'American Idol' Season 18 Episode 2: Meet Sarah Isen, the 20-year-old singer from California with 26 siblings!
Episode 2 of the latest 'American Idol' season just premiered on Sunday night, February 23. In this season's latest audition round, thousands of optimistic 'Idol' candidates showed up hoping to impress last year's returning judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie with their vocal talent.
However, one contestant who impressed them even before she began to sing was 20-year-old Sarah Isen from Berkeley, California. She turned up at the auditions with her two lesbian moms, Linda and Carol, and numerous siblings from her two-dozen-plus member family. Talk about a full house!
It turns out that when she was 14, Sarah got in touch with her biological father, who had altruistically donated his sperm to a number of LGBTQ families, one of them being Sarah's mothers.
After establishing contact with their father, the extended families eventually got to meet each other. It turns out that Sarah's father had donated quite a bit of sperm during his college years, and that resulted in Sarah having 26 half-siblings to cheer her on during her 'American Idol' audition.
It's like something straight out of a Hollywood movie. Even fuzzier and heartwarming is the fact that the extended Isen family all vibe really well with one another, supporting everyone in every way possible. They even take vacations together!
For her audition, Sarah chose to sing 'If I Were A Boy' by Beyoncé, and it was a moving, well-sung performance. The judges were thoroughly impressed by the youngster's natural big voice and talent but noted that she had things to improve on.
Luke Bryan loved her voice but pointed out that her performance wasn't flawless. He pointed out that she had slightly tripped up on the first line of the chorus, most probably due to nerves which Sarah confirmed to be the case.
Lionel Richie said that he was a big fan of the low-end register of her voice, and similarly, Katy Perry said that she loved Sarah's alto register, and liked her clever use of vocal dynamics during her audition. Unsurprisingly, after such a great performance, young Sarah got three yeses to go through to the Hollywood round.
Social media was also quite thrilled by the 20-year-old singer. One user shared, "@Sarah_Isen that was INCREDIBLE. One of the best auditions I’ve seen. That range was incredible and it’s so refreshing to hear such a different tone in a female voice. SO SO SO GOOD. Rooting for this girl to go all the way."
Another impressed fan said, "@Sarah_Isen! Her voice is so unique! I was literally mesmerized." We hope to see a lot more of Sarah showcasing that awesome voice of hers in Hollywood."