Noah Thompson is getting a crash course in a lot, including songwriting, after recently winning Season 20 of American Idol. The 20-year-old released “One Day Tonight” while still on Idol, followed by his current single, a cool, country version of the Rihanna hit, “Stay.” Thompson is hard at work on his first debut album, where he is learning plenty about how to craft a hit song, from some of country music’s veteran tunesmiths.
“The only thing I’ve ever done is I’ve sat in my bathroom at the house, my guitar and that’s as far as songwriting has ever gone for me,” Thompson admits to Country Now, adding that he’s been working with songwriter and producer Jimmy Robbins.
“He was walking me through it, how that works, how they go through that … [They] are going back on an idea and whoever’s idea fits the title, then that’s what you go with and that’s what you write about,” Thompson shares. “And I think that’s so neat how that works out, ’cause I’ve never done it that way. So that was unique for me.”
Thompson also got to work with Josh Thompson, whom he was already a fan of, even if he didn’t know it.
“I got to sit down with Josh Thompson and I found out that he was one of the writers on ‘Wasted On You’ for Morgan Wallen, so I was really excited about that,” Thompson boasts. “That was really cool for me.”
It was Thompson’s record label, BBR Music Group and BMG, who broached the idea of Thompson recording “Stay,” an idea he wholeheartedly endorsed.
“I was over the moon about that,” Thompson reveals. “I thought that was the coolest thing ever… I think it was just one of my biggest moments on the show and I feel like it was just so cool to put out a new single with it.”
Thompson, a former construction worker, has plenty of motivation for making his country music career work, but none with as much impact as his one-year-old son, Walker.
“He’s my exact reason for doing this,” Thompson tells Music Mayhem. “I mean, he is my motivation for all of it. He’s the thing I think about all the time and why I really wanna do this.”
Walker might be Thompson’s motivation, but it also does pose a unique challenge for the rising star, who is suddenly having to juggle being a father with a promising future in country music.
“I know I’m young and all, but having a kid does make it hard,” Thompson acknowledges. “I do obviously miss him a lot of the time, especially with him being so young. I kind of had to miss some things while I was doing American Idol, so that was hard for me, but it felt so good to kind of get home and just reconnect that way.”
Find “Stay” and all of Thompson’s music by visiting his website.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of BBR Music Group and BMG / David McClister
