The Real Reason 'Accidental' 'American Idol' Contestant Sara Beth Quit
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The mother of three walks away from 'American Idol' even though judges put her through to the Duets competition.
Season 23 of American Idol has a lot of great singers who made it to Hollywood Week, so for those who don’t have a lot of experience, it can be overwhelming. That’s why this season, instead of dividing the contestants by music genre for Hollywood Week, they’re being divided into categories of their own choosing for mentoring by former American Idol winners and runner-ups: Confidence, Stage Presence or Songwriting.
Sara Beth, 25, a mother of three from Roseville, Calif., who Katy Perry labeled the “accidental Idol” after her audition because she was scouted by American Idol producers to audition in front of the judges and wasn’t sure this was her dream, chose Confidence as the category she needed to work on for her Hollywood Week performance. She drew season 2003 runner-up Clay Aiken as her mentor.
ABC/Eric McCandless
“There’s a pressure that comes when you feel like this is the make-or-break moment for you,” Clay told her during their coaching segment. “Some contestants have gotten too much in their heads. I watched your audition. You sang two songs that were infectiously lovely. I don’t know who just sang in front of me. I want the person I saw audition. When I was on the show, I didn’t have confidence. If you fake it one time, you’ll have it.”
Related: American Idol Reveals Surprising Changes for Hollywood Week
“I didn’t really know what show business was and then I came here and I got a little taste of it and I’m like woooo,” Sara Beth, who has been a mother and a wife since she was 18, said. “I don’t feel like I fit the mold, so I’m trying to figure this all out.”
Clay encouraged her, “If that nerve thing is because you’re worried, you’re going to mess up, then you’ve got to get rid of it because they’re going to love you.”
Before she took the stage, Sara Beth said, “I don’t think I realized quite how hard it would be to be away from my kids. They’re all still very young. I feel I’m going to try my best because I’m here, so that’s what I should do. There’s a lot of guilt when you leave your kids to do something completely selfish. I’m just going to try to keep my head on straight.
Sara Beth took the stage then for a performance of The Police’s “Roxanne.” And she shocked everyone at the end of her song saying, “This opportunity is really rad, but this actually is going to be my last performance because my heart’s at home, so I’m going to get home to my babies. They kind of need me. Thank you.”
Sara admitted that her performance went a lot better than she thought it would, but home is calling her. Even so, when the judges called her back to the stage, feeling it was too soon for Sara Beth to give up, she did listen to what Katy had to say.
“Sara Beth, I know that life is scary,” Katy started.
And Sara Beth agreed, “It sure is.”
Katy continued, “I know it is easier to walk away than to be rejected, but then I also know that you lose out on your fullest potential. I know you love your family, your kids, I know that as a mother, but remember, self-love is just as big as motherly love. Don’t leave the competition.”
Backstage, Sara Beth told one of the producers, “I know I’m not going to win the show anyway, so I might as well go home.”
Then, the judges called out Sara Beth’s group to get their results and she, and everyone else in her line, was put through to the Duets portion of Hollywood Week.
Katy told her, “Sara Beth, you’ve opened a door that you never thought you would open, and you got a yes, and you may get another yes in the future. Do not give up.”
Sara Beth responded, “I appreciate you.” But then after she walked away, she said, “I am really humbled and grateful and Katy had some really nice things to say. I wish my kids were a little older. I understand what a big opportunity this is, but I want to go home. I’m sure when I get home, I’ll probably regret it. I probably will go, ‘Sara, you should have stayed, and you should have done it.’”
Sara Beth’s American Idol journey hasn’t been an easy one, which may have added to her desire to quit the competition. For her audition, Sara Beth performed Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good,” but it wasn’t enough for the judges to send her to Hollywood, so they asked her to perform a second song.
She selected Elton John’s “Benny and the Jets” and the judges urged her on to dig down and give it her all.
Katy told her she didn’t seem to want it bad enough. “If it’s not your dream, it’s not going to go far. I also respect everyone that’s walking through that door who will lay down their lives for this Golden Ticket.”
Even so saying, Katy was the second vote that Sara Beth needed to go to Hollywood after Luke Bryan said yes and Lionel Richie said no.
That said, Sara took to social media shortly after her episode aired because she felt that some of the remarks that Katy made were “embarrassing” and “hurtful.”
She said, “I did want to take this opportunity to say that I think that women supporting and uplifting other women is so cool, and I think that mom shaming is super lame. It’s hard enough to be a mom and it’s hard enough to be a woman.”
American Idol’s Hollywood Week airs Sunday and Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC this week. Tune in to find out if Nutsa makes it through.
