Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Genevieve Heyward, “Magic Man” by Heart: She shows off a big voice and a flair for the dramatic. Carrie Underwood likes her cool rasp and wants to hear more. Lionel Richie says she has the tools to do well on the show. She’s apparently going to be known as The Pickle Girl because of her love of pickles. So Carrie calls her the “real dill.”

Here’s more about Genevieve:

* She’s from Wisconsin, based in Nashville and has a big personality to go with her big voice.

* Genevieve describes herself as an indie rock musician, and she has plenty of releases on streaming sites for Idol fans to check out.

* The latest is a six-song EP called “Sprinkles” that dropped in September. Be sure to take a listen to the title track and “Good Company.” Both are very catchy pop rock songs. A snippet of “Good Company” is embedded below.

* And if you want a chuckle, check out Genevieve’s unique way of promoting the EP. Which would be by putting Betty Crocker sprinkles on everything from turkey lunchmeat to cherry tomatoes to pickles and taste testing the result, with a spit bowl by her side in case things go bad. Seriously, you need to check out that Instagram post.

* Genevieve started 2025 by announcing that she’d signed her first “big girl deal” with Syphonic Distro records. She writes: “I have spent the past 8 years twerking my lil behind off diy touring, promoting, networking, creating, loosing money, making money, sleeping on couches, collaborating, staring at my laptop screen til I thought my eyes were gunna fall out, and making a record. Moving to Nashville was tough and anxiety provoking as it is moving to any new place, but it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”

* And she announced her Idol audition Jan. 1, writing: “I’ve always wanted to audition since I was a ambitious 6 year old singing at home with my lil karaoke machine and I finally did it.”

* But 2025 wasn’t all sunshine and roses. The transmission went out in her tour van. And judging from her social media, Genevieve tours a lot. Undettered, Genevieve launched a pretty darn successful Go Fund Me to help cover the costs.

* Genevieve graduated from Badger High School in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in 2017 and had already released a debut album called “It’s Not Like Anybody’s Listening.” That album and two follow-up EPS — “The River” and “Norway,” which she recorded in Scandinavia are no longer available on major streaming sites.

* But along the way, she’s developed a pretty sizeable fan base on social media with more than 5,000 followers on her Instagram and more than 625,000 likes on her TikTok.

Genevieve on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube