Chris Daughtry may have launched his career with American Idol, but that doesn’t mean he wants to relive the experience.
The Daughtry frontman, who competed on Season 5 of the show in 2006 and landed in fourth place, told vocal coach Chris Liepe on Liepe’s podcast earlier this year that he has no plans to watch any of his performances on the reality competition show.
Here’s Why Chris Daughtry Won’t Rewatch His American Idol Performances
“I can’t watch any of my performances from Idol anymore,” he said, explaining that he wasn’t aware of how to properly care for his voice at the time and was focused on trying to emulate other singers, which resulted in him losing his voice frequently during the show.
“There were certainly elements of what I do now,” he said. “But I didn’t have the control or the access to freely do those things.”
He went on to recall how he struggled with trying to sound like someone he wasn’t.
“Looking back, I was very much still in the mimicking or trying-to-mimic-phase, trying to sound like something and trying to produce a sound that I thought it needed to sound like, as opposed to just being free with my voice,” he added. “And so, I would lose my voice all the time on Idol. I would get one song done and I was like, ‘How am I gonna do this next week?”
Strained His Vocals Due To No In-Ear Monitors
Daughtry’s vocal strain was exacerbated by the fact that Idol contestants didn’t have in-ear monitors at the time, which would have allowed him to better hear himself while performing.
“I have a tendency to, if I can’t hear myself well, I will absolutely overdo it because I’m trying to overcompensate for my own volume. I don’t even realize it, I don’t feel like I’m pushing harder, but I am, because I can feel it instantly after I’m done,” he recalled, adding that it “was terrifying.”
During his initial audition for the show’s panel of celebrity judges, Simon Cowell criticized Daughtry for not using his voice properly and appearing rigid, saying that he wasn’t sure he was “looking at a standalone star.”
“I wanted to be upset … but there’s always truth in the criticism,” Daughtry told Liepe. “When I went back and I watched that audition, I was like, ‘He’s absolutely right.’ I was stiff as a frickin’ board. I looked like I was a deer in the headlights. And yeah, I’m happy with the notes that came out, but there was a stiffness and this, like, rigidity that … I feel like I’m kinda lucky that I got in and I was able to kind of shake that off.”
Proved Idol Judges Wrong
The singer added that after he initially auditioned for Cowell, he saw the judge later that day and told him, “I’ll prove you wrong,” which Cowell encouraged him to do.
“I could tell that he saw something [in me],” Chris Daughtry explained.
He did end up proving Cowell wrong, as his band’s 2006 debut album became the fastest selling rock debut album in Soundscan history, has been certified six times Platinum and received four Grammy nominations, four American Music Awards and seven Billboard Music Awards.
New Single “Artificial,” Signed With Big Machine Records
Since then, the band has released several albums and on Friday released its latest single, “Artificial,” a rock-tinged warning about the potential of artificial intelligence.
“‘Artificial’ is about the potential nightmare that AI could become and the idea that everything and everyone could eventually be replaced, essentially to perfection, and rendered obsolete,” Daughtry shared in a statement. “However, the heart and soul of humanity and the ability to feel love, sadness, and compassion can never be replaced.”
The song is the band’s first release since signing with Big Machine Records.
