By Katie Gray
The 15th and final season of American Idol is coming to an end! Next week is the finale and the ‘Final Idol’ will be announced. Last night Mackenzie Bourg was sadly eliminated after a great season. The 23-year-old from Lafayette, Louisiana put on quite the performance for his hometown visit before being cut. Bourg who was first seen on season three of The Voice on team CeeLo Green, also plays the guitar and piano. In our celebrity interview with this Idol star, Bourg opened up about the way in which he channels emotion while singing love songs, who he would like to perform a duet with and his plans to tour in the future.
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The singer discussed how American Idol allowed him to be his true self. “I think American Idol has done me so many favors, just by not trying to change me – by letting me be myself,” he explained. With this platform, he has had the opportunity to expand his audience and reach people on a broader spectrum. “I get on Twitter and Instagram, and all these things, and there’s so many people I don’t even know, sending me nothing but love and support.” He continued, “And those people want me to succeed as much as the people at home.” From his presence on social media, it’s evident that Bourg has a close connection to his fans and followers. Some of them have even started calling themselves the ‘Mac Pack.’
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Hometown Hallelujah:
During his hometown visit, he did a fantastic rendition of Leonard Cohen’s famed ‘Hallelujah.’ Bourg said, “Hallelujah’s one of the first songs I ever learned.” The television star used to perform it when he was starting out his career years ago, so he says it is a track that is near and dear to his heart. This weighed heavily on Bourg’s decision to perform this song for his hometown visit and ultimately what ended up being his final performance. He explained, “I just wanted to go out with something that left a good taste in people’s mouth about me.”
For Bourg, the song was a metaphor. “To me, the song was more than just the lyrics,” he explained. “It’s kind of like a reminder of how far I’ve come.” This explains why we were able to see the passion and emotion in his performance. He clearly gave it his all and went out with a riveting performance. “I sang it so passionately, just because I remember five or six years ago when I first learned that song, how bad I was at the song and how I never thought that in my wildest dreams I’d be on the biggest stage in the world – performing it.” Every one can take a cue from him, that life is about learning and growing. Nobody is perfect at something in the beginning, but with hard work you can achieve your wildest dreams.
From his time on American Idol and The Voice, it is apparent that Bourg performs love songs very well. Not only does the singer perform them, but he also writes them! This is why his favorite love song to perform is one of his very own. “I like the love song that I wrote, called, ‘Roses.’ It’s a pretty cool love song.”
Relationships go hand in hand with love songs. On American Idol we saw that Bourg has found a mentor in Lauren Alaina. Unfortunately for fans who were hoping for a Bourg-Alaina romance, they’re not going to be a celebrity couple any time soon because she is already taken. “She’s been awesome, I know she has a boyfriend so we’re definitely just friendly. But yeah, she’s been so supportive of me.” Furthermore; “She’s been a great mentor, not just musically but in the encourage department too.” Bourg let us know that Alaina sends him positive text messages and genuinely congratulates him for his success on the show.
Bourg performed a variety of love ballads on American Idol. He even sang the classic ‘I Want You To Want Me’ by Cheap Trick for rock week! When asked where he gets his emotion to sing these deep love song he explains, “The easiest way to sing love songs on the show is to kind of stare at JLO in the eyes,” said Bourg. “It kind of works sometimes when she realizes, she commented on it a few times this year. But yeah, that’s definitely who I’m channeling when I’m on the show.”
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Not only is Bourg open to expressing emotions in his love songs, but he is open to performing a duet. If he had to pick someone to do a duet with, it would be Taylor Swift. “I would probably say, I mean just picking it vocally, I would say Taylor Swift would probably sound really good singing with me. I know she did a song with Ed Sheeran that was really awesome.” He added, “That would definitely be a cool song that I think I could do with her.”
As for his plans for the future, he will be furthering his career in the music industry and going on tour. “Yeah, there’s definitely a chance I’ll be touring. I don’t think the show will be touring, but that’s definitely the plan and to release ‘Roses’ – a song I wrote and played on the show.” ‘Roses’ is set to be his next single. In fact, he tweeted today that he is recording it tomorrow!
Tune in next week to see who will be the Final Idol!
You can keep up with Mackenzie Bourg by following him on Twitter @mackenziebourg!
