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Sometimes they really do save the best for last.
At least that is what they did with the auditions for this year’s season of “American Idol,” with Mainer Julia Gagnon being the final contestant to go before the judges and sing for a ticket to Hollywood in an episode that aired in March. The University of Southern Maine student from Cumberland mesmerized the panel of music superstars, and everyone watching, to secure a rare platinum ticket that let her skip through to the second round of the competition.
That ticket, and more importantly, Gagnon’s jaw-dropping talent, started her on an amazing run that took her all the way to the top seven performers. That journey, unprecedented on the show for someone from Maine, ended earlier this week. But we expect that Gagnon and her incredible voice and wonderful demeanor won’t be fading from the limelight anytime soon.
Maine and the entire country have been able to watch her become a star on one of the highest stages. She took us over the rainbow. She set fire to the rain. She somehow made singing an Aretha Franklin song seem effortless. And she has amassed a legion of fans far and wide, not just with her vocal prowess, but for positivity and how she has shined through the bullying she experienced growing up and some of the hostility she has continued to encounter online.
“Growing up in Maine when I was younger was a dream come true. It was picture perfect, there was snow at Christmas, and warm summers, and it was all amazing,” Gagnon explained in her first episode of the show, while discussing how she was born in Guatemala and adopted by her Maine family at the age of 2. “When I entered the school systems, it became different. I got bullied a lot. In Maine, not a lot of people look like me, and it was really hard to deal with — it still is hard to talk about, sorry. I don’t think I have ever found a place where I feel like I fit it, but I have found my support in life, and that is my family.”
By sharing her story, and by rising up above the pettiness of those who see difference as something to mock rather than celebrate, she has sent a powerful message to all those other kids who have been bullied or excluded simply for being themselves. Her message of positivity has struck a chord with fellow Mainers and fans across America.
She pushed back against negative comments online, discussing how some people would try to elevate their favorite contestants on the show by directing hate toward other contestants.
“Just spread love, it’s easy to spread love, and if somebody isn’t connecting for you, if you don’t love their performances, you don’t need to say it, just support the people that you love,” she said in an April 30 Instagram post. “Thank you guys so much for spreading love and positivity. There’s just way too much darkness and hatred in the world, so we don’t need to add to that,”
Gagnon has emphasized the love and support of her family — both the family here in Maine, and her birth mother in Guatemala. In that first show on “Idol,” Gagnon described reconnecting with her birth mother, how proud she was of her voice and how she had told Gagnon that she wanted to see her “do something big.”
Well, she certainly has done something big. Her inspiring run on American Idol has been a huge success, something big that no Mainer has ever achieved before. And surely, this is just the beginning. With her amazing talent and her captivating personality, there must be many big things yet to come for Julia Gagnon.
