Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Audri Bartholomew, 20, of St. Louis, Missouri, auditioned with “Never Enough,” a song recorded by former The Voice contestant Loren Allred. Despite a solid vocal, it wasn’t until Audri held out a long glory note near the end of the performance that she got a chair turn from Jennifer Hudson. Since she was the only coach to turn, Audri automatically became Team JHUD.

Her background: Audri’s dad was a rapper, so she had plenty of musical inspiration. She grew up in Pasedena, Calif, but moved to Missouri for her dad’s job promotion when she was still in school. The transition was rough for Audri, she says, until she joined the choir. She said the acceptance she felt once she made friends with similar interests taught her a lesson in the power of music.

On being on Team Jennifer: “I love our pair because I obviously have a musical theater background and she’s been a Dream Girl so she’s someone that I’ve been following for years and years. And having that connection of both of us being on a competition show like this, I think that we get along great and our humor is very similar as well.”

What the show didn’t show:

* On her website bio, Audri thanks her parents for exposing her to a wide range of music, from Ella Fitzgerald to “my dad’s rhythmic raps.”

* In a conference call with the media, Audri said her first experience in a studio came thanks to her dad. “Anytime he would make songs, he wwould always ask me to sing on his tracks, whether it be for little ab libs or actually singing the hook. In one song he recorded when she was just 3, you can hear her saying “Daddy, push me harder,” a soundbite he recorded while she was on her swing.

* She adds that “the Queen herself, Beyonce” is the one who sparked her passion to sing and perform.

* There’s an impressive music video for a song called “Get On My Calendar” that she recorded as Audi about four years ago. The song doesn’t appear to be available on iTunes. Check it out below.

* She was a finalist in the 2016 St. Louis Teen Talent competition. Check out her performance of “Listen.” Audri won the $2,500 Capes Sokol Musical Theatre Scholarship. She was a senior at Fort Zumwalt West High School at the time.

* The year before, she won the Kranzberg Vocal Performance Award in the same competition.

* At her high school graduation, Audri performed Kelly Clarkson’s “A Moment Like This.”

* On Facebook, Audri lists a noble goal, writing “I plan to use my God given talent to unify all cultures.”

* On her website bio, she adds: “I aspire to be an integral part of the push for women’s equality in the world of entertainment. I want to establish my own clothing line and help to change the face of fashion by infusing more faces of color and full figured women. We live in a multicultural world and I want do my part to ensure that diversity is brought to the forefront.”

* Audri is attending Millikin University in Illinois, where she is an honors student studying musical theater.

Her social media:
Instagram
Website
Twitter: @Audri__B
Facebook
YouTube