Alyssa Raghu from American Idol season 22
Idol returns to ABC on Sunday, Feb. 18, with the coaching trio of Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan back intact.
Here’s more about Alyssa.
* Her name is likely to be familiar to American Idol fans. She made the Top 24 on the show’s first season on ABC. And in Season 17 (2019), she made it all the way to the Top 8.
* She was still just 16 when she auditioned that year, impressing all three judges with her composure, maturity and vocal skills in a performance of V V Brown’s “Shark in the Water.”
* Alyssa earned a spot in the Top 10 that season with back-to-back standout covers of “She Used to Be Mine” by Sara Bareilles and “The One That Got Away” by Katy Perry. And finishing in the Top 8 earned her a chance to perform with Kane Brown on the season finale.
* Alyssa will be returning to the show more experienced and with an impressive collection of original music already released.
* In 2023, she was part of a national tour calls Hits the Musical, featuring 29 young singers. The tour visited nearly 50 cities from late February to early May.
* Alyssa’s calling card is soulful vocals and they’re evident on her last two singles — the catchy “Play Me Like,” a collaboration with Natty Rico from last summer, and the impressive “Ignite It,” from the previous year. Alyssa said her goal with the former was to create a great summer dance song. Mission accomplished. Check out a snippet of it below.
* Those are hardly Alyssa’s only releases. She also dropped a five-song EP called “Dreamscape” in 2022 and released 10 previous singles. One of those, a cover of Ariana Grande’s “Almost Is Never Enough,” has more than 560,000 streams on Spotify. That was her first Idol audition song.
* She’s about to release a new single, called “Where Did You Go.” Says Alyssa on social media: “This is the most honest song I’ve written. Asking the universe why we pour our hearts out to people that end up temporary. Why feelings change. The human experience is so surreal, and this song feels like me.”
* For those unfamiliar that last name is “pronounced Raa-G-OO, like the sauce,” Alyssa informed us prior to her last run on the show. That’s shortened from her full last name of Raghunandan.
* Oh, and Alyssa has also built quite a social media following, with more than 330,000 followers and nearly 7 million likes on her TikTok alone.
Alyssa on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube
@alyssaraghu Replying to @🤣🫵🏻 car wash ROUND 2 since the last one blew up! “PLAY ME LIKE” OUT NOW! 🌙✨ #gimmethemic #livelineup #originalsong #fyp ♬ Play Me (Like) – Alyssa Raghu & Natty Rico
Related Posts
-
-
February 28, 2026 American Idol clobbers The Voice in Monday night ratings
-
February 3, 2026 Julian Kalel, Ruby Rae, Hannah Harper sparkle on American Idol
2 Comments
Isn’t it cheating that Ms. Raghu is going to be on “Idol” again?
Ms. Raghu also has new songs out.
The show used to have a cut off of Top 24 or Top 40.
There was a huge controversy when Arthur Gunn was allowed to come back to “Idol” for a second time.
In each circumstance, another contestant’s place in the Top 12 was taken from him/her.
Now it will happen again this season.
Do you remember Angela Martin?
She auditioned for Season 7-she had a daughter with developmental disabilities.
Prior to her Day 3 performance, Hollywood Week, Angela’s father passed away. She was eliminated at this stage of the competition.
She auditioned again for Season 8, but had to drop out because of a traffic violation.
She auditioned again for Season 9. At the final deliberation, it was revealed that she did not make the Top 24.
She was a fan favorite. The judges liked her. Third time should have been the charm for her.
Shows how the producers of “Idol” manipulate the show as they please.