American Idol is returning to ABC for an all-new season later this month but first Parade has a sneak peek of McKenna Breinholt’s audition and the emotional family reunion that brought Katy Perry to tears.
McKenna, 25, from Gilbert, AZ, told the judges that she was adopted when they asked her if her family also sang.
“I found out I was adopted as early as I could understand it,” she explained. “My mom struggled for several years trying to get pregnant and eventually they decided to go through the adoption process. I have the best family in the world. They’ve always supported me. When I was 21, I sat my parents down and told them to tell me any information they had on my birth mom. They told me her name was Amy Ross Lopez. She was a musician and she had passed away. I just wanted to know where I came from.”
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So, McKenna did a search for her family and just this last summer, she was in contact with them for the very first time over FaceTime.
When Katy asked if she had met them, McKenna said, “No, we’re meeting in three weeks. I feel like I’ve known them my whole life.”
Then McKenna sang “There Was Jesus” by Zach Williams and Dolly Parton, while playing the piano.
Meanwhile, Idol takes viewers into the hallway where Ryan Seacrest is talking to both McKenna’s adoptive family and birth family, who are there to surprise her.
After McKenna finishes her audition, Katy says, “You’ve got a great voice, really signature and raspy and interesting.”
Luke Bryan adds, “You’re very in control of what you’re doing. You’ve very in control of being at the piano, and you’re in control of singing. You’ve got that figured out. I thought it was great.”
And Lionel Richie says, “I love exactly what you did. I love the sound of your voice, and I’m just anxious to see what you’re going to do with this.”
Katy asks McKenna if she’d like to bring her family in for the verdict as to whether she got a ticket to Hollywood or not, and when McKenna opens the door and sees both families, she bursts into tears.
When the judges ask what’s happening, McKenna says, “They’re here! My birth family is here!”
Cut to Katy pretending not to cry but failing miserably.
The verdict on the Golden Ticket to Hollywood remains to be seen, but it’s a good chance that McKenna is moving on.
Who is McKenna Breinholt - American Idol 2024 ? See the 'American Idol' Contestant Who Makes Katy Perry Cry"I just was so overwhelmed with happiness," she says. "There was no sadness, no anxiety, none of that. It just felt like I had already known them."
She and her adoptive mother sat together to experience the video of her audition.
"We both were just bawling our eyes out," Breinholt says.
"We watched it probably 30 times. But that was just a really exciting moment to see it all come together. It was produced so beautifully. It really was nice to be able to see that my meeting with my birth family is on film and is something that I can potentially watch for the rest of my life."
Knowing the rest of the world can watch it too is fine with Breinholt.
"I told myself, 'Hey, if I'm gonna audition for this, I need to be real,'" she says.
"So that was my intention going into that audition, was to be as real as I can be and show true emotion because I wanted other people to be able to connect with my story. That's why I was so grateful, no matter what ended up happening, that they aired my meeting my birth family in their promo."
Meeting her birth grandmother was especially emotional
The footage of her grandmother waiting to meet her is the part that hit her hardest when she saw the clip the show's producers put together.
"Being able to see her and just those emotions behind the room that I was in, that was the part that made me the most emotional, I think, seeing my birth grandma walk in," she says.
"She looked like she was so excited, but just so anxious. She didn't know what was about to happen, I feel like."
She had no idea they were back there.
"That was a really big deal for my birth grandma to get there," Breinholt says.
"She hadn't flown since 10 years ago, when she carried my birth mom's ashes back to Montana from Arizona. I thought, 'Oh, she's not getting on a plane.' She's told me that. She said, 'I can't. You're gonna have to come see me.' So I made those plans to go visit them."
It was a closed adoption, so she couldn't find out any information on her birth mother until after her 21st birthday.
It was the perfect time to have that conversation, as it turns out
"I wouldn't have wanted to find out any sooner than that," she says, "just because, I think, of the state of maturity I was in and just the stages of life that I was in, it wouldn't have done me any good to know who my birth mother was and where I came from, I think."
The judges — Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan — were clearly feeling Breinholt's story.
"The judges are beautiful," she says. "And I'm so excited for everyone to see how beautiful they really are."
Breinholt says she hears some of her birth mother in her voice
Breinholt was 6 when she started playing piano, 12 or 13 by the time she started singing.
"I knew immediately that I connected with the piano because I played by ear," she says.
"I didn't know where that came from. But it turns out later I found out my birth mom started playing by ear around the same age. So that's when I first started to connect with music. And once I kind of found my voice, that's when I knew I wanted to really pursue a career in music."
Discovering that her birth mother had also been a singer, everything made perfect sense to Breinholt.
"Because I never knew where it came from," she says. "And finding out who she was was just really eye-opening for me."
She's done a deep dive into what her birth mother was all about since then.
"I've done all the research and downloaded so many of her songs," she says. "She's got a really unique style. I actually didn't like it at first, when I was younger. But now, I love it. Like, oh my gosh, I listen to her 24/7 now."
She even hears a little of her mother in her voice now.
"I didn't at first," she says. "I was like, 'Oh, we don't sound the same, but we both have raspy voices and we have kind of a similar range.'
"Now I can hear little techniques that she uses that I use as well that I didn't even know where that came from, but things have just come natural to me that would have come natural to her."
Dolly Parton called McKenna's audition 'a blessing'
The video of Breinholt's audition has been viewed more than 6 million times on Facebook, where it's been shared by more than 14,000, since the "American Idol" page posted it on Jan. 31.
A week after the clip was posted, Williams uploaded a video of him and Parton watching and reacting to the clip.
In the video, Parton says, "We felt like it was a blessing for you to sing it, and I'm sure you felt like it was a blessing to have all your people there, so that just work all around for all of us. So thank you for thinking of us and loving the song."
How McKenna chose 'There Was Jesus' for her 'Idol' audition
She says she chose the song she sang for her audition because she felt a deep connection to the lyrics.
"I love Jesus," Breinholt says. "So I really did want to find something that could kind of represent what I believe in and also kind of leave a message. Throughout everything, there really was Jesus. I feel like it fits my life perfectly."
Regardless of what happens after her audition, Breinholt says it's been a great experience for her.
"I've already gotten a lot of traction on my social media just from what I've been able to post," she says.
"So I hope that when it airs, that will help my career out a little bit more. Regardless if I got the golden ticket or not, we'll have to see. But it's already helped me a lot."
Asked if there's anything else she wants people to know about her "Idol" journey, Breinholt says, "I just want people to know that I want to spread Jesus's word. I want to spread good. And that is all my intentions are ever with anything I do."
When does 'American Idol' start?
"American Idol" 2024 starts on Sunday, Feb. 18.
Where can I watch 'American Idol' 2024?
The "American Idol" Season 22 premiere airs at 7 p.m. MST on Sunday, Feb. 18, on ABC. You can also stream on Hulu.
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