[4][10][11][12] In many of these videos, he portrayed his alter ego, Jimmie Walker Blue, the character he introduced during the semi-final round of American Idol.

[7][13][14] Aside from singing and beatboxing, Lewis plays the guitar, keyboard, drums and has written many songs such as "She Loves the Way", "Emotional Waterfalls", "Dumpty Humpty" and "Jealousy".

[15][16][17] He describes himself as an improv musician and often uses devices such as loop pedals and the Kaoss Pad to layer beatboxing, instruments, vocals and effects to create a song live on stage.

[25] Though he initially found American Idol unappealing, Lewis auditioned for it in Seattle with "Crazy" by Seal and an off-screen rendition of "Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5.

The memorable performance received a standing ovation from the audience and Paula Abdul, who commented "that brought down the house".

In an early episode of the United Kingdom edition of American Idol, Lewis recalled his first solo performance in the Hollywood's Week was "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" by The Temptations.

[29] Lewis ended up the last male contestant standing, despite Simon's first impression that the singer was a bit "over the top" adding "I don't know if you're as good as you think you are".

Lewis, upon entering the top 2 on May 16, 2007, he thus became the first ever contestant from the Northwestern United States (specifically, Washington) to compete in the finale.

Lewis incorporated a substantial beatboxing component, making the song sound significantly different from its original version.

Jon Bon Jovi, the lead singer of the band who also coached the contestants that week, noted that Lewis' rendition was "rolling the dice".

He made numerous appearances at radio stations and then played a concert in Seattle at Westlake Center, including a performance of "Baby Got Back" with Sir Mix-a-Lot.

Afterwards, he proceeded to Safeco Field to sing the national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", for the Seattle Mariners's Game.

[39] Responding to a viewer question on March 13, 2007, he had also confessed his love of "underground hip hop, electronic music" such as Common Market and Panda Conspiracy, with an addition of The Mob Law, which in Lewis' opinion, "should be signed to a major label".

[40] While being the last two contestants waiting for the results on May 2, Lewis and Chris Richardson answered Ryan Seacrest's question about their close relationship, saying that they are best friends.

[42][43][44] Furthermore, Lewis claimed in an interview with The Blaker Girls that besides Richardson, Cárdenas and Sligh, his best friends on the show were Brandon Rogers, Jordin Sparks and Gina Glocksen.

Figures from SoundScan which were posted on USA Today indicated that Lewis' "You Give Love a Bad Name" was "the biggest-selling download of the season", with 192,000 copies sold.

He revealed on The View on June 14, 2007, that all the male contestants on the show would be playing musical instruments on the tour (for the first time ever), "doing like a folk band," and that he would bring along his loop pedals for his beatboxing.

[55][non-primary source needed][56][non-primary source needed] Lewis was named number five in the list of the ten sexiest Idol contestants ever on the website during the running of the sixth season of American Idol and was ranked number 21 in the list of music's 21 sexiest single men on June 11, 2007, on AOL.com.

[57][58] Later in the issue of People magazine on June 15, 2007, the brand-new runner-up of Idol appeared on its list of "Hottest Bachelors of 2007".

On June 25, 2008 Entertainment Weekly officially announced that Lewis was dropped by his label, Arista, but will remain on Idol creator Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings roster.

The pair will be co-producing the effort, which Lewis describes as "Massive Attack meets Zero 7 – drum-and-bass with a little pop influence.

It was also reported on KIIS-FM that Lewis will collaborate with Chris Richardson, KJ Sawka and Ryan "Alias" Tedder.

"[73] It was reported that Lewis has collaborated with his friends on the band, Project Lionheart at a track called "My Eyes" and "Hell Yeah".

He was going to release his third studio album Portrait of a Chameleon in spring 2013 and the first single "Your Touch" premiered on February 26, 2013, on a commercial for Internet Explorer 10.

[82] Lewis released his fourth studio album, Wanderlust Unknown, on January 24, 2020, featuring lead singles "Pot of Gold" and "Trouble".

The album featured collaborations with fellow American Idol alum Elliott Yamin and new recording artist Olivia Kuper Harris.

[88][non-primary source needed] Lewis has been supporting cancer research at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle by donating 50% of the proceeds from the merchandise of The Blaker Girls.

[10][90] In 2010 Lewis competed on Don't Forget the Lyrics to raise money for the Seattle Children's Hospital, a charity that he has worked with for over ten years.