American Idol Season 12: Lazaro Arbos Stuns, 'King's Speech' Man Draws 1 Million Views in 3 Days [VIDEO]
21-yr-old 'Idol' hopeful overcomes stuttering condition by singing
American Idol Season 12 premiered to lowest-ever premiere ratings Wednesday (Jan. 16), but Lazaro Arbos could change things for the Fox reality show. Arbos manifests a speech pattern that seems similar to the stammering of King George VI in the 2010 film "King's Speech."
Colin Firth played the king in "King's Speech," which was written by David Seidler, who struggled with the same condition in his youth. Unlike the king, Arbos does not have to address a nation on wars and other political matters. But the young man wants to sing for the world.
Arbos, 21, has yet to receive a proper diagnosis of his condition. He started stuttering when he was six. His mother, Gisela Andraca, appeared in a video clip with her husband to explain Arbos' condition."He went through a lot of therapy but he never improved," Andraca says in Spanish.
Speaking to the judges, Arbos described his speech pattern to be "like a roller coaster." He struggles with the rise and fall of speaking intonations. The words often stop halfway before coming out in a wave. But the situation changes when he sings.
Scroll down to play the video and watch Arbos' American Idol audition. Several YouTube users uploaded the clip, which has collectively drawn over a million views in less than three days.
"We don't know where my stuttering came from. It's just something that goes on and no one really knows why," Arbos told the Idol crew in his pre-audition clip. The judges were moved by his performance of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."
"I love your tone. I love the way you sing," Keith Urban told Arbos. "I love that you did that song. It's one of my all time favorite songs. It just elicits so much emotion," he added.
Arbos said nobody wanted to hang out with him when he was a kid, so it was always school and home for the boy.
"Since he's always alone, and has few friends, I think music is his life," said his dad, Reinaldo Arbos. "I think without it, he wouldn't know what to do with his life because he loves his music."
VIDEO: Lazaro Arbos stuns American Idol judges, stammering problem disappears when he sings
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