His dad is a Backstreet Boy. Now he's trying to carve his own path on ‘American Idol'

Yahoo

10-03-2025

Shortly after Baylee Littrell stepped into the room to audition for 'American Idol,' Carrie Underwood felt there was something familiar about him.
When she mentioned that to the 21-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia, he revealed that his father is Brian Littrell from the Backstreet Boys.
'And you look like your dad,' said Underwood, whose debut as a judge on the reality competition show comes 20 years after she won Season 4.
Apparently Underwood was a big Backstreet Boys fan — the show shared a picture of the country music superstar in her childhood bedroom that was decorated with multiple posters of the popular boy band.
Although Littrell grew up on the road with his dad — he was 8 or 9 when he started opening for the Backstreet Boys with a couple of songs — he's trying to carve out his own path in music as a country singer.
And based on his 'American Idol' audition, which aired during the Season 23 premiere Sunday night, he's off to a really good start.
As the son of a Backstreet Boy, music has been a part of Littrell's life as long as he can remember.
He told 'Idol' producers he was 'mesmerized' as a kid when he watched his dad take the stage as the lights went down and the screams from fans intensified.
'I believe I get my voice from dad, and hopefully I can do him justice,' Littrell said ahead of his 'Idol' audition, although he noted that he did not inherit his dad's dance moves. 'Following in my dad's footsteps is scary because his career to me is one of the most extraordinary in music history. No one can ever compare.'
But his dad has a different point of view.
'Obviously growing up in the industry, a lot of people would look at that as like such a perk, but it's not easy,' Brian Littrell said during the episode. 'I've always told everybody that he's 10 times more talented than I ever was. ... We're super proud. He's obviously grown up in the business, and you know, I think he's cut out for it.'
For his audition, Baylee Littrell performed an original song, 'Waiting On Myself to Die.' The song, he said, is about not giving up — even when you really want to.
'Trust me, I wish I wanted to do something completely different,' he said before his performance. 'But if I'm not doing music, there's no way I can really exist.'
As soon as Littrell started strumming his guitar and singing, Underwood widened her eyes and looked at fellow 'Idol' judge Luke Bryan in awe.
'You're really good, like, you're really good,' she said with a big smile following the performance. 'You went there emotionally, and I think you could go very, very far in this competition.'
Although it was clear Littrell was going to earn a 'yes' from all three judges and advance to the next round of the competition — judge Lionel Richie echoed Underwood's sentiment that the singer 'could go a long way' on the show — the judges decided to prolong the audition by inviting Brian Littrell to join his son for an impromptu duet.
Brian Littrell walked out in front of the judges table to sing harmony on the chorus of his son's song. He was visibly proud and smiling big as they performed together.
'For your superstar singer dad to come in here, I feel like for anybody else, it would make you look bad. But it didn't. You were right there with him,' Underwood said. 'You didn't pale, you didn't shy away. You were like, 'This is my moment.''
Both Brian and Baylee Littrell got emotional as the rising singer received a golden ticket to advance to the Hollywood round of the competition.
'Congrats @bayleelittrell_music on an incredible premiere with @americanidol,' Brian Littrell shared in a Facebook post following the audition. 'I am so proud of you Bubba — can't wait to see you in #Hollywood!!'
Brian Littrell, who in July joins the Backstreet Boys for a short residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas, recently opened up about his son competing on 'Idol' and how it has been somewhat of a learning curve for the budding artist.
'He was just texting me last night, going, 'Dad, dude, how do you do this? Like, it's hard work,'' Brian Littrell previously told 'Today.' 'He's been busting his butt, and I'm super proud of him. He kind of gets a new sense of reality of what this is.'
But Baylee Littrell has been pursuing a music career well before 'Idol.'
In 2016, he made his Broadway debut in the musical 'Disaster!' when he was 13 years old.
He released his debut album, '770-Country,' in 2019, and opened for the Backstreet Boys' 'DNA' world tour that same year, per 'Today.'
'Opening the show with a video of the five members giving advice to their opening act, 16-year-old country singer Baylee Littrell — yes, son of Brian Littrell ... the BSB seemed eager to establish that while they can still do the synchronized dance moves and sing in perfect pop harmony, they are family men these days, dedicated husbands who are dads by day and pop stars by night," Cristy Meiners wrote in her review for the Deseret News when the tour rolled through Salt Lake City.
Littrell's turn on 'Idol' comes a year after singer-songwriter Emmy Russell, the granddaughter of late country legend Loretta Lynn, auditioned for the show, as the Deseret News previously reported.
Russell, who said competing on 'Idol' was an attempt to forge her own path, placed fifth on the season.
'I think that when you come from a musical family, the shadow is so big,' her mother, Patsy Russell, said during her audition, per Deseret News. 'How do I fill those shoes? Well the deal is you don't. You make your own shadow.'