There's a reason why Jaycob Curlee seemed to come out of nowhere when he rocked the premiere of "America's Got Talent" last week: He more or less did.
"I normally just play in my house," said Curlee, a recent graduate of Daphne High School. "I would sit in my room, instead of going out with friends and things like that, I would just sit in my room and play."
"The school had a talent show and I did that," he said. "That's pretty much the only thing I've done in public that people could come out and listen to me."
His lack of stage experience evidently wasn't a drawback in the eyes of the show's producers, who saved Curlee for the grand finale of their two-hour season opener. They gave the soft-spoken 18-year-old plenty of time to tell his story of childhood abandonment, describing years when he felt like "somebody's luggage" before he and his younger sister Josie eventually were adopted by Kathy and Stephen Curlee. Then they stood back as he raised his voice on a clear, assured rendition of the John Mayer song "Waiting for the World to Change," bringing the audience to its feet.
That talent show? Curlee's band won. In hindsight, maybe fans could say that was a foreshadowing of good things to come. But Curlee's road to "America's Got Talent" really started with his mother. "We'd seen the show and we liked it," she said. She thought Jaycob's talents would be a good fit, she said.
"I've always watched the show. And I would look up YouTube videos and watch the crowd reaction," Jaycob said. "I get really nervous. And my mom signed me up, and she didn't tell me until it was like the day before ... She didn't want me to get nervous and overthink it."
This was last November. The auditions didn't fall on the most convenient day.
"It was a Friday night (that) I had to leave," Jaycob said. "I'm in the band, well I was in the band, at Daphne High School, and I had to miss a game. It was senior night, actually. And so I got recognized and immediately right after pregame, I left. And we drove all the way to Atlanta, because Saturday morning we had to wake up at six in the morning and go audition."
Jaycob said he was tired and excited at the auditions. The show's celebrity judges weren't there, just producers who were sifting through the host of applicants for eye-catching talent. And at least one of them seemed to like Jaycob's voice and his story.
"Right off the bat, it was just amazing," said Jaycob. "He really saw something in me. It was really uplifting to have people of that stature tell me such great things about me. For so long I've just sat in my room, and you're your own worst critic. To hear people say, 'That's great,' it was amazing."
Even so, he came home from Atlanta without knowing if he'd make it any further. He thinks it was January when he finally got an e-mail summoning him to the next round. It was March before he actually got to sing for the judges, and then he had to keep the results of that performance secret for two months, until the show aired.
"I wasn't allowed to tell anybody," he said. "It was hard."
Jaycob's talent was no longer a secret. And his life was no longer the same.
"It's just outrageous, how amazing the community has been," Jaycob said. "I went from just being a normal 18-year-old boy to having girls and (other) people come up to me, like, 'Can I take a picture,' 'Can I have your autograph,' 'You're amazing.' It's awesome."
"That gives me goosebumps. I love it," he said. "Without them I wouldn't be where I am right now."
Of course, that interest has to be fed and nursed along until his next appearance on the show. That likely is a few weeks down the road, since the first round of auditions is ongoing. "I'm on everything," he said. "I'm on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, It's like a job now. I have to keep track of everything and make sure that I don't get lazy."
"I'm okay with waiting," he said. "I just hope that the fans don't get impatient. Right now what I'm trying to do is just reply back to the fans and show my support for them supporting me, and just keep people's attention until then. Because that night, when the show aired, I was the No. 2 trending thing in the world on Twitter. It's amazing."
He's also got time to think about how he'll live up to the show's competitive side. In the first round, it was enough to make a splash. From now on, there will be pressure to step up his game every time he takes the stage.
"That's definitely something that I keep in my mind, because of people reacting the way they did, about the first song," he said. "It's something that I definitely have to think about going in to the next round. ... It's amazing to have that response to that song and how I did it, but at the same time I have to keep pushing and keep pushing, I can't get complacent."
He's in a funny place, where in the minds of millions of listeners, he's defined by one song. Before he sang it, viewers might have guessed from his look that he'd go country. ("I get that a lot," he said.) Now, they have to guess where he might go next. He's not saying.
"I have a wide range of musical interests," he said. "I love guitar players: Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, John Mayer especially. But I love (songwriters) Jason Mraz and Ed Sheeran. I like old-school music, I like new music. It's just, I like music in general." Jaycob credited DHS band director Jamar Dumas and associate director Mark Foster with helping to broaden his tastes.
Might he sing an original song at some point? It's not out of the question, though he's self-deprecating about his own compositions.
"I do write my own music, I write my own songs," he said. "But at 18 years old I really haven't experienced much, other than, like, dating girls. So they're pretty much just songs about girls. I don't think I've reached the point in my life where I've experienced anything other than that."
It's a somewhat surprising statement, given the impact that the story of his childhood had on the "America's Got Talent" judges and audience. But he doesn't seem to be in a rush to set those experiences to song.
"It's kind of like it's in the past," he said, "and I really don't like to think about it because, I'm with my family, you know what I'm saying, and they love me and there's no need to look back and reminisce about the past when I have such a great family."
At the same time, he's aware that his story has generated a tremendous response among adoption agencies and people whose lives have been touched by adoption. At the moment he's constrained somewhat by the needs of the show, but he's eager to respond.
"As soon as I am allowed to do any sort of campaigning or anything, that's the first thing I'm going to do," he said. "Because it changed my life, and if I can affect people in a positive manner or help raise awareness or money for that kind of program, then that's first on my agenda."
The show opens up some exciting possibilities, but it also brings some uncertainly.
"After America's Got Talent, depending on the outcome, I'll either continue music, or go to the University of South Alabama," Jaycob said. "Major in business and maybe become a hospital administrator or something like that."
In the meantime, he doesn't mind the wait to see what comes next. It's part of an incredible experience.
"There's a lot of great talent," he said of his competition. "When they say that it's one of the best seasons they've had, I mean, they're a bunch of amazing, talented people. And it's humbling to be associated with them. To see them as my peers is just amazing to think about."
His secret weapon might just be the hometown support he's felt since the show aired.
"I definitely want people to know it mean absolutely the world to me that I have such great support in my community," he said. "It's just astonishing. And I really appreciate it, and I hope to keep their attention and give them all that I can."