Hi
How are you?
I'm so good. How are you?
It's nice to finally meet you.
Oh I'm so glad it's over Instagram. I love Instagram.
I know. I know.
We've done a couple interviews like this before and it's just
such a great format while we're
at home all quarantining. It seems so perfect.
It totally is.
Love your background in your room, by the way.
[inaudible]
It's so cute.
All right, let's jump right into this.
You are the youngest top 20 finalist
in all of
How does that feel and how did this whole
American Idol
So the journey started initially I had
one of the casting directors reach out to me and she said,
"Hey, we're allowing Canadians on the show".
And obviously initially growing up I never knew that
Canadians could go on the show.
So obviously I always wanted to go on it.
But I was like oh I'm not allowed.
And her name was Tammy actually.
So Tammy reached out to me and said hey girl,
we're accepting Canadians, like,
would you want to go on the show and then
we kind of brought it to my parents and we were like
let's do it. [laughter]
We're going to go on
But going on to it I never thought that
I would get as far as what I did.
And I would like accomplish so much on the show
as what I had done, so.
That's incredible.
And you were 16 when you went on the show
and you're still 16 now?
That's awesome. That is so incredible.
I mean I'm 15.
So like we're almost the same age and just
accomplishing so much at such a young age is
honestly so incredible and I know
the hard work that can go into stuff like this.
So honestly, congratulations. That is phenomenal.
Thanks.
In your audition, Katy Perry said you may be 16
but your voice sounds like it's a thousand years old.
How does it feel to get that sort of praise from
people who are experts in their field of course and
worldwide superstars?
I think when I first got it, my entire mind went blank
and I literally came out of the audition room I didn't
remember anything and I was like
I don't know if they liked me or not.
And I remember for weeks like telling all my friends
well I'm not sure if the judges liked me that much,
like I don't think it was very good.
And then when I heard it on TV I was like what?
I was like I don't remember when they said this.
And then it kind of came back to me and I was like
they did say that.
But it was crazy. I still don't believe that they
said that kind of stuff to me because obviously
I've always listened to Katy Perry from a young age
and like been really inspired by her.
So it's kind of hard to take it in and actually believe that
Katy Perry said those words to me.
Yeah that's true.
I mean she's had such an influence on
our generation especially, so
hearing that come out of her mouth was probably incredible.
Yeah.
Now, there's a lot of amazing stuff that goes
into stuff like this but there's also a lot of struggle.
What was the hardest part of the competition for you?
This is probably really strange
but I think the hardest part is vocal rest.
I think a lot of people don't realize how important that is
for singers is when you're not singing,
like you can't just yell and, you know,
use your voice a lot because you will lose your voice.
Especially I know that a lot of us powerhouses on the show
like we're constantly singing songs that are like
at the biggest extent of our range.
So you're using your voice a lot and
if you're not warming up your voice and not like
taking care of yourself properly, it can get really bad
and you'll have no voice.
And I think that is what happened to all of us
is like no sleep and then
you're up every single morning and you're
practicing and you're rehearsing non-stop
because the song is handed to you you have to learn.
I think that vocal rest is super important and we all
love each other and you meet these new people that
you're like best friends with and all you wanna do is talk
and yell and laugh together.
You should probably just like
sit in the corner and be quiet.
Right.
And that happened for me in Hawaii.
I completely lost my voice before the show and
I don't know how I performed in Hawaii and how that
came out of my mouth because like I wasn't even
I didn't even have a voice when I was talking,
yet alone singing.
So I don't know how that came out.
It was magic, I swear.
But I think it's really important for vocal rest.
I think that's the hardest part, honestly.
Well yeah I mean that's good to know.
I guess a lot of people don't really
understand what goes on behind the scenes.
Another challenge that you faced was
filming this during a pandemic.
I mean your last performance which aired on Sunday
you filmed at home, correct?
What was that process like and
what went into setting everything up?
Yeah, so initially when we were sent all of the stuff
they basically said okay we're gonna send you a bunch of stuff,
we're gonna send you ring lights,
we're gonna send you camera equipment, mic stand,
like basically everything you could possibly need,
decoration candles, and every day at like 9:00 am we'd have
different delivery people dropping off like
all these different boxes and like
if I was at my house I would show you how many just
empty boxes.
[laughter]
Ridiculous.
But the workers were really helpful
and like the crew at
Zoom calls with everybody in like different groups
and they helped us setup all of the stuff.
We had to go on calls to
find what location you were going to perform in,
find out how to plug everything in.
So it was a lot of really good communication skills
you had to have to be talking like the tech person,
the creative director and then the people we report to
and like letting everyone know what's going on. So
it was a lot of hard work
but I think we all learned a lot about the equipment
and how to use it now.
For sure.
Now there are a lot of incredible Canadians
in the entertainment industry
who have really put Canada on the map.
How does it feel to represent Canada as
the youngest top 20 finalist?
I think it's crazy, first of all.
But I love that
now other Canadians, not even just Canadians but
yeah Canadians are like looking up to me and
realizing that like you can do it no matter what
age you are, no matter where you come from
because coming from like a really small town
I think a lot of people can
think they have a disadvantage to other people and
they can't do what they want to do.
So I love representing Canada. I love Canada
and I'm really glad that I hopefully one day
we'll be a part of the big group like the Justin Biebers
of the world.
What was the most surreal moment
of the whole competition if you had to pick one?
I want to say the Hawaii performance because we got to
perform in front of just a crowd
and the energy of the crowd like in person
was just so amazing and everyone was like
screaming your name and singing the words.
And I think that was a surreal moment for me too
because I didn't think my voice was going to come out
and it was just like flowing out of me
and I had like this huge adrenaline rush.
I was like OK, my voice is coming out, like
we're gonna dance, we're gonna walk on stage.
And for me I'm not really one to, in the past,
to [inaudible] and like perform
and I randomly just started doing it in Hawaii.
And I didn't even plan to do it, like,
it just came out of me and I started
prancing around the stage and being a diva.
So I think that was the most surreal moment for me.
That's so special.
I mean on camera it looked like
you were having an amazing time as well as the audience
and the energy was just so vibrant. It looked amazing.
What surprised you the most about this experience?
I think what surprised me the most is actually how nice
all of us contestants are to each other.
Like you'd think going into a competition
that everyone would [inaudible] you're my competition.
I'm not going to help you with your song.
But like all of us like help each other
learn how to sing or run or
hey, how should I arrange my song, we all like
[inaudible] all like best friends.
I had no idea going into the experience that I would
create so many amazing friendships and meet so many
great people.
And I think a lot of people don't realize that
but like going on a show like that you would
create so many relationships like that.
But we all did and we're all like a big family now. So.
Aww. And you were talking about being a sort of role model to
young Canadian kids, kids all over the world.
Just being how young you are and accomplishing so much,
what advice would you give to little girls and boys who
look up to you and want to do what you do?
Yeah I feel like a few things.
One is to love yourself because I know that like
being in high school, people are really mean.
Not even just in high school.
People outside of high school can be really mean
and try and tell you you can't do what you want to do.
But I think just always believing in yourself
and knowing that you can do anything,
it doesn't matter where you come from
or where you live or what you look like,
you're just capable of doing anything as long as you have
a really good work ethic and work for it.
OK so, if you're down, I have a little game for you.
[laughs]
So I'm going to give you an artist
and you're gonna have five seconds to start singing a song
by that artist. Are you down?
Scared, but yes.
OK.
I promise I'll just count down on my hand
and see if you can come up with a song. OK?
So we're gonna start off with Drake.
Ahh! I know so many Drake songs.
[screams]
I'm not going to think of one.
Oh that's OK. That's okay. That's okay.
I was just listening to Drake
so I don't even know how I can't name one.
I know. His new album just came out and you're like...
[laughter]
All right. On to the next.
The next one is Adele.
Oh.
♪ someone like you ♪
♪ I wish nothing but the best for you too ♪
Yay!
All right. You have one point.
[laughter]
OK, next artist: Pink.
♪ what about us ♪
♪ what about all the times you had the answers ♪
Perfect.
All right. This is one of my faves.
Billie Eilish.
♪ I love you ♪
♪ and I don't want to ♪
That's so good.
All right.
Last but not least, Lauren Spencer Smith.
I guess I'll do
♪ I'll always remember us this way ♪
So good.
All right, Lauren.
One last question for you before we sign off.
What is next for you? Where do you go from here?
Um, what's next for me.
Obviously with COVID, um, I can't be touring
or going out and performing but
I'm just working with a lot of different people
and producers on writing original music and getting
a lot of original music out there
because I know that's something that
all of my supporters really want from me
and have been asking from me for a long time.
So I'm just basically working on a bunch of original music.
That's awesome. We can't wait to see where you go from here.
You've had such a strong start
and I think the people that support you
are going to continue to do so because you're so talented.
And I just wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Have an incredible day and stay safe.
You too.