{"id":2248616,"date":"2026-01-24T17:18:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2248616"},"modified":"2026-01-24T17:18:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:18:21","slug":"american-idol-favorite-from-long-island-sings-to-overcome-stutter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/american-idol-favorite-from-long-island-sings-to-overcome-stutter\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;American Idol&#8217; favorite from Long Island sings to overcome stutter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F01%2F119395069.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>He\u2019s one Strong Islander.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerican Idol\u201d auditions tend to be a nerve-racking experience for most contestants, exponentially so for Jesse Findling, since he\u2019s stuttered his entire life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was under a lot of stress and pressure, and I knew that I was going to stutter more under that environment, which was scary at first,\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@jessefindlingmusic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the 20-year-old college student<\/a> from Massapequa told The Post.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I knew I had to be brave . . . and know that walking into that room, it\u2019s not about my stutter, it\u2019s about my voice.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Jesse Findling will compete on Season 24 of \u201cAmerican Idol.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Disney<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Findling \u2014 who aced the audition and will be performing on the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/03\/30\/us-news\/this-seasons-american-idol-features-talent-from-nyc-and-nj\/\">ABC series\u2019 Season 24 premiere<\/a> on Jan. 26 \u2014 had undeniable talent on his side, along with the fact that when he sings, his stutter disappears.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a whole science behind it. When you sing, you\u2019re using a different part of your brain,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>Findling, who endured years of speech therapy and was always embarrassed to raise his hand in class, said he hopes to be an inspiration to young people with the same impediment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to be something that, maybe a kid . . . would watch my audition and feel inspired to do something big or even just raise their hand in class,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"American Idol \u2014 Extended Sneak Peak Jesse Findling\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1VseK_aLnew?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The SUNY-Binghamton junior got the news <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/09\/american-idol-christian-guardino-not-ready-to-say-aloha-yet\/\">he would be auditioning<\/a> in front of \u201cIdol\u201d judges Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood in September.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy roommate at Binghamton probably hated me because I would sing a bunch of songs every single day. It was a lot,\u201d said Findling, who is in the university\u2019s musical theater program.<\/p>\n<p>He missed a few classes to fly to Nashville with his family for the audition in November, where he performed \u201cIn The Stars\u201d by \u201cIdol\u201d alum Benson Boone, a song he sings at home with his younger brother, who also has a stutter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to be a role model for him, because I knew how hard it was for me in school. . . . I\u2019m going to be thinking of him when I sing it,\u201d he said in his audition video, which has already gone viral with 24 million views.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The Massapequa native shied away from raising his hand at school because of his stutter. <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of Jesse Findling<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>His soulful voice wowed the judges \u2014 who all gave him a standing ovation \u2014 with Underwood calling it \u201cbeautiful,\u201d and Bryan saying, \u201cI don\u2019t think I blinked one time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeeing them all stand up at the end, it was insane because I knew that I could sing, but I didn\u2019t think that I was as good as, you know, when they all stood up. It was a surprise to me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Richie addressed the stutter, which Findling told the judges about, and which could be heard when he spoke to them. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat problem? You don\u2019t have a problem,\u201d the Grammy winner said. \u201cThe only thing wrong with you is you gotta figure out how you\u2019re gonna navigate this career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Findling later gushed, \u201cThat was sweet. Lionel Richie\u2019s great. He has this really calming vibe to him, that when I walked into the room, I felt at ease.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Findling\u2019s family traveled to Nashville for the audition.  <span class=\"credit\">Disney<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Hearing the trio\u2019s accolades changed the newfound reality star\u2019s perspective and \u201cmade me walk out of the room a different person,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel so much more confident now in my ability as a singer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before the judges all voted yes to advance him to the next round, Hollywood Week, they brought out Findling\u2019s parents, both Brooklyn natives, along with his sister and brother.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had no idea,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is also big for them because they\u2019re not used to all of this. So the fact that I got to include them in my story and have them be a part of that day in the way that they were made me really happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The Binghamton University junior is currently studying biology.  <span class=\"credit\">Jesse Findling\/ Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Findling is currently majoring in biology \u2014 but that can change now that the world has heard his voice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore \u2018American Idol,\u2019 I was thinking of maybe being a physician\u2019s assistant or going into medical sales or something in that realm. But things are changing,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to be a singer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He\u2019s one Strong Islander. \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d auditions tend to be a nerve-racking experience for most contestants, exponentially so for Jesse Findling, since he\u2019s stuttered his entire life. \u201cI was under a lot of stress and pressure, and I knew that I was going to stutter more under that environment, which was scary at first,\u201d the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2248617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[24120,27820,435366,22844,350846,21741,29826,359393,305131,28097,24758,29901,405245,357836,317847],"class_list":["post-2248616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-abc","tag-american-idol","tag-binghamton-university","tag-carrie-underwood","tag-college","tag-entertainment","tag-lionel-richie","tag-long-island","tag-luke-bryan","tag-reality-show","tag-reality-stars","tag-singers","tag-speech","tag-students","tag-viral-videos"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/American-Idol-favorite-from-Long-Island-sings-to-overcome-stutter.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2248616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2248618,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248616\/revisions\/2248618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2248617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2248616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2248616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2248616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}