Seth Lyons.
Seth Lyons with his golden ticket to the Hollywood round of this year's "American Idol." (Photo courtesy of Seth Lyons)

To be or not to be ... the next ‘American Idol’

Did VCU student Seth Lyons advance in the national singing competition? Hollywood Week reveals all.

Share this story

Seth Lyons had a secret.

For months, he was contractually obligated not to tell anyone that he had advanced through the preliminary rounds of ABC’s rebooted “American Idol,” the national singing competition that launched the careers of Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

When he went to California over winter break for a “vacation,” no one knew that the Virginia Commonwealth University sophomore was in Hollywood filming the hit TV series.

For even longer, he couldn’t share that he had hugged Katy Perry in October in Louisville, Kentucky, at the the third round of auditions. It wasn’t until Monday that he finally revealed that — although it didn’t air — he received a golden ticket to advance to the next round.

Hollywood Parts 1 and 2 air March 24 and 25.

View this post on Instagram

Sadly, I believe my audition will not be airing on Idol. But. I’M GOING TO HOLLYWOOD ????????????????????????????????

A post shared by Seth Lyons ? (@thesethlyons) on

Lyons, a tenor, became interested in singing almost by accident when he was young. His mother, “a very big church person,” wanted him to be involved in some aspect of her church, so he joined the choir. He realized he loved it. At VCU, where he studies theater performance in the School of the Arts, he sings with the Ramifications, the award-winning a cappella group.

A longtime fan of the TV show, Lyons never imagined singing on the “Idol” stage.

“I think it was every singer's dream, we’re always like, ‘Oh, I wish I was on “American Idol,”’ but I never thought in my life that I would actually audition and then make it to Hollywood like that,” he said. “That’s crazy. That’s amazing that that could actually happen. If I had told myself this when I was younger, I would probably be like, ‘you’re lying.’”

For his “Idol” auditions, Lyons sang “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga and “Stone Cold” by Demi Lovato.  

“I always liked ‘Bad Romance’ ’cause I just thought it was such a fun song that I liked as a child,” Lyons said. “And then I wanted to sing it like in my own kind of style. That was the song that went the best, in my opinion. And I did ‘Stone Cold’ ’cause it’s just such a pretty song.”

Lyons still has one more secret: Is he moving forward in the competition? Obviously, he can’t answer just yet, but he was willing to share a little information.

“This Sunday, you get to see what happens in Hollywood,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll show my audition this time.”