As one of the most-famous television singing competitions closes out their Hollywood Week segment, you may have noticed that three wildly-talented singers had completely vanished from the show – without any explanation.
American Idol, which struggled in months past to secure a set of three judges, has been chugging along strongly compared to past seasons…but this new twist brings doubt over its ability to survive.
The Hollywood Week part of the competition comes directly after the auditions. If you’ve been following along, you would notice three of the standout singers who earned golden tickets to Hollywood…never showed up.
Vanishing into thin air, these three future superstars ditched their Idol dreams – and nobody said a word.
Two of the three stars to disappear were featured in news articles that touted the rarity of their audition. The sisters, Payton Taylor and Taryn Coccia, went into the audition room only expecting Taryn to take a shot at impressing the judges. Surprisingly, the judges asked both to audition – and advanced the sisters on to Hollywood Week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZVyvY9dySg
The third vanishing contestant is none other than a talented singer who recently portrayed Elvis Presley in CMT’s Sun Records series. Drake Milligan wowed the judges during his Idol audition with a mind-blowing cover of George Strait’s “You Look Good in Love.” Even though he also was advanced to the next round of the competition – you will never see him return.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dQYMzJJPV4
Now approaching the end of Hollywood Week – and after fans have been completely stunned by the disappearance of their favorite artists…these future stars have come forward about their choice to walk away.
In several social media posts, sisters Payton Taylor, and Taryn Coccia explain their choice to reject their ticket to Hollywood Week was based on the work they’d already poured their hearts and souls into.
Payton shared several photos of her time on American Idol with her own admission about the departure, saying:
“You won’t be seeing my sister, Taryn Coccia, or I on American Idol. Both of us received tickets! However, after a lot of thought and prayer, we both declined the invitation to go to #HollywoodWeek.”
“Why? We are sisters on a mission. We are both about to launch our singles respectively and are ready to put the hard work into carving our own paths individually… ALWAYS having each other’s backs. It’s never a competition with us. We are ready to take the leap of faith into our own (extremely different) artistic paths… and we hope you will join us.”
Her sister, Taryn, also explained her choice on social media and apologized if she disappointed anyone.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhDDU9dnLuB/
Milligan, like the two sisters, also opened up about his choice on social media – expressing that he’s been flooded with questions about his disappearance.
Read Milligan’s full statement below and let us know what you think about all this in the comments.