Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Maddie Poppe won Season 16 of American Idol and is now working on her post-show debut album.

Well, fresh off the American Idol Live summer tour, the Season 16 champ says she’s being selective about the song selection process.

“I’m being very picky, just because I want it to be perfect,” she told WOI-TV following a small show in downtown Des Moines on Friday.

“I don’t want to settle. And I’ve got to remember that some of these songs are songs I’ll be singing for a long time live. So I’ve got to make sure I really love them.”

Maddie also said she’ll be traveling to Los Angeles and Nashville next month to write for her post-Idol album.

The singer-songwriter says she has “all kinds of voice memos and lyrics and melodies” she’s started that she hopes to turn into finished songs during her upcoming songwriting sessions.

In the meantime, fans who don’t mind being reminded that Christmas is just three months away can stream or download her acoustic version of “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas.” That dropped Friday.

And Maddie has been nominated for a People’s Choice Award in the favorite competition contestant of 2018 category.

Her competition includes Season 14 Voice champ Brynn Cartelli, Cody Nickson of The Amazing Race, Nikki Bella of Dancing with the Stars and Eva Igo of World of Dance. You can head here to vote for your favorite.

Pre-Idol, Maddie released an EP called “Songs from the Basement” in 2016.