19-year-old Noah Thompson always wanted to play music and hoped to one day be a big star but never had the confidence to pursue his dreams…until now.

The aspiring singer and construction worker from Louisa, Kentucky was forced to audition for American Idol by a co-worker named Arthur, who truly believed in him and his musical talents.

“He’s not born to be working with us, he’s gifted…” Arthur said.

“I would’ve never signed myself up for something like, I would’ve never had the confidence. It’s pretty cool to know somebody believes in you more than you believe in yourself,” Thompson said.

Thompson entered the audition room and went on to perform a cover of Kameron Marlowe’s “Giving You Up.”

Standing in front of Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, Thompson strummed his acoustic guitar as he sang the fan-favorite tune.

“You got a real-life, story-telling, badass voice,” Richie told him. “It’s believable. I don’t know what you were expecting… I know you weren’t expecting that. That’s why I said it.”

After Richie praised the contestant’s vocals, the Idol judges encouraged Thompson to bring in his friend, Arthur, who is the reason he auditioned for the show.

“He saw you, he saw your potential,” Perry shared, before Thompson replied, “He did, I never had confidence in myself.”

“You are the American Dream,” Perry added.

“You’re why this job is cool,” Bryan gushed. “We’re really, really excited you’re here.”

“He’s got so much talent. Other contestants, they’ve had vocal training, they do these crazy warm-ups and this is just straight raw right here. This ain’t no train, we don’t warm up,” Thompson’s friend Arthur said, prompting the judges to compliment his “managerial” abilities.

After all three judges voted ‘yes,’ Noah Thompson earned a golden ticket to Hollywood.