Hollywood — It was a dream come true for Malaysian-Singaporean singer Cheryl Koh, better known as Cheryl K when she sang a duet with Lionel Richie for her American Idol audition.
She shared footage from her audition on her YouTube page in Mar 2021. In the clip, Koh shared how excited she was to audition for American Idol.
“It is the day of my audition. Oh my goodness. I can’t believe… I’ve waited 24 years to do this.”
The singer mentioned that she was a “huge” fan of Richie, who was one of the judges for the show. Koh brought along her dog and a vinyl record of Richie’s 1981 hit song Endless Love featuring Diana Ross, in the audition room.
Koh shared that Endless Love was her favourite song from Richie, as reported by Mothership.sg.
Koh then told Richie: “My dream is to duet this song with you, and I was going to ask you if you would do me the honours.”
Richie gamely replied: “Let’s do it.”
Alas, for Koh, she did not get a Golden Ticket. On the other hand, she received nothing but praise and encouragement from the judges.
Richie told her:
“You have brought tears and wonderful memories to my life right now.
[…]
It’s going to be a ‘no’ for this trip around. But not ‘no’ from the standpoint of ‘I don’t think you have it’, it’s that you haven’t found it to where you can control it.”
Katy Perry, who was another judge on the show, told Koh:
“Cheryl, love your heart. Love your passion for music.
[…]
It’s a… going to be a ‘no’ from me for American Idol.”
The third judge, country singer Luke Bryan, also gave Koh a “no”.
Speaking in an interview after her audition, Koh said:
“Of course, I wish I got the Golden Ticket, but it’s okay. I’m so proud of myself for being daring enough to try it, and grateful that I got to sing with Lionel Richie.”
Richie also signed Koh’s vinyl record.
Koh posted a picture of herself with the signed vinyl on her Instagram page, saying, “My life is  C-O-M-P-L-E-T-E!” /TISG