Jake Thistle on “American Idol,” March 30.
When I first interviewed Jake Thistle, five years ago, one of the things I was most surprised about was that he cited John Hiatt as a major influence: Hiatt is not exactly a frequent influence among teenagers, which Thistle was at the time.
So I was not totally shocked when Thistle — the Paramus native who is now 21, and who is a recent Rutgers University graduate — performed Hiatt’s “Have a Little Faith in Me” on tonight’s “American Idol.” And did a great job at it.
“It makes me jealous,” said one of the judges, Carrie Underwood, who had responded to Thistle’s performance with a standing ovation.
“You were so comfortable,” said another judge, Luke Bryan. “The way you just sit at the piano, you look like a seasoned entertainer, and you didn’t overdo anything. You just made it your moment. It was so listenable to me. Great job.”
The show’s host, Ryan Seacrest, said he keeps seeing Tom Cruise in Thistle’s face.
“I’ll take it!” said Thistle.
Thistle had been voted into the show’s Top 14 (reduced from 20), it was announced at the start of the show. Two more contestants had been scheduled to be eliminated, via the during-the-show fan vote, at the end of the night. But in a last-minute surprise, host Ryan Seacrest said that in order to make sure they got the count right, they were postponing that announcement to the beginning of the next show, which will be on April 6.
Here is Thistle’s performance:
Previous NJArts.net articles:
Jake Thistle, 16, makes surprisingly mature music in the spirit of Petty, Springsteen and Browne (1/22/21)
Jake Thistle, recording artist and Rutgers freshman, juggles studying with gigging (12/7/22)
Jake Thistle, a veteran rock artist at 21, will celebrate milestone birthday with Wonder Bar concert (4/10/25)
NJ native Jake Thistle will compete on ‘American Idol’ (1/16/26)
‘You’re so ready for this,’ says ‘American Idol’ judge Luke Bryan about Jake Thistle (WATCH HERE) (2/23/26)
Jake Thistle gets Golden Ticket on ‘American Idol’ (WATCH HERE) (2/26/26)
Carrie Underwood compares Jake Thistle to ‘young Bruce Springsteen meets Bob Dylan’ (WATCH HERE) (3/9/26)
Jake Thistle branches out with ‘The Power of Love’ on ‘American Idol (WATCH HERE) (3/16/26)
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