Tyler native and top 5 “American Idol” finalist Fritz Hager III performs at the Rose City Music Festival on Oct. 8.

Once performing in front of a small crowd in a Tyler coffee shop then off to the Hollywood stage in front of millions of viewers, Fritz Hager III came full circle on Saturday when he hit the big stage in his own city.

Hager, a top 5 finalist on the most recent season of “American Idol,” performed his first big show with headliner Koe Wetzel and Grammy-award winning rap artist Nelly for the sold-out inaugural Rose City Music Festival in the downtown square.

“It was so dope. Both of them have been doing music for a while, like Nelly, he’s been in the game for a long time and he’s still killing it, and Koe is kind of at the forefront of where country music is right now, so it was really, really cool to be able to play on that stage with them,” he said.

Reflecting Monday on the performance, Hager was still stunned at the sight of a fan-packed square watching him perform in his city.

Hager said he was happy to be a performer for a hometown festival but most importantly excited to see the music scene in Tyler continue to expand.

“There’s such a good artistic community in Tyler, and I’m really glad to see it start to grow. With this music festival, I mean, that’s the first thing that Tyler’s done like that, this first big sort of music event and I’m really glad that I was able to be part of it at the ground level,” he said.

Hager mentioned how important it is to have a lineup that caters to fans of a variety of music genres. especially in Texas where country music is primarily the most popular.

“I think it’s important to be able to have an eclectic lineup like this so that not only are you giving people a fun night, but you’re also supporting artists that normally maybe wouldn’t be able to find a stage here,” he said.

About five months since his time on “American Idol” ended, Hager has still been busy working on his music career. He is working to release his upcoming single, “Caroline,” and also hopes to release a new project in the next few months.

“I’m so hoping to release my single ‘Caroline,’ which I played during the show. I’ve been pushing it on socials, on TikTok a lot, and getting pre-saves up. ‘Caroline’ is sort of the first single for hopefully, an EP and an album coming in the future. I don’t have a firm release date for it yet but we’re hoping to put it out before Thanksgiving,” he said. “I’ve just been writing a lot and trying to build this project and new music, which I’m really excited about.”

Since the show, Hager has been exploring with his music and finding himself as an artist.

“The new music, it’s definitely different. A lot of the music I’ve been writing has really just been exploring like, ‘what kind of music do I want to make, what kind of artist am post-’Idol,’” So it’s sort of taking a lot of the knowledge that I gained from that show, not just about music, but about me and figuring out what kind of music I like to make,” he said.

Fans can look forward to the type of songs that you can dance to and scream in your car, but also songs that have a story, he said.

“… For every song, there’s always a story,” he said.

Hager mentioned his appreciation toward the fans who attended the festival to support him.

“Thank you to everyone that came out to the show to see me, especially with such a crazy lineup, like it was really heartwarming to see people who came to the show for me — not for Nelly or Koe, just were there to see me, like that was really cool,” he said. “Just a huge thank you because it’s always nerve racking coming off ‘Idol,’ where I’m not on TV anymore, so all the fans that sort of stuck with me after the show, it just continues to blow my mind.”

He also added thanks to the organizers, volunteers, vendors and others who helped put on the festival.

“It was just great to see Tyler really show up, such a huge gratitude just to see the square fill, it was so cool. And all the vendors and everyone that came out, all the workers that built the stage and made everything possible, obviously huge thank you to them. Thanks to everyone that came out and had a great time. I’m just looking forward to Tyler doing more things like this,” he said.

Hager’s music is available on all streaming platforms.