efore the whirlwind, two-hour live episode of “American Idol” got underway on April 28, 2025, judge Luke Bryan took a break from wondering who would make it into the top 10 and focused, instead, on two very special audience members.
Nine-year-old Adira and 10-year-old Brantley got to meet the country superstar before the show, thanks to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. According to ABC’s “Good Morning America,” the children have both overcome significant medical challenges and have now, incredibly, become the 58th and 59th kids Bryan has granted wishes to during his career.
Luke Bryan Takes Kids Behind-the-Scenes at ‘American Idol’
As part of World Wish Day on April 29, “GMA” shared footage of Bryan meeting Adira and Brantley, who both told ABC they were huge fans of the country star, singing his songs since they were “little.”
The kids and their families, were treated like superstars as part of Disney’s first-ever Week of Wishes, during which dozens of kids are living out their dreams, according to ABC News, from a princess-themed ball at Disney World for 50 families to a child who will meet one of her heroes from Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Video from GMA showed Adira and Brantley arriving at the “American Idol” studios via a luxury sprinter van and walking around the soundstage with their families, posing for photos. They got to meet some of the contestants, including Kolbi Jordan, Slater Nalley, and Filo — hours before he was eliminated from the show that night.
Before meeting Bryan, Adira smiled as she told GMA, “I’m pretty excited about it ’cause he’s my favorite singer and I know a lot of his songs.”
“I’ve always liked him my whole life,” Brantley echoed, as GMA shared home videos of the kids dancing and singing along with Bryan’s songs. “When I was littler, I would sing a lot of Luke Bryan’s songs.”
While the kids were standing on the “blue carpet” where the stars conduct press interviews, Bryan burst onto the scene and they both looked star struck as he got down on his knees to chat with them. He then took them backstage, admitting he’d never brought kids back there before, and showed them where he, Lionel Richie, and Carrie Underwood stand before the wall opens for their grand entrance at the start of each live show.
“These walls come open and then everybody starts screaming,” he told them.
Carrie Underwood is Also a Big Supporter of Make-a-Wish
Although GMA did not disclose the Adira and Brantley’s specific medical conditions, Make-a-Wish says it grants wishes to children ages two-and-a-half to 18 who’ve been diagnosed with a critical illness, defined as “a progressive, degenerative or malignant condition that is placing the child’s life in jeopardy.”
Ryan Seacrest gave a shout out to Adira and Brantley during the April 28 live show, and said that Disney is the world’s largest wish for Make-a-Wish, “granting one wish every hour of every day.” Over the last 45 years, per ABC, the company has granted 165,000 wishes to kids facing serious medical issues.
Bryan also posted some pics on Instagram and wrote, “Backstage at #idol with my new friends from @makeawishamerica. Thankful to have met both of you!”
Underwood is also a big supporter of Make-a-Wish, donating a dollar from every ticket to her Las Vegas residency to the organization, which resulted in presenting them with a check for $236,844 in April, according to the Tennessean.
On the last night of her residency, April 12, she brought Noel Miller onstage, a woman who’d met Underwood as part of her own Make-a-Wish experience when she was just 12 in 2008. As part of their reunion, Underwood and Miller sang “American Girl” together.
