Sometimes, people start out one career and realize part of the way down the road that it is not the path for them.
When she was 18, Ashley Hess was convinced she wanted to be a dental hygienist. But after she started taking classes, it became clear to her that wasn’t what she actually wanted to be.
Now at the age of 27, Ashley is finally on a journey that she is passionate about.
She knows that she has gotten a late start to music, but she is willing to take the risk. She has decided to push all of her doubts aside to pursue her dream of becoming a singer.
For her audition, Ashley decided to sing “Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones, while also playing the piano. As soon as she started to sing, she sounded almost exactly like Norah. The judges all instantly perked up when they heard her voice.
Part of the way through the song, Luke Bryan asked her to stand back up and told her that she was making him mad. Katy Perry asked:
“How can you come in here so casually and be like ‘oh, I was going to be a dental hygienist’?”
Luke made Katy and Lionel Richie get their chairs and bring them up to the piano, so they could have a closer view of Ashley’s performance. That close up, Ashley got a chance to serenade all the judges, and they even joined in a little bit during the chorus.
When she was done, Katy asked how old she was and asked if Ashley had ever been an artist before. She then told Ashley she thought she could go on to win the entire competition. Lionel then said:
“Can I snap you out of your delusionary state of made? You could knock this out of the ballpark. This is fabulous. Fabulous!”
After that, all three judges quickly voted and sent her all the way to Hollywood. Katy warned Ashley to wake up because she really thought she could win the whole thing. The judges all made her promise to stay away from dental work and commit to being a singer.
This video got over 19 million views on Facebook, 89,000 reactions, over 5,000 comments, and almost 30,000 shares. On YouTube, the video got over 2.4 million views and 2,500 comments.
One of Ashley’s friends commented on American Idol’s Facebook post. She wrote:
I’m excited for Ashley to get to showcase everything she can do. She’s also an excellent writer! I’ve been a long time friend of hers, a fan of her music, and was her vocal coach for a period of time, and she’s got a wide range of skills! Thrilled to see her get out there in this way after all her hard work!
What did you think of Ashley’s voice and her piano playing?
American Idol airs on ABC on Sundays and Mondays this season. You can watch the next episode on Sunday, April 7, 2019.
You can watch Ashley Hess’s entire American Idol audition in the video below:
Please SHARE this with your friends and family on Facebook today.
