Grace Franklin has the honor of being related to the iconic Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul.” With such legendary talents within her family, Grace has picked up some singing skills herself, and she resultingly decided to audition for American Idol.
Now that her audition has begun making traction, Grace has opened up about the overall experience. In a recent interview with TMZ, Grace, accompanied by her father, Kecalf Cunningham, discussed her reaction to Bryan and Richie voting “no,” She was very stoic about the entire situation.
“In the moment, I was pretty disappointed ’cause obviously I wanted to go on, I wanted to continue and see how I would compare to the other artists. But after thinking about it [later that night], I thought about what Lionel said, and I started to agree with him,” the 16-year-old noted. “I’m a good artist; I know that. But I do know that I need to work on some things, and I think that he was right and that I should work a little bit more before I decide to put myself on such a large [platform].”
“I do really think that he was speaking from a place of love and genuine concern for the rest of my career,” she added.
While Grace noted that she agrees with the judges’ decision, she doesn’t plan on returning to the American Idol stage anytime soon.
“As of right now, I probably wouldn’t audition again. Maybe a couple years down the line, but as of right now, I don’t,” Grace said. “I do want to focus more on growing my voice and in growing my writing. I do want to try and release some music soon, but as far as auditioning for Idol again, I probably wouldn’t.”
As previously reported, her audition clip, recorded back when Grace was 15-years-old, recently aired on TV showing the Detroit native stepping up to sing songs “Killing Me Softly with His Song” and “Ain’t No Way.”After Grace finished her performance, the judges—Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan—noted that she appeared nervous, though “controlled.”
“You’re 15. You’ve got the family lineage. What we need to put now is time and some work in to get it up to par,” Lionel Richie noted.
“Age and the voice have got to all come together,” Luke Bryan added.
The judges then voted on whether Grace should advance beyond the audition stage. With Bryan voting “no” and Perry voting “yes,” it ultimately came down to Richie.
“Go back and get a running start and come at this again,” Richie warmly told Grace. “Trust me; if you go and come back and put the shyness behind you and the voice in front of you, you are going to be something amazing. And I don’t wanna be the one to make you tip over and fall at this infant state.”
Perry continued to ardently advocate for Grace, even calling the other judges “insane” and walking off.
“Grace, you know how I feel about your family and you. But I don’t want this to be a crash and burn. It’s gonna be a ‘no’ from me at this time, but an optimistic ‘come back and see us,'” Richie said.
