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Jake Thistle on tonight’s episode of “American Idol.”
Jake Thistle performed an original song, “Sleep on Me,” on “American Idol” tonight, and got a standing ovation from judges Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan.
“As a songwriter to a songwriter … you did well,” Richie told him, after saying he took a big chance by performing an original song.
“It’s like watching young Bruce Springsteen meets Bob Dylan,” said Underwood, while Bryan compared him to Paul Simon.
Thistle is in the Top 30 of this year’s competition, which represents the 24th season of the ABC series. This episode took place at the Disney Aulani resort in Oahu, Hawaii.
“Tonight’s episode feels unreal, Top 20 hopefully,” Thistle – a 21-year-old Paramus native who recently graduated from Rutgers University — posted on Facebook.com/jakethistlemusic.
You can watch the performance, below, as well as Thistle’s video for “Sleep on Me.”
Previous NJArts.net interviews:
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)
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