Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Lillian VanDaam 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.

Here’s more about Lillian.

* She’s a singer-songwriter from Utah with “a lot of stories to tell and many ways to tell them,” according to her Instagram bio.

* She also has a good bit of released music, including an album called “Moral Compass” that came out in November.

* Lillian says she worked on that album for almost six years. “It stems from a poem I wrote in high school and spun and sputtered into the 9-song story concept album that it is now. It’s a subconscious journey that spills from personal experience and the desire to understand a new perspective.”

* The song that started it all is called “Decoration,” which Lillian says it one of the songs “that kickstarted my desire to pursue music as a career.”

* That song started as a poem she was finishing up in her high school computer lab when a substitute teacher approached and asked what she was working on.

* The teacher didn’t approve, of poetry in general, Lillian recalls. So she let her read the poem. “See, what the hell is that?” Lillian recalls her asking. “Tapestries sewed on the lips? That’s horrifying.” Writes Lillian: “Just the response I like to hear, I guess.”

* Lillian also has a number of singles out, including “Dear Starlings,” “A Cow Named Concrete,” and “Gunpowder.” The latter is a collaboration with Liv Rylan and Lillian’s most popular to date on Spotify with more than 160,000 streams.

* Lillian is a graduate of Uintah High School in Vernal, Utah, and also studied at Southern Utah University.

Lillian on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube