Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Athena Jett enters the American Idol audition room with her younger sister Angelina. (ABC Photo)

American Idol introduced fans to lots of talented musicians during the Season 22 auditions.

Here’s an update on several of the singers who didn’t make it to the Top 12.

* Ajii has started posting a series of videos of himself singing in public “until I get signed.” Day 7 in the series features him singing “Dock of the Bay” to fans waiting in line for admission to Sunday’s American Idol season finale.

* Athena Jett has launched a Kickstarter to help fund a debut jazz EP. She’s about halfway to her goal with three weeks left. She’s the young woman from Las Vegas who made it to Hollywood with the help of her little sister.

* Hailey Mia attended a Kelly Clarkson concert and chatted with Kelly from the crowd. Said Kelly: “I love American Idol, but they messed up … I don’t understand … You’re like a young Mariah Carey.” Hailey was eliminated at the Top 24 on Idol. In 2021, at age 13, she auditioned for The Voice and made it to the finals as a member of Team Kelly.

* Country artist Isaiah Case auditioned for Idol with an impressive original called “What Could I Do” that he released on the same day as the Season 22 premiere. He’s since released a second single called “Let It Rain” and is celebrating more than 20,000 streams of the first. Isaiah is releasing his music as CASE.

* Kimi is the young man who left Kosovo and his family behind to pursue his dreams in the U.S. His audition aired the same night as Will Moseley’s and was initially the most popular of the two. Kimi released a single called “Burning Love” and an accompanying music video late last month.

* Laela and Max Dasher, Sister and brother, auditioned back to back on Idol and have now announced that they’ve formed Dasher the band. Keep an eye for their music, because it’ll be a treat for the ears. Judging from snippets of songs they’ve posted to Instagram, they sound fabulous togther. They played their debut show in Black Mountain, N.C., earlier this month. Here’s a link to the Dasher Instagram account.

* Micaela McCall, the Santa Barbara busker who made it to the Showstopper Round, released a new song. “Puppy Eyes” dropped in late April and follows “Milk and Honey” as the second single she’s released this year.

* Michael Rice, one of the imported male singers on Season 22, has a new single out called “Big Boys Don’t Cry.” It made it’s debut on BBCRadio2 in the UK on May 2. You can check out the music video below.

Max and Laela Dasher have announced that they’ve formed a brother-sister duo called Dasher.