is ready to move forward after his turn on season 22. “ is go, go, go. It’s exhausting and coming off of it feels like you want to break,” Blocker, 25, exclusively told at CMA Fest in Nashville on Saturday, June 8.

“Doing something like this, it’s like, ‘[I] gotta do it. Let’s keep going, man. This is awesome.

’” Blocker, a graphic designer from Dallas, finished in second place during last month and he had no clue that he would make it as far as he did. “Once we got to L.A.

and the shows were live, [judge ] come up after a show and she’d kind of gimme a look, like, ‘What are you doing?’” Blocker recalled on Saturday. “And then at the end, it’s like, ‘Are you seriously?’ Like, she came up to me and she was like, ‘What happens if you win this thing?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know. I have no idea.

I haven’t gotten that far yet.’” Blocker ultimately lost the competition to but has remained tight with Perry, 39. “We’re close now.

She’s a good friend and it’s definitely not what I was expecting when I left the room for the first time,” Blocker said. “Didn’t feel like we left on the right foot.” Blocker, who appreciated Perry’s “confidence” in his journey as an artist, is ready to pursue music full-time.

“It’s tough in Nashville ’cause you watch people climb the charts and you’re like, ‘I want that to be me. Should I be doing something that they’re doing?’” Blocker told “And over and over [the judge.