Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Nya of American Idol Season 22

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

Here’s more about Nya.

* She’s a 28-year-old singer, dancer and actress from Manhattan, N.Y., often billed as Nya Trysha, and Idol has already leaked her audition.

* Nya performed “Wait a Minute” by Willow Smith, showing lots of flair and vocal firepowers and, you might say, the judges were impressed, rewarding her with a standing ovation.

* Luke and Lionel both called it the best audition they’ve seen so far in Season 22. Luke called her a “massive singer” with a “massive personality.” Lionel told Nya she’s “got the goods to go all the way.”

* Talking to her local TV station, Nya was clearly impressed by the Idol experience. “”They’re so nice, so kind …,” she said of the judges. “You expect some people to be, you know be jaded with like being a celebrity and just like not really care about other people, but they care … They want us to succeed. They want us to be stars.”

* As for her background, Nya told the TV station: “I’ve always wanted to sing and perform like before I even knew what performing was.”

* Nya told the Idol judges she’s from Kenya and grew up in Florida. And she’s been heavily involved in musical theater.

* Her earliest credit on AboutTheArtists is as part of the children’s ensemble in a production of “The Christmas Carol” that ran for a month in Milwaukee way back in 2012.

* More recently, Nya’s been racking up an impressive resume, including nabbing the lead role of Cleopatra in an off-Broadway show by the same name in 2018.

* She’s also performed in “Caroline or Change” (2020-21), in “Beautiful: The Carol King Musical” (2019-20) and co-starred in “Soul Doctor,” a 2023 movie musical. Nya plays the role of Nina Simone.

* And, as she told the Idol judges, she’s also been part of the recent Broadway show “Titanique,” both as a background vocalist and in the role of Molly Brown.

* Along the way, Nya’s developed a nice following on her TikTok, to the tune of more than 23,000 followers and more than 1.1 million likes.

* In announcing her Idol audition, she writes: “Being able to spread joy, peace ,and love through music has always been my dream.” Check out her amazing cover of “Wicked Game” below.

Nya on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube