Caleb Lee Hutchinson Proves He Isn't the Kid He Used to Be on New Song 'Who I Am'

There is a tendency to remember Caleb Lee Hutchinson as the shy teen from American Idol, crooning his way to the runner-up spot of the show's sixteenth season while professing his love for the eventual winner of the singing competition show.

But the kid with the sweet country voice has grown up — a lot.

"I actually moved into this house back before the pandemic even started," Hutchinson, 22, tells PEOPLE from his wood-paneled kitchen. "At times it felt like a tomb, and at times it felt like a bouncy castle in a way. But it's been cool. I've realized a lot of things about myself in this house."

Indeed, with growth comes a renewed sense of confidence now coming from Hutchinson, as he looks to fight the all-too-common myriad of misconceptions about him via the power of his forthcoming album Slot Machine Syndrome, the same misconceptions that he rails against on the proclamation that is the album cut "Who I Am."

"I was just at this weird time in my life where I felt like a lot of different people had different expectations of me," says Hutchinson about the song that he wrote a couple of years back. "I just felt a little overwhelmed. I was still a teenager and just felt all this pressure. And so really that song was a chance for me to write down how I was feeling."

Getting honest with those feelings he had floating around his head did find itself in the songwriting for this new project, much of which was created during a crucial time over the pandemic where Hutchinson found himself making some important decisions about the trajectory of both his personal and professional life.

"In that kind of way, I think the pandemic motivated me to think about how life's short and you can't ever predict what's going to happen," says Hutchinson. "So, if I'm going to do this thing, I might as well make stuff that makes me happy."

And yes, at his core, what makes him happy is one of the things about Hutchinson that has in fact stayed the same since the blonde from Georgia first stepped on the stage. Yet, on the tracks of the forthcoming Slot Machine Syndrome, Hutchinson sounds a tad grittier, a tad angrier and a whole lot more mature.

"It just feels like I've aged 40 years over this pandemic," he laughs about the cuts on the EP set for release on Sept. 17. "I guess this is just what 62-year-old Caleb sounds healthy."

He laughs again, but there is a deeper reason for the depth of sound coming out of his mouth these days.

"These past couple years, I have struggled," he says. "I think it's probably pretty normal for anyone in their super early 20s to not fully know their place on the earth. I've come to terms with who I am. I've learned how to prioritize and right now for me, the thing that's tops to me is authenticity."

Because if there is anyone who has been authentic from the get-go, it's Hutchinson.

"People questioned my authenticity because I was on a television show," says Hutchinson, who will play his first headlining show in Nashville at the famed Brooklyn Bowl on Aug. 29. "I've talked about this with [Season 10 winner of American Idol] Scotty McCreery. I mean, I've talked to tons of people that have felt that. The assumption about anyone that goes on a reality TV singing show of any kind is, 'Oh, they just want to be famous.' I'm sure that's true for some, but for me, that was never the goal."

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And it's this authenticity that drew the Grammy-nominated Americana talent Brent Cobb to want to work with Hutchinson on Slot Machine Syndrome.

"It's the most comfortable I've ever felt," says Hutchinson. "It's the most present I've ever really felt. He had tons of ideas and vision, but he also gave me plenty of space to say what I needed to say. Cause you know, he knew that these songs were my babies."

And while much has changed since his days on American Idol, there's one other thing that hasn't.

He's still in love with Maddie Poppe.

"This past year has been difficult, but it's been cool having her and having my friends that are involved in the music industry. It's nice to have a little sense of camaraderie here, I guess, with all these people that have no clue what they're doing with their lives, especially when it feels like the world is upside down and inside out," Hutchinson says with a laugh. "She frequently visits here, and I've gone up there and it's fun times. It's good."