Meet the Top 12 Contestants of ‘American Idol’ 2025

It’s a journey that began last summer with auditions for season 23 of the long-running TV talent competition American Idol. Then, judges Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan decided which contestants would earn golden tickets to Hollywood Week. Twenty-four singers who survived those tough sessions were flown to Hawaii to perform for audiences at Disney’s Aulani resort, then returned to Hollywood to face the judgment of the viewing audience at home. With over one billion votes already registered this season, the competition has narrowed down show by show. Nearing the end of the season, the top 14 performed in the Idol arena at Red Studios on Sunday (April 27), and at the end of the two-hour live broadcast, two hopefuls were sent home and the top 12 moved on to Monday (April 28) night’s episode.

For the first six seasons of Idol, contestants were not allowed to do interviews with media until they were eliminated from the competition. That changed in season 7, when Billboard first sat down with the top 10 for a series of in-depth talks. That tradition has continued every season since. A few days ago, the top 14 filed in one at a time to an office in the famed Hollywood studio where Idol originates (it was once home to I Love Lucy and The Golden Girls). There they were grilled about their formative years, their connection to the series, their musical education, their feelings about the judges and lessons learned.

Here are the stories of the top 12 contestants and the two singers eliminated on Sunday.

• Thunderstorm Artis

  

  Born: Dec. 21, 1995 – Kailua, Hawaii
  Musical Influences: James Taylor, John Denver, the Beatles, Sam Cooke, Donny Hathaway, Richie Havens
  Currently Listening To: Lewis Capaldi, JP Cooper, John Legend
  First Idol Experience: “It meant a lot to me when Jennifer Hudson was on (season 3).” 
  Favorite Alums: Alejandro Aranda, Phillip Phillips, Tori Kelly, Carrie Underwood

  The seventh child of 11 offspring and raised on the North Shore of Oahu in a little town called Haleiwa, Artis tells Billboard he was “born into music.” His father, Ron Artis, worked with writer/producer Norman Whitfield at Motown and toured with Shalamar, and his mother was a singer with an affinity for opera and jazz who worked with Lionel Richie long before her son met the man who would be judging him on American Idol.

  “My earliest memory of music is every morning my dad would run through classical and jazz songs on his piano. I remember waking up in my little bed and laying down underneath the piano because it was always a place of peace for me.”

  The young Artis grew up playing in the family’s band. “My dad always said he never wanted to force us into music, but if we wanted to learn it, he was going to teach us everything that he knew. I played drums, bass, guitar, percussion and piano. We learned music theory and writing. It was a lot of fun but music became a special thing for me in my father’s house when I was around 13 or 14.

  “We had a little studio gallery on the front street of Haleiwa. We lived in the back and we would play music every day. We were a bunch of home-schooled kids, and folks would come to our house and we would play original music for them. We’d write songs on the spot. My eldest brother was the main singer. One day my family was out of town and I was the only one in the shop. Some people came by and asked, ‘Can we hear some songs? It’s our last day in town.’ So I grabbed a guitar and sang a couple songs that I worked on that no one had ever heard. That’s when I first thought this is something I could do as a career. And then I realized music was a form of therapy for me and I should pursue this. My oldest brother and I were a duo for the longest time and he helped me cultivate the gift of singing and learning to write. In 2018 I started to work on more solo material.”

  Artis never took any formal music or voice lessons. “I learned everything from my family. One of the most important lessons our parents taught us was how to learn. If you don’t know something, instead of pretending to know it, ask questions. I was always around talented artists in Hawaii and I was always asking questions and that helped shape my music.”

  Artis recalls one of the first songs he ever wrote, “What Music Means to Me.” He had stopped doing music for a year to help his family pay their bills. “We were going through a hard time. When I wrote that song, I realized that music was in my heart and soul and I would never let it go. I knew I could help my family more through my craft instead of putting music aside.”

  Artis has already learned some lessons from his Idol journey. “Don’t compare yourself. I’m not the most acrobatic singer. I don’t do fancy runs and sometimes I look at that as a handicap. I want to tell a good story and communicate the importance of music and getting the opportunity to do that on a stage like this and see the response has really shown me that I have something special that the world loves and wants to see more of. No matter how much further I make it on the show, it’s going to empower me to try to grow my career to the next level.”

  While he appreciates the judges’ comments, one special insight was courtesy of artist-in-residence Jelly Roll. “He talked about the importance of having your eyes open. I’ve written music and performed it from a very internal place, but he explained that people need to see and feel that and if you open up your eyes and connect with them, you show them your soul and allow them to participate with you rather than them being a spectator. So I have tried to bring that into every song that I’ve done on the show.” Looking to the future, Artis says, “I walk through life with no expectations. I live with this mentality that no one owes me anything. I want to take the music as far and big as I can, not just for myself but for my kids and for my wife. If even one person is touched by what I do, then that’s enough.”

• Ché

  

  Born: Aug. 18, 1996 – East London, U.K.
  Musical Influences: Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Boyz II Men, Luther Vandross, Smokey Robinson, Tom Jones, The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Wu-Tang Clan, Big Pun
  Currently Listening To: Teddy Swims, Allen Stone, H.E.R.
  First Idol Experience: “I remember Ruben Studdard winning on season 2.”
  Favorite Alums: Elliott Yamin, Fantasia, Clark Beckham, Joshua Ledet, Ruben Studdard, DeAndre Brackensick

  “My earliest memory of music is hearing my dad singing and whistling around the house,” says Ché, who explains that his father had some offers from Sony Music in the U.K. when he was young but chose to keep music as a hobby rather than a profession.

  “My dad always tried to teach me little things about music. I started singing at six years old and took it seriously around the age of nine. I would perform for my family in the living room and would always put myself up for performing at school. After I left school, I ended up in a rock band called Jinx. There were four of us and we wrote our own songs and I always tried to add a soulful flavor to a rock instrumental. It was a very weird combination, but it worked and it gave me a lot of experience performing in pubs and clubs in the U.K. It got my confidence up.” But Jinx did not have a long run. “It was very much a college thing. After that finished, I wanted to do my own thing.”

  Ché wrote his first songs when he was 14. “One was called ‘Change,’ which was about relationships. I didn’t know anything about relationships at 14. One was called ‘King’ and was about becoming a king and not being able to take the pressure and having all the responsibility that comes along with it. It was another song I wrote that I didn’t really understand at that age. But I love writing. I love being with the band and being in that environment, even now with the other contestants. We’re constantly helping each other and learning from each other.”

  While all three Idol judges have offered their opinions of his performances, some specific comments from Luke Bryan have stayed with Ché. “He said he would come to my shows and buy my albums. He also talked about my song choices. I’ve performed songs that I love to sing, that are now in circulation on social media.”

  Like this year’s other finalists, Ché’s time with Idol began months before the show made its season premiere on ABC in March. Asked what the most important thing he has learned in the intervening months, he replied, “To enjoy it and not let it pass you by. Everything goes so quickly and from my first audition to now, we have gone from 120,000 people trying out to (12). It’s an incredible journey and I want to experience the emotions I’m feeling and enjoy my time here.”

  One thing that separates Ché from the other season 23 finalists is that his home is in the U.K., not the U.S. “It was a little scary coming over at first, because I wasn’t sure how I was going to be received. But everyone at American Idol has been fantastic and the contestants have been fantastic as well and have welcomed me. I’ve done stuff like this before and it doesn’t compare to the experience I’ve had this time. It’s not an easy thing to do to be on a competition like this or a television show in general. All the emotions that you go through, it’s a massive roller coaster of up and down, up and down. So you have to be really prepared for that and American Idol has made it so easy.”

• Filo

  

  Born: Aug. 22, 2001 – Cairo, Egypt
  Musical Influences: Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion
  Currently Listening To: Bruno Mars, Beyoncé, Adele
  First Idol Experience: “I’ve been watching since I grew up in Egypt. As a little kid I was pulling up videos of the show any way I could. I remember Carrie [Underwood’s] journey, the compilation of every performance of hers. And Kelly Clarkson and Fantasia.
  Favorite Alums:  Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Ruben Studdard, Katharine McPhee, Phillip Phillips, La’Porsha Renae, Quintavious, Roman Collins

  For the first seven years of his life, Filo lived with his family in Egypt, where he was introduced to music by the hymns at his Coptic Orthodox Christian church. “It was very much traditional, group singing with just melody, no instruments. That is where I started using my voice, but I didn’t put any thought into it. It wasn’t until I was 10 years old and my brother started downloading music on our iPad where I was introduced to mainstream music. That’s when I first got to hear Mariah Carey, Bruno Mars, John Legend and Meghan Trainor. From there, I sang in the shower and then my uncle said to my mom, ‘Are you hearing this?’”

  But Filo says he never got approval for his “shower shows.” “We had moved to Abu Dhabi and there was a church choir we had put together. I loved the message of one particular song and auditioned to sing the solo. A lot of heads turned around when I started singing and that’s when I noticed, ‘Wow, maybe there’s something there. I love this. I love singing for people.’”

  Filo’s mom, who has been an emotional presence on Idol this season, realized her son was interested in music and arranged for him to have voice and piano lessons. “That didn’t last long because after two months we moved to the States,” says Filo.

  It was a turbulent time for the family. “There was a big revolution in Egypt where Christians were targeted. They burned mom’s hometown church in Minya down. We were lucky to get a visa to the States from the UAE. Luckily, the U.S. opened its doors and now we’re citizens, which is great.”

  Along with his mother and older brother, Filo relocated to San Francisco. “It took a minute for me to fit in. Society here is so different to how it was back home and it was really a challenge finding a community. Luckily there were a few Coptic churches around where we lived, so it was slightly easier to transition. I was this awkward kid in eighth grade until I saw a poster for a school musical. I didn’t even know what a musical was. But I thought I would audition for it – it was the junior version of Shrek the Musical.”

  Filo says that everyone else was prepared for the audition but he didn’t know any of the show’s songs and so tried out with Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man.” And then? “I got the part of Shrek! That’s when I first felt like I belonged. People enjoyed what I was doing and I thought, ‘This is what I’m meant to do.’”

  Moving on to high school, Filo was cast in all of his school’s musicals: Urinetown, In the Heights, Grease and Rent. He joined the choir and competed in local and national choir competitions, including one at Carnegie Hall. “In high school, everything revolved around my music activities.”

  Filo was then accepted by the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., where he studied classical music. But people back home had other expectations. “In Egypt, there are only three acceptable careers: Engineer, doctor or lawyer. That’s it, and nothing else matters. The most random people would come up to me and say, ‘So you’re doing this music thing, but what are you actually doing?’ ‘No, I’m doing music.’ ‘As a hobby. So what are you actually doing?’ I’d reply, ‘Great, thank you for your input.’ I didn’t know what to tell them.”

  As a result, Filo studied for a music degree while also following a premed route. “Then, in my senior year, COVID happened.” That’s when Filo told his family he was going to dedicate his life to music.

  Being on Idol has reinforced that decision. “I’ve learned how much I love to do this. This has not been an easy journey. You’re putting yourself out there for people to criticize and to have opinions. Often people don’t see the vision that you’re seeing or they’re not seeing the career that you want to have. Choosing music has proven to me how resilient I can be. It affirms not just my singing ability, but my character. Like, I’ve got this. No matter what happens on Idol, I’ve still got a vision and I’ve still got the love for the music. That’s what I’ve discovered about myself.”

• John Foster

  

  Born: July 9, 2006 – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  Musical Influences: George Strait, Willie Nelson
  Currently Listening To: Ryan Foret, George Strait, Zach Top
  First Idol Experience: “The first exposure I can remember is my family went to Disney World when we were kids and my sister did the American Idol Experience.”
  Favorite Alums: Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Scotty McCreery

  Growing up in the West Baton Rouge Parish of Addis, John Foster’s earliest memory of music is listening to swamp pop artist Roland Doucet when he woke up on Saturday and Sunday mornings. “My family has a house on the Bayou. We call it the Camp. In the summer of 2020 the power went out. I can’t sleep without a fan blowing in my face, so I moseyed downstairs. We had an ice chest that was converted to a Bluetooth speaker powered by a car battery so it worked even though the power was out. It was pitch black and the only light was this little light coming from the speaker.”

  Joined by his family in the dark, Foster’s cousin suggested John should try karaoke. “I was petrified, deathly afraid. Never even considered it. I was 14 years old at this point. A lot of people that you talk to say, ‘I’ve been singing since I was three.’ ‘I’ve been singing since I was five years old.’ Not me. I had been focused on academics.” But since his family couldn’t see him, he thought he might as well give it a try. “They couldn’t believe that shy little nerdy me could sing and especially sing country music, swamp pop and Cajun music as well as old country. My parents listened to ’80s and ’90s country my entire childhood. I was so comfortable with it and was able to sing it decently in this pitch-black environment with my family around.”

  Soon, Foster was singing for more family members and friends. “A couple months later, I made my first public appearance at a bar called Gros’ Marina in Morgan City, Louisiana. We were at the Camp of course and we put the boat down. There was a band playing there, and my uncle Gaylen Martin, who I attribute my career to because he’s been a musician since he was 13 years old, was with us. He was the one who constantly pushed me to be a musician. He told the band, ‘I’m a musician and my nephew has been doing karaoke for us and it would be great to get him on stage.’

  “They reluctantly let me sing and I performed ‘The Cowboy Rides Away’ by George Strait, ‘Hello Josephine’ by Fats Domino and ‘The Back Door,’ a Cajun/French song by D.L. Menard.” Foster says he was shaking, nervous and forgetting his lyrics. “But I got through it and that was a huge steppingstone for me.”

  He’s had no formal music training. His uncle Gaylen taught him his first four chords on guitar when he was 13. “They were the chords to ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ by John Denver. I took that and learned the rest by myself.”

  Foster wrote his first song when he was 15. “It was six months after I got my first guitar. The song is ‘Where Did I Go.’ I was starting to really grow up and with a childhood that I really adored, it was a weird feeling and I thought, where did I go? I’m this older person now. Where did that other person go? Where can I be found?”

  Asked about the most important thing he has learned so far on his Idol journey, Foster explains that he has always been a good covers artist, whether he’s imitating Conway Twitty or Waylon Jennings. “The first tip Lionel gave me in my audition was when he said, ‘I love your timbre. I love that Conway Twitty sound, but I want to hear you.’ And that’s something that I’ve really had to grapple with during my time on Idol. I can sound like George Strait, but I want to sound like John Foster. I can’t make a really big impact on country music sounding like other people.”

• Canaan James Hill

  

  Born: Oct. 21, 2007 – Dallas, Texas
  Musical Influences:  Daryl Coley, Karen Clark Sheard and all of the Clark Sisters, Le’Andria Johnson, Rance Allen
  Currently Listening To: Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Daryl Coley, Kim Burrell
  First Idol Experience: Watching with his mother, grandfather and grandmother.
  Favorite Alums:  Fantasia, Odell Bunton Jr., Quintavious, Roman Collins, Jennifer Hudson

  Canaan James Hill has probably already experienced his most memorable moment on Idol. “Viola Davis reposted my first audition and I thought, ‘Wait a minute. She just got through doing a movie.’ For her to take time out of her day to show love and support and posting that, that was a mind-blowing moment.”

  Hill first connected to music when he was five and heard his grandpa singing “I Love You Lord.” He remembers, “It pulled something in me and I said, ‘I want to do this.’ I started working on my voice and my craft and the better I got, I thought I might be able to go somewhere with this, and here we are today.”

  Hill participated in talent shows and acted on stage. He joined the choir and played saxophone in the school band. He never had formal vocal lessons but church was his music school. “I didn’t know if I was going to be a great singer, so preaching was my thing, which it still is.”

  When did Hill first think he would compete on American Idol? “That’s the thing,” he tells Billboard. “I never thought I would be on American Idol. I don’t like to be in competitions because I know my lane. Of course, this is a competition, but I see it more as a platform to minister on. I’m more focused on competing to help win souls for God. So it’s more an outreach than a competition for me.”

  Given those feelings, how did he end up on the show? “My cousin posted a video of me, but I didn’t know it.” That caught the eye of a producer at Idol who sent Hill a message. “When I saw the video, I thought my voice wasn’t 100 percent. I can’t believe he saw that video, of all videos, and reached out to me.”

  Hill has already tried his hand at songwriting. “I’ve written a couple of songs. At first I didn’t care much for my writing. My grandfather, who inspired me to do this, listened and told me they were great and I was really good at songwriting. I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ He inspired me to keep going with it.”

  Hill has won favorable comments from the judges. “Carrie advised me to reach out and connect with the audience more. I plan on doing that even more because it really helped me to feel the energy, the movement from the crowd, and it even gave me a bit more of a boost while singing on the stage. It pushed me to go even further.”

  And the most important lesson he has learned so far? “That there is more in me than I knew. I was a very shy person. You could not get me to go on a stage. But there were times that I did and I recognized there was some boldness within me that I hadn’t touched yet. Now that I’m here, I’m building even more confidence. I never thought that I’d be bending down on a stage, touching people’s hands in a crowd while I was singing a song. I’m so grateful to see that growth and what God is doing for me.”

• Kolbi Jordan

  

  Born: June 29, 1998 – Tulsa, Okla.
  Musical Influences:  Patti LaBelle, the Clark Sisters, Brian McKnight, Adele, Gladys Knight, Daryl Coley, Fred Hammond, Marvin Sapp, Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell
  Currently Listening To: Patsy Cline, Dusty Springfield, Lena Horne
  First Idol Experience: “Eleven years ago, I auditioned when I was a junior in high school.”
  Favorite Alums:  Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Grace Kinstler, Jennifer Hudson, Tori Kelly, Ruben Studdard

  “I remember waking up on Saturday mornings and gospel or R&B or Motown was playing and I knew it was time to get up. I was raised in the church, and I love almost every genre of music. When I was three, I made up silly songs with my family. I had my first solo in church and was able to showcase my talent at that young age.” After a few years of church singing, sixth-grader Jordan joined the school choir and band. “I played the trombone. From choir, I did high musicals like Shrek the Musical, Newsies, Cats, Once on This Island, Mary Poppins and The Addams Family.”

  Twelve years ago, Jordan auditioned for Idol for the first time. “I made it through the initial audition when they come to your city. But the second one, that’s when I got a no and it crushed me. I stopped singing for a little bit. But I kept going. It wasn’t the time. I didn’t even know myself yet. When you’re 15, you think you know, but you don’t. This season, I feel more myself. I feel like I know who Kolbi is, not only musically and vocally but also personally.”

  Jordan describes herself as an Idol fan. “That’s why it’s surreal that I’m here, that I’m doing the things they do and showcasing my talent. I didn’t put it together until I got off the stage in Hawaii. I said, ‘Wow, I’m really doing American Idol.’ It’s incredible. I’ve always been a fan of all three judges and to be able to have personal connections with them and have moments of dialogue and talking to them, that’s different from watching them do it to somebody else on TV. I just spoke to Fantasia. What?! I’m used to seeing her on YouTube or seeing her at the BET Awards doing something incredible.”

  All three judges have had an impact on Jordan. “Carrie told me at my audition, which I don’t think was aired, that I was anointed. I love that Luke thinks I have a great personality and that I can sing. I loved his comments after my ‘Amazing Grace’ performance. It definitely helped me keep going. And there’s something about Lionel that makes everybody feel like he understands us. Like he’s my uncle in real life, like he’s coming to the family reunion. He’s got that special touch.”

  Even though she is competing on Idol, Jordan is keeping up with her job in human resources for a dental company in Tulsa. “I’m working while I’m here, on my laptop in my dressing room while I’m waiting around. I’m learning a lot about myself, what I can handle, what I can’t handle.”

• Josh King

  

  Born: Dec. 21, 2000 – Toronto, Winston-Salem, N.C.
  Musical Influences: Michael Bublé, Rick Astley, Huey Lewis, Billy Joel, Elton John, James Cotton, Little Walter, Coldplay, Sara Bareilles, Madison Cunningham, Sheryl Crow, Journey
  Currently Listening To: Adele, Jacob Collier, Jon Batiste
  First Idol Experience: “I watched every now and then. I saw people go on the show and achieve their dreams. I never thought I’d be on the show.”
  Favorite Alums: Michael Johns, Clark Beckham, Pia Toscano, Carrie Underwood

  American Idol is not Josh King’s first television series appearance. Between the ages of 8 and 12, he was working as an actor in New York City and appeared in skits on Saturday Night Live, including one with Rihanna and Andy Samberg called “Shy Ronnie.” King is the student in the back of a classroom wearing a dunce cap.

  But his musical talent showed up even earlier. “When I was six, I was gifted a harmonica from my dad and I couldn’t put it down. I still haven’t put it down, to everyone’s discontent.” King didn’t take to the harmonica immediately. “It took me a couple of years to figure out how to play it. There was a lot of trial and error and then it clicked. I had a bit of help along the way, but for the most part, I figured it out.”

  That led to playing guitar and then singing. “One of the first times I ever sung in public was with my mentor James Cotton.” How did nine-year-old King meet the blues harmonica legend? “My mother was looking for harmonica players so I could learn some of their songs. We found out James was going to play B.B. King’s club in New York City. My mom asked me if I wanted to go. We really enjoyed the show and I snuck backstage to meet him and played for him. He took me under his wing. He would have me come to his shows and sit in and he introduced me to a lot of the blues greats like Pinetop Perkins and other blues OGs.

  “I met a lot of people through (Cotton) like Tower of Power, Billy Squier and Alan Merrill. He opened doors so I could really experience music, not just through performing, but through listening and learning. It was a very surreal experience. It’s hard to believe that it actually happened, because I was this kid hanging out at these blues clubs until 2 a.m. listening to blues and rock music and jazz.”

  Cotton brought King to Canada to play harmonica and sing for an audience of 10,000 people. “I was nervous, freaking out because I was scared I was going to mess up but then you get out on the stage and have fun.”

  King enjoyed music more than acting and learned to play the piano when he was 13. “I wasn’t a massive fan of guitar because I’m really terrible at pushing my fingers together. With the guitars, I’ve just never been able to really feel it, but piano is a lot easier than guitar and I wanted an instrument that I could play and sing because you can’t sing and play easily.”

  While being homeschooled, King joined a youth choir for a couple of months. “When I was 17, I started volunteering at local hospitals, singing for patients. At 18 I started singing at the airport.”

  Before receiving counsel from the judges, King had some good advice from season 14 runner-up Clark Beckham. “He told me, ‘Gratitude, always.’ You have to be thankful for everything, I didn’t expect to be here and I don’t expect to go further but I’m still thankful for this chance. There are so many things I’ve learned on the show, like how to work with everybody as a group, especially during Hollywood Week. If we hadn’t been there for each other, I don’t think a lot of us would have made it. The show teaches you a lot about the music industry, because you’re only as good as your team and everybody around you. It’s like summer camp, but on steroids, although I’ve never been to summer camp. It’s a very big learning experience. It’s mind blowing. I still have no idea what I’m doing.”

• Slater Nalley

  

  Born: Feb. 1, 2007 – Atlanta, Ga.
  Musical Influences:  Jason Isbell, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, John Prine, George Strait, Ronnie Milsap, Marcus King, the Avett Brothers, Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers
  Currently Listening To: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Marcus King, Brandi Carlile
  First Idol Experience: “I watched clips from YouTube my whole childhood and then I watched during the pandemic.”
  Favorite Alums: Will Moseley, Laine Hardy, Laci Kaye Booth, Benson Boone

  Slater Nalley is 18 now, so his elementary school days are in his not-too-distant past and that’s where he got his musical start, appearing in school musicals like The Princess and the Pea, A Christmas Carol and A Partridge in a Pear Tree. He continued on this path in middle school, also appearing in some non-musical plays, which is when he realized he was not interested in acting. There were more musicals in high school: Willy Wonka, Into the Woods and Newsies. He learned piano on his own. “I don’t read music,” he explains, “so I taught myself. I could only play a couple of songs so I moved to guitar – my aunt gave me a hand-me-down, broken guitar. That was the biggest blessing in my life.”

  Nalley learned chord shapes on YouTube. “I took pictures and then it was muscle memory and once I did that, I wrote music. I really secluded myself after middle school because I didn’t play any sports or have many friends, so I felt left out. But I could do music. I made TikTok and Instagram pages and sang covers and that led me to Idol.”

  Nalley remembers the first song he ever wrote. “It was called ‘Help Me Out’ and I played it on the ukelele. I have a video of it somewhere. It’s completely terrible. Then I wrote a song about a roller coaster. It was fun and then I wrote ‘Blisters,’ which is one of my favorite songs I’ve written and then I wrote ‘Foolish Pride.’”

  There was a moment when Nalley first realized he had musical talent. “I was playing piano at a home for the elderly and sang ‘She Used to Be Mine’ from Waitress and my mom was crying. I saw the video and thought it was pretty good.”

  He was only 14 when his family spent their summers in the small Michigan town of Leland. “That’s where I played the Dune Bird Winery, the VI Grill and Harbor House, and private wedding events.” As he got more gigs and started charging higher fees, he bought more equipment.

  Admitting he was still immature, he says he didn’t know how important it was to take care of his voice. “I just thought, sing as long as you want. I booked two gigs back-to-back every four days. I wasn’t using the right techniques, screaming a lot, and my voice would be gone. If I had someone to coach me along the way, I might have gotten here a little faster. But I’m learning and I’m excited to be here.”

  Nalley has already completed his senior year of high school, with his graduation date set for May 17. Depending on how America votes, he might still be in Hollywood competing on Idol. “If I’m still here, I’ll Zoom in.”

  The teenager from Atlanta is appreciative of all three judges. “Their support has done the most for boosting my confidence. I don’t think Lionel saw it as much as the other two, but in Hawaii and Hollywood he’s really been my cheerleader. So it’s cool for him to say I’m an artist. Carrie is the best and so is Luke. The most influential for me has been Jelly Roll. The in-ear monitors were a real problem for me. Jelly Roll told me to take one out and I did and gave the best performance of my life in Hawaii.”

  The most important lesson Nalley has learned so far during his time on Idol? “To trust my gut. The coaching is awesome but I really know myself best and I need to lean into that more.”

• Breanna Nix

  

  Born: Aug. 7, 1999 – Odessa, Texas
  Musical Influences: Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Adele, Lauren Daigle, Danny Gokey, CeCe Winans, Whitney Houston, Cody Johnson, George Strait
  Currently Listening To: Carrie Underwood, Brandon Lake, the collective of Elevation Worship artists
  First Idol Experience: “When my family watched the show my mom would tell me to go to bed because I had school the next day. I’ll never forget sneaking out of my room to watch and when she got up off the couch, running as fast as I could back to my room, acting like I never got up.”
  Favorite Alums: Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Danny Gokey, Fantasia, Megan Danielle

  Breanna Nix isn’t just a season 23 finalist. She is also a parent, accompanied in Hollywood by her husband and young son, Emerson. “It’s amazing that they’re here with me as I’m going through this journey. It means everything to me. They are my world,” she tells Billboard. “It definitely has its moments. A few minutes ago I had to text and make sure that dad had the ear infection medicine for our son. I’m running to rehearsals but I want to know if our son ate today. Thank God they have been able to be with me. I tend to freak out and my husband is the chillest. There could be a tornado going on and he’d say, ‘It’s fine. It’s cool.’”

  Born in Odessa, Texas and raised just over 350 miles away in Denton, Nix remembers, “My mom had a family trio and they would sing just for fun. Music was always a big thing in my life and I was nine when I discovered it for myself.” That’s when Nix asked her parents for a piano and a guitar. “At 12, I was leading worship at my church.”

  Attending youth services on Friday nights, Nix’s youth pastor heard her sing one night and told her she had a powerful voice and a lot of potential. He invited her to be a worship leader. “That’s when I realized there were certain things that I was holding onto growing up. Not having a dad in my life was a very big thing that I thought was my fault and I never really talked about it.” Playing her new piano brought up a lot of emotions. “It was my way of getting through a lot of different issues in my life. It still is. It’s an outlet for me. It’s my therapy. And now that I’m older, being on American Idol, I had to deal with some of the same issues. But music is a very big part of who I am today.”

  And her family has a lot to do with that. “My husband is a musical man. That’s what I call him. He can play any instrument that he picks up even if he’s never touched it. He just has an ear for music and he can sing a little bit. God put us together. We travel and fill in for churches that don’t have worship teams or music for that service. Now I’m on American Idol. What’s going on? I started out in my room playing two chords on the piano that were not the right ones for the song and now I’m on American Idol.

  “My whole life, my family told me to try out for some kind of musical competition. I submitted a video [to Idol] and didn’t tell anyone. I forgot about it. Didn’t tell my husband. Didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t think anything was going to come out of it. Two months went by and I checked my email.”

  She almost didn’t do that first audition. “My husband forced me. I told him, ‘I don’t have any song. I didn’t practice anything. I’m not doing it.’ And he said, ‘Yes, you are.’ No regrets. This has changed my life. If I were to go home right now, I would be so incredibly blessed that I went on American Idol. It’s truly been impactful for me in so many different areas.”

  Nix says the most important advice she has received from the judges so far came from Carrie Underwood, during her Nashville audition. “It never aired. She said if you only reach one soul, that’s all that matters. She said to stay true to who you are. At the time I didn’t know who I was and she said that I would figure that out and I have. I know my identity and God and I know my mission and that is to get that one soul.”

  Nix continues, “I give all glory to God because if it wasn’t for him, there’s no way that I would be sitting right here talking to you. There was a time in my life where I was questioning how I could [combine] my faith with my taste in country music. It’s so ironic that Carrie happened to be the judge I auditioned for and she’s a Christian country music artist and that’s exactly what I want to be. She also said there’s one song that you can sing that may change someone’s destiny forever and that’s what she loved so much about country and her faith. It goes hand-in-hand. So she answered the question that I had forever. And I’m excited for what’s to come in my life. I’m really hoping for good things.”

• Mattie Pruitt

  

  Born: April 15, 2009 – Nashville, Tenn.
  Musical Influences: Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Etta James, Chris Stapleton, Mary J. Blige
  Currently Listening To: Jessie Murph, Chris Stapleton, Adele
  First Idol Experience: “In fifth grade, I got a phone and I was on TikTok and I would see American Idol clips.”
  Favorite Alums:  Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Fantasia

  Setting a new Idol record is 16-year-old Mattie Pruitt. Born April 15, 2009, during season 10, no other finalist in the series’ 23 seasons has been born later.

  The Nashville-born teen connected with music early in life. “My mom sang to me all the time when I was a kid. She had a lot of soul, so I feel like I picked that up.” Pruitt’s mother continued to sing – at age 17, she auditioned for American Idol while she was pregnant with Mattie. “She went to Kentucky for auditions but only made it to where the producers were and they told her that she was too pregnant.”

  Pruitt’s first “performance” happened at her nana’s home when the family asked her to sing for them. “I said ‘No, I’m scared. I’ll do it under the table if no one is looking at me,’ and I did.”

  Encouraged by others, Pruitt sang in talent shows even though she admits she was still scared and shy. “I started feeling confident when I was 12. My voice was maturing and I felt more in control of it.”

  Her life has always been about music. “In elementary school and middle school, we would have career day and the teachers would ask, ‘What do you want to do?’ And I’d say, ‘A singer!’ The only other thing I put down was a veterinarian because I love animals, but it’s always been music.”

  As the youngest contestant of the current season, Pruitt says she feels some extra pressure. “I have to go to school and [the other contestants] are all having fun. But a lot of people here are good at making me feel comfortable and the same age as them, which I love so much.”

  Pruitt’s lessons extend beyond her schooling. “The most important thing I’ve learned here is to not listen to the people who try to bring you down. Even at school, a lot of people will be jealous. Sometimes there’s a negative feeling when I’m there. You have to remember to stay true to yourself and be humble and kind. They have their own things going on. You’ve just got to focus on yourself.”

  Being under 18, Pruitt is at Idol with her stepmom. “I’m really grateful she’s in my life. My parents got divorced, which honestly was a little sad but it turned out to be a good thing because I got Ellie, my stepmom, and she’s a very smart, good person and I’m very glad that I can have her to help me in this world and this industry. It’s good to have an older person there for you because being young, you forget things, like making sure you say thank you. I have a hard time explaining things and making sense and I mumble a lot and Ellie helps me do a lot better.”

• Jamal Roberts

  

  Born: Nov. 6, 1997 – Meridian, Miss.
  Musical Influences:  David Ruffin, Jamie Foxx, B.B. King, Michael Jackson, Al Green, Marvin Sapp, Daryl Coley, Lee Williams
  Currently Listening To: Bobby Womack, Anthony Hamilton, Fantasia
  First Idol Experience: “Sundays we’d still be in church, so I didn’t get to catch it live, but when I used to go back and watch it, me and my brother tried to put together who was going to win and who would be kicked out next.”
  Favorite Alums:  Fantasia, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard

  Jamal Roberts had an early start in music. “I started singing at the age of two. My grandparents found out I could sing and I started singing in church and [covering] the Temptations and Michael Jackson. I had a granddaddy on my dad’s side who was a bishop and a grandad on my mom’s side was a deacon, so I was in church every time the door opened. I was the usher, and I was in the choir and I used to play the drums.”

  Roberts said he wasn’t a child who played outside. “I sang a lot in my room. I would sing to myself or create music and it actually sounded good. When I got older I felt better because I thought I had something special.”

  In school, Roberts says, “I wasn’t a fan of choir and I didn’t do any musicals. But I won every talent show I was in.” He released his first self-written song five years ago. “The title is ‘He’s Preparing Me.’ It was one and done. I’ve written more but I haven’t released anything else.”

  It was clear to Roberts that music was going to be his career. “I love it and it is also fun. My grandmother used to tell me when you get a job that you love doing, you stick with it. I love singing. Interviews, I don’t love as much.” [Billboard did not take offense.]

  This season was not Roberts’ first time auditioning for Idol. Roberts waited in a long line and got a yes and then a no. He was told he was too young and needed vocal training. He tried again and advanced to a certain point but when asked to sing a second song, he had only prepared one. This year was his third attempt, and the most successful, as he landed in the top 12 on Sunday (April 27). “I didn’t get defeated. I never gave up. I took the no. I’ve always been able to take constructive criticism and use it for my gain and try again. This has always been me.”

  Roberts says the most impactful comment from a judge this time around came from Lionel Richie. “He said, ‘When you are on stage and get to doing what you’re doing, you’re exploding. I hate to see you leave.’ That stuck with me. It means I’m doing something right.”

  And the most important lesson learned in this current Idol run? “I’ve learned to stay true to yourself. Don’t second-guess yourself. Oh man, second-guessing can cause a lot of stress. Go with your first mind. Anything that you do, do your best.”

  Finally, Billboard asked Roberts about his two current roles in life, being a teacher and a father.
  “I had some great role models in my life and they were schoolteachers. They inspired me and I know I was a handful, but they didn’t give up on me. They saw my flaws, but they knew I had a gift for singing. I had some great principals. I was different and they made it easy for me. Being a dad is great. Some people say don’t have kids before you’re married. Growing up in the church, of course we knew to be married before we had kids. I wasn’t, but being a dad is literally the best thing that ever happened to me. It calmed me down and gave me a better look at things and actually having girls teaches you how to treat a woman. They’re very sensitive, especially with their daddy. So you learn how to treat this one without making this one feel jealous.”

• Gabby Samone

  

  Born: Feb. 28, 2002 – Baltimore, Md.
  Musical Influences: Whitney Houston, CeCe Winans and all of the Winans, Michael Jackson
  Currently Listening To: Jazmine Sullivan, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter
  First Idol Experience: “My parents would call, ‘American Idol’s on,’ and we would watch it together.”
  Favorite Alums: La’Porsha Renae, Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson, Tori Kelly

  Gabby Samone’s earliest musical memory is hearing her family sing. “My dad is a pastor, so I heard him singing in church. And he was in a quartet with his brother.” Samone first sang in church at age 7, performing a solo of the hymn “I Need Thee.” “After that they couldn’t shut me up.”

  With her family’s church background, Samone listened to a lot of gospel music when she was very young. “I wasn’t really listening to R&B. Once I was in middle school, I started ‘stalking’ Whitney Houston, looking up everything she did, on YouTube. And then I branched out, listening to Fantasia, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan – all the major artists my dad turned me on to.”

  Samone says the schools she attended had very limited access to the arts. “Sports were more important. It was weird to a lot of my classmates. So I didn’t really sing in school in Baltimore. No one knew I could sing unless they heard me humming. Then in high school I sang at a few events. But the arts still weren’t really big.”

  Things were different when Samone went to summer camps. “There was one called Encouraging Youth to Dream and I was in my first play. It was a twist on Cinderella called Cindy and I played the stepsister. I was extremely shy at the time. Kim Brooks, who ran the camp, told me I could really sing but was too shy to get the lead. And then I went to another camp and came out of my shell a little bit more. That’s when I knew I had power in my voice. You had to sing out in theater and it was the first time I projected the way I do on stage now.”

  Samone graduated high school in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. “That’s when I went viral on social media. I didn’t think it was possible. I signed up for college to study psychology and when I went viral, I thought I could really have a singing career.”

  Samone says the best advice she received from the judges was during her audition. “They told me to be confident and that’s what I’ve been rethinking because I’m naturally an introverted person. Being on stage is weird to me and awkward. I can see my growth throughout the show because of what they said to me.”

  So why did such a shy person try out for American Idol? “Someone reached out to me and I wasn’t sure. I reached out to Jennifer Hudson because she put me on her show in 2022 after she found me on social media. She told me, ‘Just go for it,’ so I did, and here I am.”

  Samone says her biggest realization to date is that she can be fearless. “I can be a superstar and when I get on that stage, I can let it out. I can be vulnerable and relate to people and be confident.”

  But one thing about Idol remains difficult. “I’ve become close with people in this short time, even during Hollywood Week when we were only together for a week. We all want the same thing and I never had peers and people around my age who had the same drive as me. We all connected super quickly. Now, as a top (12), we’re all friends and genuinely love each other. It really hurt when people left. We all worked so hard to do this.”

• Amanda Barise (Eliminated)

  

  Born: April 3, 1998 – Englewood, N.J.
  Musical Influences:  Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Donny Hathaway, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington
  Currently Listening To: Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Jon Batiste
  First Idol Experience: “I remember sitting on the couch with my dad watching Fantasia sing and now she is here as our mentor and I’m here. It doesn’t feel like reality.”
  Favorite Alums: Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Adam Lambert

  Amanda Barise recalls that music was always playing in her family’s home while she was growing up in Cresskill, N.J. “My earliest memory of singing is in a local talent show when I was five. It was called the Festival of the Stars and I sang ‘I Get a Kick Out of You.’ I didn’t know it at the time, but Aretha Franklin’s bass player was in the audience and he found my parents after and encouraged them to take this seriously and give me lessons and put me on the path of music.”

  Her parents followed that advice but Barise still found herself in trouble at school because of her passion for music. “I was called into the principal’s office and my teacher called my mother to tell her to stop me singing in class. My mom was nice about it. She said, ‘Amanda, when you are in school, you need to pay attention.’ So the next day I went to school and I didn’t sing. I hummed. The teacher called my mother again. I went home and pleaded, ‘I promise I wasn’t singing today. I was just humming.’”

  Barise participated in choir in middle school and high school, with concerts twice a year. “My high school choir director is getting all the kids to vote. The band director has been sharing it with the marching band. I need to go back for a visit – I haven’t been there since I graduated.”

  The first time Barise was paid for performing was at amateur night at the famed Apollo Theater. “Billy Mitchell is the historian there and he was instrumental in getting me to audition and appearing on that stage. First my dad and I went for a tour and Billy recited the history of everyone he’s seen walk across that stage. At the end of the tour they have people get up and sing and you can rub the ‘lucky stump’ they keep offstage. I sang ‘Who’s Lovin’ You’ and he said I need to audition. I came back and sang Martha & the Vandellas’ ‘Heat Wave’ and that carried me through three rounds.

  “After that, Billy helped me be one of the youngest performers ever at the Cotton Club on 125th Street. I sang with a big band and the microphone stand fell apart. My dad picked up the pieces and handed me the microphone. We captured it all on video.”

  When this season’s top 14 were being selected, Barise was not safe and had to sing for her life. “I was one of four saved. At the end of my performance, Lionel Richie said, ‘You just reminded America of who you are.’ I may have lost that for an episode or two, but that performance had all of me in it. In Hollywood, Luke said I need to act like the diva I am. Week after week, I try to be more confident, open my eyes a little more, find the camera and interact with the audience.”

  Barise is clear about what she has learned from competing on Idol. “There was a big part of me that truly didn’t think I would be here. Walking into my audition, I thought they would say no. It’s not every day that someone sounds like me and looks like me and picks the songs I pick.

  “I have a love for music history and for the greats and I want to honor them with my time on the show, so you never know what America thinks of that. Maybe they want a song from the top 10. Maybe they want a pop song. But believing in myself, my choices, where I come from, the music that has gotten me to where I am now, that’s the most important thing for me to remember and hold onto.”

  What is Barise’s vision for her future? “My vision has changed since being on American Idol. I’m thinking bigger now. I am going to continue to drive the culture for alternative R&B and alternative jazz. I have thousands of songs that I’ve been sitting on that I’ve not always been confident enough to release, but I made sure that I put an album together. I spent my entire time on our break finishing that, so I have an album ready to go.”

• Desmond Roberts (Eliminated)

  

  Born: October 25, 1998 – Fountain Valley, Calif.
  Musical Influences: Sarah Bareilles, Israel Houghton, Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, Commodores
  Currently Listening To: Jon Bellion, Father of Peace, Kendrick Lamar
  First Idol Experience: “There was one specific performance that stayed with me. It was Siobhan Magnus [season 9]. The song was [the Rolling Stones’] ‘Paint It, Black.’ I remember that super high note she did and that was my first time hearing that song ever.”
  Favorite Alums:  David Archuleta, Chris Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson, Jordin Sparks, Adam Lambert

  “My mother and father both have some musical talent,” Desmond Roberts tells Billboard. “My dad was into sports and music and he played a bunch of instruments, but he was a football guy as well. He played piano because his mother did that in church. My mother has been singing her whole life She came close to being professional when she was in a group called Futrel [a female gospel group that reached Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart in 1989]. She grew up around people who went on to be famous, like the DeBarges.”

  Although he has no memory of it, his mother told him he started singing at age 3, with a song about Winnie the Pooh.  A year later he was in the children’s choir at church. When he was seven, Desmond’s father taught him some basics on the piano. “After a while, I went on YouTube and found stuff I was interested in, which introduced me to more music. And then at 12 I went to church camp and took a guitar class. In eighth grade, during a test, I had my first song idea and when I finished my test, I thought, ‘What’s the song I’m hearing in my head? It’s something I haven’t heard before.’ In the remaining 20 minutes, I wrote my first song, ‘Highway.’

  “I picked up the saxophone in junior high and that helped me develop my sight-reading skills. I played drums in a battle of the bands. I picked up bassoon in high school and stayed with band all the way through (graduation).”

  Roberts explains his relationship with music: “I don’t think of it as something I can do. It’s something that is a part of me that I am exploring and expressing in different ways. It’s not a hobby. It’s another way to process the world.”

  Roberts studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. “I studied songwriting because I really wanted to improve. It made a difference in my writing ability.” While he appreciates all of the judges’ counsel, Roberts took to heart advice from one of his vocal coaches, who told him, “Sing with your heart, not your head. That put things in perspective for me.”

  One of his future goals is to do an entire album by himself, from songwriting to arrangements and the cover art. “I want to do it all by myself and see what comes of it.”

 

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