Arkansan’s star quest continuing
JUSTICE ON ‘IDOL’ Forrest City native Justice Murphy is among the singers chosen to advance to the Hollywood Week episode of the new season of “American Idol.”
The 22-year-old Murphy, who is a senior at Alabama State University, impressed superstar judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan with her version of the George Gershwin classic “Summertime.”
Friends and family had been urging her to audition for the show, which is now in its 22nd season and airs at 7 p.m. tonight on ABC. Her response: “Meh.”
“Everybody kept asking if I was going to do it, but I was like, it’s probably not for me,” she said during an interview last week. “I just want to graduate and be a dentist.”
But then her choir director called to say that she’d signed Murphy up to audition in Tuskegee.
“She said your audition is on this day at this time and you need to be prepared, and I was like, ‘yes, ma’am! I’ll be there,’” Murphy said with a laugh. “She actually came to the audition with me.”
Murphy seemed quite cool and collected during her performance, but admits that she was nervous about singing for the celebrity judges.
“If you come in with confidence and then you treat them like they’re regular humans, I feel like they get comfortable with you,” she said. “But deep down, the inside of my stomach had butterflies and I was talking to myself in my head.”
She chose “Summertime” to show the judges “that I’m not a one-genre singer. Not too many people (perform) jazz first, they always (perform) R&B or pop or soul. I wanted to show them I’m versatile and can sing anything.”
While it’s early on her “Idol” journey, Murphy is taking things as they come.
“I’ve never been to L.A., so I’m excited to see all the hype. I’m also excited to try an In-N-Out burger, but I’m really an in-themoment person, so I can’t really say what I’m expecting. I’m just living in the moment.”
‘LATE-NIGHT’ GOSSIP Let’s continue with the Arkansas musical theme this week.
Last Wednesday, Gossip, the powerful dancepop band founded by Arkansas natives Beth Ditto (vocals) and Nathan Howdeshell (guitar), performed “Real Power,” the title cut from their new album on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” The album was released March 22 and is the first from Gossip in 12 years.
Singer Ditto, her hair dyed a bright orange, spent some time chatting with Meyers before performing and even knocked out an apparently improvised, bluesy song with Meyers’ house band.
It’s going to be a busy year for Gossip, which headlined the BBC 6 Music Festival in Manchester, England, on March 8. The group is set to perform May 18 at the Just Like Heaven Festival in Pasadena, Calif., then will kick off a European tour in June.