Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Clara Rae of American Idol Season 23

Idol kicked off Season 23 March 9 with Carrie Underwood joining Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie at the judges’ table.

Sunday will mark the last audition episode before Hollywood Week begins Monday night on ABC.

Here’s more about Clara Rae.

* According to one online bio, she’s been a full-time musician since 2021, when she won a Stars on the Bayou Award, celebrating the best performers in the Bayou Region of Louisiana.

* She’s since won that award a second time in 2023. And in August 2024, she was named female performer of the year at the NELA Music Awards, celebrating top artists from northeast Louisiana.

* She’s also performed more than 500 live shows — more than 100 in 2024 alone — both as a solo performer and with her band, The Ramblers.

* Clara Rae dubs herself the “no hits wonder” on Instagram. But she has also released music, to the tune of three singles since 2023.

* Her debut single, “Stays a Little Longer,” from January of that year has the most streams on Spotify to date.

* Her most recent, “The Best That Could Happen,” landed in December. It’s a song Clara Rae says she wrote in the summer of 2023 and recorded last January. Check it out below.

* And in a recent interview with 90.3 KEDM, Clara Rae reveals that she recorded an album. She just doesn’t have a release date yet. Check out the video from that interview and you can also hear some of her impressive original music.

* Her music is describes as a combination of bluesy country, classic rock and Americana. Clara Rae describes it as rooted in southern Americana.

* Clara has more than 40,000 followers and more than 600,000 likes on her TikTok, where a cover of “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is one of her most popular.

* In an interview with North Delta Ramble, Clara Rae says she grew up singing in church and school choirs. Her dad got Clara her first guitar when she was just 8 years old.

* Her musical inspirations include Mumford and Sons, Johnny Cash, the Lumineers and Whiskey Myers.

Clara Rae on social media:
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