Noah Thompson describes what he was thinking when he won American Idol

For the second season in a row, American Idol voters didn’t go with the best singer for the win, but with the person that they related to the most.

Noah Thompson, a construction worker who didn’t even think he was good enough to audition, won American Idol this season and it was a big moment for the “small-town boy.”

His best friend had to convince him to go audition and signed him up when Noah wouldn’t do it himself. He then had a baby while going through the American Idol process and the show focused on the new father, who said it hurt not to see his toddler having its first moments.

He learned to walk while Noah was in Los Angeles for American Idol.

However, Noah felt this was the right thing to do.

“My little boy, he’s my strive for all this,” Noah said on the finale. “Blows my mind that I’m even here. This could give me the opportunity to give my son an entire new life, a better life.”

He remained humble and restrained the entire season and fans fell in love with him. While he was the only one of the top three who didn’t write his own single for the competition, he ended up as the American Idol winner and will follow in Chayce Beckham’s footsteps, a singer who had a similar rise to the top last season.

What was Noah Thompson thinking when he won American Idol?

In an interview with USA Today, Noah said that he was “numb” when they called his name as the American Idol winner.

“Anybody could have won this show, you know what I mean,” Noah said when asked about his thoughts on the moment Ryan Seacrest called out his name as the winner.

“I just didn’t think that it was me.”

Noah’s journey to win American Idol

Noah came into his audition with talent, but he said that he wasn’t who signed up for the audition. His best friend Arthur signed him up when Noah wouldn’t.

However, this wasn’t out of the question and Arthur and Noah were posting videos on TikTok of Noah singing months before he went to American Idol.

“We [were] actually hanging up sheetrock at work and he told me he was going to sign me up for it,” Noah said about his friend Arthur at the audition. “I say, ‘No, you’re not.’ But he did it anyway.” 

Noah brought Arthur with him, and he served as support. However, after he made it to Hollywood Week, Noah was on his own.

It was all for the best because Noah Thompson left the show as the new American Idol. He even made it through a tough time where he contracted COVID-19 and had to sing remotely.

The question now is whether or not he has what it takes to make it in the difficult country music industry.

However, it won’t start right away.

“I want to see my family and just kind of let this settle in, you know what I mean?” he told Good Morning America. “It’s going to be wild. I’m going to try to just stick to, you know, staying in the house for a little bit.”

American Idol is on hiatus. The singing reality competition series will return in 2023 to ABC.