Idol Chatter & Voice Views

During her intro package, Tristan held her fingers intertwined while explaining how close she is to her mother, adding “it’s just a really weird feeling that she’s not here for something of this magnitude, something as big as this.”

Her mom Amy, a major in the Army, was serving in Kuwait. Or so Tristan thought.

Of course, she was really backstage, listening all the time as Tristan, 15, of Nashville, wowed the judges with her rendition of Mickey Guyton’s “Why, Baby, Why,” performed at the piano.

Tristan broke down in tears when mom appeared to congratulate her on her performance and present her with her golden ticket to Hollywood. Of course, so did Idol judge Keith Urban.

As for the winning …

Tristan’s audition video had already been viewed more than 1,250,000 times as of Tuesday evening. Only two other audition videos posted by Idol — Jeneve Mitchell at 931,000 and Lindita at 698,000 — had passed the 500,000 mark.

And Tristan has already received an honorary proclamation from Montgomery County, Tenn., the county where she was born. She performed an a cappella version of “America the Beautiful” for the commissioners meeting this week.

She’s also surpassed 5,000 followers on Twitter, where she frequently answers fans’ questions, informing us that she’s been singing since she was “10ish” and played trumpet in concert band for four years.

She also answered a fan’s question about what it feels like to be on American Idol.

“Surreal,” she wrote. “U watch it on TV, u vote, but u never expect the roles to reverse. And that’s what’s happened.”

Though just 15, Tristan has been preparing for this day for a while. She has four singles on iTunes, the first of which was released in 2007.

More recently, she’s released an acoustic cover of “Latch” (2014) and “She’s Alive” and “Holy Grail” (both 2013).

You can listen to “She’s Alive” and another song below.

And you can follow Tristan through her Facebook page. On Twitter, she is @tristanmcintosh.

“Meant to Be”

“She’s Alive” (2013 single)