By Zach Collier
Not sure what’s in the water, but Utah teens are absolutely killing it as far as musical talent is concerned. For example, teen singer Paige Fish has racked up millions of streams – a goal most musicians will never attain – before earning her high school diploma. Not far behind her is Danny Kenny, a recent Lone Peak High School grad who’s growing a massive TikTok following with his solid vocals and winning combination of humor and heart wrenching emotion.
Most of his success stems from a song he wrote for his high school graduation, which went viral and accumulated 17.7 million views on TikTok alone. The song was covered by LDS Living, ABC4 Utah, and even The New York Post, with the latter lauding him for rhyming “half cooked burritos” and “reduced fat Doritos.”
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“I was insanely grateful to be performing for my school’s graduation and it felt surreal being up there at the piano,” says Kenny about the immediate live response to the song. “The audience’s reaction to my jokes and lyrics was more than I could have ever asked for.”
As well received as his live performance was, he wasn’t originally going to post the recording of it. “My mom kind of nudged me to post it,” he says. “So I eventually did a few days after graduation and I’m so insanely glad that I did.”
Listen to your moms, guys.
90k followers and 2.6 million likes later, he’s got an incredible jumping off point for a future music career – especially as a songwriter who’s able to hook you with laughter before executing a masterful bait-and-switch and sending you home crying.
He’s had several promising breaks since going viral. “I’ve had TrippythaKid, Forest Blakk, Landon Boyce, and other amazing artists reach out to me about my graduation song,” he says. Another important DM? An invite from a casting manager to come audition for American Idol.
While the audition process is different for everyone (some people pass through several rounds and never make it into the judges’ round), the outlook is good for Kenny. It’s likely he’ll have a spot in either LA or Nashville. How does he think it’ll all turn out? Laughing, he says, “I don’t really know to be honest. All I know is that I’ll fly out at some point to somewhere and sing something to someone and MAYBE get aired.”
The kid has a good head on his shoulders, and is already looking forward to a career in music no matter what happens with the American Idol opportunity. He’ll attend BYU in downtown Provo this fall, where he’ll join the Commercial Music program. He aims to help others write, produce, mix, and master their material while pursuing a career as a performer himself.
As a huge fan of piano pop, I love Danny Kenny’s song “Time to Myself.” When I told him it reminded me of Jamie Cullum, I was immediately reminded of our generational divide. “I’ve actually never heard of Jamie Cullum!” he said. Luckily, he followed that up with his affinity for the band Lawrence – one of my all-time favs. “Their songs that had the biggest influence on ‘Time to Myself’ were ‘More’ and ‘Probably Up,’” he says.
I’m looking forward to seeing where things go for Danny Kenny. In the meantime, everyone should follow him on Instagram and check out his song “Time to Myself” below.