Tyler man Fritz Hager III voted into top 7 on ‘American Idol’ after Disney Night performance

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, May 1, 2022

Tyler’s Fritz Hager III survived another elimination on “American Idol” as he was voted into the top 7 Sunday night.

Hager chose to perform “Go the Distance” from “Hercules” for the special Disney Night episode, which had the audience cheering and left the judges impressed.

“(The audience) is telling you exactly what it is,” judge Lionel Richie told Hager after his performance, which was the last one of the night. “You have always been our surprise package on this show … Tonight you stepped again into your light. Congratulations, I’m so proud.”

Judge Luke Bryan said Hager is “not surprising him anymore.”

“Man, you just always nail it,” Bryan said. “You always nail the guitar, you nail the moments. You understand the dynamics of taking the song and creating these moments within the song. You’re not surprising me anymore — I get it. You deserve to be here.”

Judge Katy Perry said, “Listen, Fritz, whatever happens, you got exactly what you came for, bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.”

The top 10 contestants were treated to a Disneyland trip, where they were mentored by professional dancer and singer Derek Hough.

Hough gave each contestant advice to help them ace their performances of popular Disney songs.

“For me, it’s just reminding me what they already know, that they’re incredible, they’re amazing,” Hough said of mentoring the top 10 over the last week.

Hough had compliments for Hager’s talent.

“My first impression of Fritz, he’s kind of unsuspected and then he starts to sing and you’re enamored by him,” Hough said.

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Hager said the week spent in Disneyland was “crazy,” and so is being at this point in the competition. He mentioned the milestone he hit late last week, when his self-titled EP hit No. 1 on the iTunes Pop Chart.

This past week was Hager’s first time visiting Disneyland, and he said his favorite part was “easily ‘Star Wars’ Galaxy’s Edge.” He said he has always been a huge “Star Wars” fan since he was a child, and experiencing that with his family was “mindblowing.”

“It was such a breath of fresh air to be able to lean on my family again,” Hager said.

“It was really special to surprise Fritz right here under the Millennium Falcon,” his dad Fritz Hager Jr. said.

Sister Lucy said she was “insanely happy to see him.”

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Emersyn Flora, Lady K, Mike Parker were eliminated on Sunday night’s episode.

Another episode is set to air 7 p.m. Sunday night on ABC. The episode will be live from coast to coast. Viewers can vote for their favorite through the American Idol app or americanidol.com/vote. The third method to voting is through texting a contestant’s number; watch the episode to confirm current voting numbers of the remaining contestants.

Christian Guardino – “Circle of Life” from The Lion King

Emyrson Flora – “Carried Me with You” from Onward

Fritz Hager – “Go the Distance” from Hercules

HunterGirl – “I See the Light” from Tangled

Jay Copeland – “Remember Me” from Coco

Lady K – “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana

Leah Marlene – “When She Loved Me” from Toy Story 2

Mike Parker – “You’ll Be in My Heart” from Tarzan

Nicolina Bozzo – “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid

Noah Thompson – “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story