Nineteen-year-old singer/songwriter Jackson Gillies is no stranger to big stages. He won Teen Star in 2016. He’s performed with Katy Perry at the One805 Kick Ash Bash Thomas Fire and Montecito mudslide fundraiser. He even has a TED Talk about his rarely talked-about autoinflammatory disease, hidradenitis-suppurativa, which has been viewed by 78,000 people. Last week, that stage became much bigger, however, when Gillies auditioned for ABC’s American Idol reboot in front of judges Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, and Katy Perry. I caught up with Gillies over the phone ahead of his televised audition.
The first three episodes of Idol have each been viewed by at least seven million people. What are your thoughts on having that sort of exposure? It’s crazy. I’ve heard those numbers and have never been able to wrap my head around the amount of people who are going to see me. I’m so unbelievably grateful and thankful that I get to have this opportunity.
Can you tell me anything about the audition? What is the waiting like? Did you interact with the other musicians? I did definitely get to hang out with some other people. As much as I am a singer or songwriter, I’m very much a musician and a guitar player. There were definitely some jam sessions that happened. I immediately became friends with this guy who I had actually seen on Instagram making guitar videos. We did blues in E for like 20 minutes. When you’re a musician, you can do that for hours.