Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Emmy Russell of American Idol Season 22

Idol returned to ABC on Sunday, Feb. 18 with the coaching trio of Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan back intact.

Here’s more about Emmy.

* She’s the 25-year-old granddaughter of Loretta Lynn and paid tribute to the country music legend through song at her memorial service in October 2022.

* Emmy teamed up with Willie Nelson’s son Lukas to sing “Lay Me Down,” a song Willie and Loretta had released in 2016. The performance was so well received it was nominated for performance of the year at the 2023 CMT Music Awards.

* Emmy has since teamed up with Song House in Nashville to release a wonderful single called “Skinny.” Released in August, it’s been streamed more than 400,000 times on Spotify. Check out the music video and Emmy’s superb vocal below.

* The focus of he song is the pressure to feel physically perfect and how that pressure made Emmy hate the body she’s in.

* Emmy writes on social media: “Super grateful to finally take on these lies I told myself my entire life! I don’t wanna be skinny, I wanna be strong. I wanna be alive. Growing up my entire life I was so insecure about my body, over words about my weight and the way I dressed in school … it’s all lies.”

* Emmy also made her Grand Ole Opry debut in 2023, performing “Memaw’s Guitar” in tribute to Loretta during an April performance. Emmy played one of Loretta’s guitars, given to her on her 15th birthday.

* Added Emmy: “I used to run from my family heritage and wanna make my own path. (Now) I feel a deep conviction to thank, accept, and celebrate her (Loretta), cause she believed in me from the start before anyone did.”

* CirleAllAccess covered that event and says Emmy recalled traveling with her grandmother when she was young and occasionally getting on stage to sing the ABC’s or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”

Emmy on social media:
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