A 23-year-old from Murphy, North Carolina is competing to be the next voice you add to your playlist.

Braden Rumfelt is in the top 20 to be this year’s “American Idol.”

Rumfelt never planned to audition for the competition show, fearing rejection, and didn’t even sign up. A friend submitted his name without telling him.

Nine months later, he’s in Los Angeles rehearsing for the start of live performances.

“It’s been the craziest, most fun thing I’ve ever done in my entire life,” Rumfelt said.

He has a twin brother, who is also a musician, and has accompanied him on guitar for some of his performances.

“When I was a baby in a crib, my dad actually put musical instruments at the foot of my crib,” he said. “He did the same thing for my brother, and his stuck a little bit better than mine on the instrument. But that’s kind of where it started.”

Rumfelt’s passion was on the baseball field, but he suffered injuries and had two knee surgeries in two years. At the same time, he was working as a college advisor at Tri-State Community College in Cherokee County. He said he quietly felt “miserable” that he wasn’t using his musical gift.

“When that [sports] was taken away because of injuries, it’s like I kind of went back to it [and] fell in love with it [music] again, and then, now we’re here,” he said. “It’s just like it all came together, right when I was feeling like such a failure for not doing anything with it [music], and nobody knew that I was feeling that way.”

Rumfelt most recently performed in front of a crowd of hundreds as part of the show’s episodes in Hawaii. He said that was less nerve-wracking than when he faced a trio of superstars: the judges.

“I really look up to Lionel Richie,” he said. “I also love Luke Bryan… But Carrie Underwood also. I watch the NFL, and she does the ‘Been waiting all day for Sunday night.’ I was probably the most nervous person on the planet walking in there.”

A lover of pop and rock, but prominently, soul and gospel, Rumfelt said his upcoming performance will likely go back to his traditional roots.

“What I’m most looking forward to is just getting on that stage again,” he said. “The exposure is awesome and the support is so, so cool, but I’m really in love with being on the stage and performing.”