'American Idol's' Chris Daughtry Says Singers Can Hit Big Without Show Now

Chris Daughtry is acknowledging aspiring professional singers these days might not need something like "American Idol" to launch their careers ... but he's walking a fine line here.

The 'Idol' alum was at LAX Monday, and our photog chatted him up about the modern landscape of music and television -- which, in the good old days of the aughts, made for the perfect combination of stardom on shows like 'AI' and others.

CD, of course, is a great example of that -- he didn't win the competition, but came out as a hugely popular artist nonetheless ... and he's been incredibly successful in the music biz.

With that in mind, our camera guy asks if he thinks 'Idol' is pretty much obsolete in the era of TikTok -- when up-and-comers can go viral much more easily than back then ... and break into the industry with a little more ease.

Welp, Chris won't go so far as to say 'Idol' is ancient and irrelevant -- you can tell he doesn't wanna straight up trash the show -- but he does note the obvious ... there are other routes.

Basically, Chris says he's just not sure if there are less people going out for 'Idol' in 2024 as there were back in 2004. On the question of whether can churn out megastars the way you used to in its heyday ... there, too, he kinda gives a shrugged-shoulder response.

Like he says ... he's lucky enough to where he doesn't have to think about that -- 'cause he's been there and conquered the mountain. In other words, he caught the good wave!