play open mics and stuff?" the 'Roar' hitmaker inquired further. "I actually, this summer, I ran karaoke at a bar. That was super fun. Wherever they let me is the answer to that question," Rislove replied. "I mean, look, it's so impressive that was what you just happened to write yesterday. It's very interesting. It's like Elton John, Billy Joel," Perry lauded the young musician while also comparing his talent with music industry stalwarts. 

Perry continued by stating that Rislove had all the right "ingredients" to become an idol. "I think he'll be in a damn tour bus instead of a school bus at some point," Luke Bryan reacted. Surprisingly, the judges decided to hang out in Rislove's Jazz Wagon after they approved his golden ticket to Hollywood in unison. "Hold on, hold on. I have an idea. Okay, so before we went to all of our homes. Like, his home is on wheels. We could literally go there right now," Perry excitedly suggested. "We can, yeah, I'll give you the tour," the nomad musician replied. "There's no place like home," Perry added. Rislove then went on to give a detailed inside tour of his 'house on wheels.' 

The young artist shared a snapshot of his wholesome experience with the judges on his Instagram handle with the caption, "Humbled, honored, perplexed, thrilled, amazed, flabbergasted, and 1,000,000 other adjectives I can’t think of right now. Thank you @americanidol for giving a chance to a dreamer like me." Unfortunately, the Wisconsin native couldn't make it past Hollywood Week on the show. Rislove exclusively told The Standard that he was drawn towards music since childhood, and his first instrument was a ukulele. “Everyone played the ukulele," he recalled his days in Guam. “Every artist is kind of like a rainbow coalition of all the other artists he looks up to,” he stated.

True to Perry's words, Rislove admitted being inspired by Elton John and Stevie Wonder; the young artist acknowledged that he had big plans for the future. He admitted that he was working on music for an upcoming album and EP. Rislove also confessed to authoring a fantasy trilogy and a musical. “Create things that you feel are you as a musician,” he shared while stating that he wanted to stay unique. “I don’t know how to be anyone else,” he concluded. “I’ve only ever been CJ."