Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Penny Samar of American Idol Season 23

Penny Samar is among the artists who auditioned for Season 23 of American Idol.

Idol officially kicked off its new season Sunday, March 9. Season 4 champ Carrie Underwood will Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan at the judges’ table.

Audition episodes will continue to air each Sunday until Hollywood Week.

Here’s more about Penny:

* She’s Christina “Pink Penny” Samar, from Williamsport, Pa., with music already out and a definite sense of humor.

* For instance, she calls herself proud founder of the Pink Penny Club, where you’ll find some PinkPennyClub.com clothing for sale.

* Anyone can join the club, Penny says, as long as they wear pink more than just on Wednesdays, believe in the power of sparkles and glitter and exist “unapologetically as yourself, even when you don’t know what you’re feeling.”

* Ah, there’s one last requirement, Penny writes in her Spotify bio. Members must have a “deep, eternal love for Ryan Seacrest.”

* On a more serious note, Penny released an impressive debut single called “I don’t know what I’m feeling” in December. She’s since followed up with a second single, “Flip Flops,” earlier this year.

* That’s not the first music Penny released. She was part of a band called pyramidscream that released a trio of singles in 2023, beginning with “beetles and bugs,” a song about mourning the town you grew up in upon reaching adulthood.

* Penny graduated from West Chester University last May as one of the university’s first-ever studio composition majors from the Wells School of Music.

* She has a background in a cappella and participated with the Under a Rest a cappella group at West Chester.

* The group opened for the Rockettes in New York City in 2022. And Penny became an award-winning musical director for the group when they placed third in the Mid-Atlantic semifinals last March.

* Among other recent accomplishments, Penny won the Star Vocal Competition and a $1,000 first-place prize in the Philly area last year.

* Her Spotify bio says Penny “is ready to share her knack for making fun music and expressing her goofy, colorful inner-world.”

Penny on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube