HORSEHEADS, N.Y. (WENY) -- To get to New Orleans, it would take roughly 18 and a half hours to get there by car, and a little over three hours to get there on a non-stop flight. Elmira resident and American Idol contestant Isaiah Smallwood managed to make it through all of his online auditions, and was flown down to New Orleans to audition in person.

"It’s really crazy how everything came so quick and how I’m really here. I thank God that He strengthened me for the opportunities I've had. When they told me I was going to New Orleans, and that they would love to fly me out, I got stuck. I almost started weeping from that phone call," said Smallwood.

Smallwood said after every audition he would feel emotionally drained because he would work for it, thought about it so much, and "as a creative, you can psych yourself out of things." He said if it's something big enough for someone to worry about, you can psych yourself out of it. "I didn't psych myself out (of the auditions) and this has always been a dream of mine," said Smallwood.

On the day of his audition in New Orleans, he was nervous, and rightfully so. He said he couldn't sleep the night before his audition, despite having to be up at 6 a.m. "I'm a night owl in general, but I probably didn’t go to bed until maybe 2 o’clock in the morning. Then you had to be up for calling hours at 6. I woke up at 5:30 and kind of just laid my clothing out there and thought 'wow, today’s really the day,'" said Smallwood.

When people audition for American Idol, they have to pick a song to perform. Smallwood ended up waiting just over 12 hours to perform in front of Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan. So what did Smallwood do for those 12 hours? Well, it certainly left him a lot of time to think. "So I was just sitting in that room all day, and every hour sitting there, I just got more nervous. You’re just sitting there, and you’re just practicing in your head what you’re going to sing, and on that day, I sang 'Change is Going to Come' by Sam Cook," said Smallwood.

Smallwood decided to sing 'Change is Going to Come' because he felt like by auditioning for American Idol and being in New Orleans, it meant everything was going to change for him. "Even though nothing changed about the location, obviously the prayer in my mind and in my heart was that this opportunity that God allowed me to do – would change the trajectory of my life," said Smallwood.

Be sure to stick with WENY News as we continue to hear from Isaiah about his American Idol experience and monitor his progress. You can also follow along with his journey on American Idol on WENY ABC.