‘American Idol’: Jimmie Allen Learned About ‘Mental Toughness’ While on TV Show

Long before Jimmie Allen was a successful singer, he was an aspiring artist, doing anything he could to get his music heard, including trying out for American Idol. The Delaware native auditioned for the reality TV talent show, on Season 10 in 2011, and although he didn’t make it very far, he did learn plenty of life lessons that he still uses today.

“It was a cool experience,” Allen told PopCulture.com. “I learned a lot just about mental toughness and physical toughness, about being awake all day. And then, because you go from Top 300, they cut you down to like [200] something for group rounds. You stay up all night to learn the song. It’s more a mental toughness, being smart with your voice. There are a lot of people who will sit around in circles and just sing all day and sing all night. Then they don’t have a voice left.

“I learned a lot more about preparedness,” he continued. “And I feel like preparation is such a big part of everything you do. I feel like you should have what you wanna do for step five ready at step one. So that way when step five comes, you’ve already prepared it, you’re doing it, and you’re already planning for step 10. It’s just about being prepared and I feel like Idol did that for me.”

Allen is back at radio with “Make Me Want To,” after earning a No. 1 hit with his debut single, “Best Shot.” The song was inspired by a historical event from centuries ago.

“I wrote it about a guy that catches feelings fast,” Allen explained. “He’s ready to tell a girl he loves her after the first date. And I feel like, it’s never too soon to tell someone you love them, but it can be too late. So I’d rather, if you got feelings, if you love an hour in, if you love them two days in… People try to say that’s not possible, but I’m a fan of the Renaissance days where there weren’t any distractions with social media and everything, and we could just focus on that one person in your life.

“I felt like love was sooner back then and it was a lot stronger because, we look at Francis, the Prince and then King of Spain and Mary from Scotland,” he continued. “People forget they were young. He was like 16 when he died from malaria and she was like 14. And they were literally in love back then. I wasn’t around back then. I definitely wish I could have been there to experience the pureness of relationships and love back then.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Lisa Lake