McKenna Breinholt’s American Idol audition didn’t just end with a golden ticket. It ended with Brienholt meeting her birth family in person for the first time ever.
Before her audition, Breinholt told judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan about her adoption story.
“I was adopted as early as I was able to understand it. My mom struggled for several years trying to get pregnant and eventually they decided to go through the adoption process. I have the best family in the world. They’ve always supported me,” Breinholt said.
She knew some details about her birth mother, Amy Lopez, but wanted to know more. When Breinholt turned 21, she began looking for Lopez and discovered she was also a singer.
“I instantly knew where I got my ear from and where I got my voice from—it just all clicked.”
Sadly, Lopez had passed away in 2013 due to complications with Lupus. Brienholt still reached out to her birth family last summer to connect and discovered she came from a family of singers.
“My birth family was looking for me for probably the last eight years. Knowing that I have another family out there who’s equally excited to know and love me was amazing,” Breinholt told the judges.
She had only spoken to members of her birth family through Facetime but had been making plans to finally meet them in person in a few weeks.
Breinholt then moved on to the actual audition, performing “There Was Jesus” by Zach Williams and Dolly Parton while playing the piano.
The judges gave her positive responses, but before they announced their decision, Perry asked Breinholt if she wanted to invite her family into the room to join her. When she opened the door, there was a surprise already waiting for her on the other side: her birth family was waiting alongside her adoptive parents.
Perry then suggested Breinholt should play one of her birth mother’s songs for the families.
“Music is connection. Music is emotion. Music is heart. You’re not the only person out there that’s searching for their birth family,” Perry said.
“It’s wonderful to have them all together and it’s so wonderful for your mom and dad to see this and to be so open and loving and supportive about this,” she continued. “I’m sure there was a big loss for your birth family, and for you to sing like that, I think it’s healing,” she added.
And, in front of her entire family, the judges told her she was “going to Hollywood” to compete on the show.
Everyone was excited, including Zach Williams and Dolly Parton, who shared their reaction to the audition on X.
“It’s amazing to see how God continues to use this song! Praying for McKenna and her family this season,” Zach Williams said.
The other day I was working with @dollyparton and we watched McKenna Breinholt’s audition performance of our song “There Was Jesus” on @AmericanIdol. Dolly saw it for the first time so we filmed this reaction. pic.twitter.com/3JJJhcRmh1
— Zach Williams (@zachwilliams) February 8, 2024
