Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Sophia Humbert of American Idol Season 23

Idol kicked off Season 29 on March 9 with Carrie Underwood joining Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie at the judges’ table.

Auditions will continue until Hollywood Week begins March 31.

Here’s more about Sophia:

* She’s a 22-year-old pop singer-songwriter from Anthem, Ariz., with three great singles already out.

* And she got her golden ticket to Hollywood, but only at the end of one of the more unusual auditions we’ve seen on Idol.

* Sophia slipped behind a piano and performed Carrie’s “Before He Cheats.” The judges loved her voice, but Carrie wanted more anger in her performance.

* So the judges took Sophia out to an old red pickup truck, handed her a baseball bat and had her beat on the vehicle while belting the chorus. The judges joined in on the destruction. And, presto, Sophia had three “yes” votes to advance on the show.

* In a June interview with Canvas Rebel, Sophia said she got the singing bug around age 9. She sang Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” for her parents, though she made them listen from an adjoining room because of her nerves.

* Though not musical themselves, her parents supported her interest, Sophia says, signing her up for piano, guitar and voice lessons.

* By age 12 or 13, she was performing in public. Her late grandfather got Sophia her “first big girl guitar, the only acoustic I will ever need,” she writes on Instagram.

* On her website, Sophia says she’s now performed more than 200 shows, including one at the White House.

* But Sophia told Canvas Rebel she didn’t start writing her own music until college, and only then because she took a songwriting course.

* “My whole life I’ve had this major block when it comes to writing and I think it’s because I struggle with believing what I have to say is something others want to hear. Fortunately, thanks to that songwriting class, I have discovered that songwriting is a huge part of who I am now. I feel like I have found my voice as not just a singer anymore, but as an artist.” She credits songwriting professor Erin Barra for giving her “the tools I needed to break out of my fear.”

* Now Sophia has three great originals out — “Nothing to Say,” “Run Away” and “Too Late.” And if the judges had heard the attitude in “Nothing to Say,” the baseball bat experiment wouldn’t have been necessary.

* Sophia says writing the song “healed me and empowered me in so many ways.” Oh, and more original music is on the way.

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