AJ Robinson

Winner of Lindsey Idol 2016

BY ZAC OAKES • SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

In 2015, AJ Robinson did not make it out of the first round of Lindsey Idol.

After a time of reflection, Robinson realized that he needed to do some work and get ready to come back the next year.

Last year, the junior from Radcliff, Ky., beat out 18 fellow students to win the 16th annual Lindsey Idol competition by a combination of a panel of judges and an audience vote.

“I didn’t think it was real, I thought they made a mistake,” Robinson said.

The road to the finals was not without some challenges. Robinson recalled that on the final night, he also had to perform in the pep band for an LWC basketball game.

Photo: Robinson singing on stage at the annual LWC Idol

“Prior to everything starting, I met up with Jake Saylor,” Robinson said. “I told him ‘I know I’m in the finals, but I also have to do pep band.’ So we worked something out where I would perform first and perform last.”

Being the final performer has a great deal of pressure, and Robinson said he knew that he needed to perform well in order to win.

“I think that my last song hit hard,” Robinson said. “Some of the best ways to make an impact and impressions on people is to be first or last. Then they have something to sit on. The placement worked out really well.”

Robinson has appeared in Lindsey Idol the last three years. His freshman year, he advanced into the final round. In his sophomore year, he failed to make it past the first round of cuts. So what was different this time? Robinson said his mindset played a major role.

“I was in the right mindset this time,” he said. “In past years, although I do love music, I think I sought out Lindsey Idol as a way of searching for recognition, and for people to see what I can do. It was almost like putting on a fake image. This year, I walked in and I decided that I was just going to give it all I’ve got. I’m not going to worry about my reputation, I’m just doing it for me, but more importantly, God gave me my talents.”

Robinson’s final song was an original Christian rap song that he had written over the summer. That was when he began to find an interest in Christian rap.

“I had went on a mission conference to Dayton, Ohio a week after school let out last spring,” Robinson said. “One of my future roommates now, Nathan Stearns, had put me on to Lecrae, Trip Lee, KB, and everybody else for the first time. I was like ‘Christian rap, it’s wack’ but I had never really listened to it before.”

Robinson said that once he began to listen to the music, his opinion began to change.

“I started to think that maybe it wasn’t as bad as I had made it out to be,” he said. “So from there, last summer, I found myself diving into it more and more.”

Photo: Idol participants take a bow to close the first night

Robinson said he found himself incorporating Christian elements into his own music last August and has never looked back.

“ I tried to do the rapping thing before,” Robinson said. “I tried talking about anything and everything I didn’t have. So I take a different approach. I started incorporating God into everything I do and I feel that was the best decision I could’ve made.”

After some failed attempts at rapping before, Robinson said that when he began to incorporate God into his music, “it began to click.”

“It all started making sense,” he said. “I don’t have this talent for me. I have it so I can show others that it leads to something greater.”

He said that one of his goals in creating his music was to make something that people could relate to.

“That’s what I want people to do when they hear my music,” Robinson said. “I definitely want my music to have substance in it… That is definitely one of my goals with my music. You never know, some people are going through the same things you are, so why not spread that in your music? There could be people all around you going through the same things.”

At the beginning of the school year, Robinson said he began to think about Lindsey Idol and what he could do differently. However, it was not until recently that he considered the idea of using Idol as a form of ministry.

“I could actually use this as a way of ministering the good of God,” Robinson said. “Once I had told my roommates and friends about it, they were all for it. So why not test the waters and see what it could do?”

Robinson said that he wanted to come off as transparent to the audience during his performances.

“I feel like being on that stage and pouring out my heart, what has happened in my life, I do think that people really could connect with that [his music],” he said. “And there were people that told me that they really liked the song I did on the second night, it really made things click.”

Photo: Robinson stands in the spotlight during his final performance

Robinson said he had three key takeaways from this experience. First, “don’t be afraid to try again.”

“This was my third year doing it,” Robinson said. “I would definitely say never be afraid of trying again because just when you think you’re ready to give up, that may be the moment when you do things on an unprecedented level.”

Secondly, Robinson said that he has learned to remain humble and lastly, to be vulnerable.

“Just let people see you for who you really are,” he said.

Robinson said that through the praise he has received for his performances and winning the competition, the whole experience has humbled him tremendously.

“I have had the most humble heart,” he said. “I tell people ‘thank you but it wasn’t me. It was of God.’”