'American Idol' Season 22: Who is Payton Riley? '2023 Young Artist of the Year's youngest recipient looks up to Miranda Lambert
AUSTIN, TEXAS: 'American Idol' Season 22 Audition 3 contestant Payton Riley is a 15-year-old singer/songwriter from Texas, making history in Texas Country Music as the youngest-ever winner for the 'Young Artist of the Year' category in the Texas Country Music Association (TCMA).
Payton describes herself as "Christian & Country Songs with a Pop Flair." She shared in Hank's Think Tank that she started playing the guitar in 5th grade, around 11 or 12 years old. At the age of 7 or 8, Payton used to sing around the house, and her mom suggested channeling that energy into singing lessons. With the help of her voice coach, she excelled in her singing quality.
During her upbringing, Payton looked up to Miranda Lambert and Lainey Wilson as her musical inspirations. To emulate her favorite artists, Payton was advised to learn a musical instrument, leading her to choose the guitar due to her inclination towards country music.
Payton attributes her musical skills to her uncle, who sang during his college days and was part of a band in his youth. Reflecting on this, Payton remarked, "I guess I kind of get it from him."
'American Idol' Season 22 contestant Payton Riley shares an insight on how she writes a song
When asked whether the melody or lyrics come first for Payton, she replied, "It depends. Sometimes when I try sitting down and writing a song, it doesn't come to me because I don't know what I'm going to write about yet. But if I'm just sitting around and an idea pops into my head, I can come up with the melody really quickly."
Payton writes down the words that come to her mind during brainstorming. After finishing the writing process, Payton then works on coming up with the melody and figuring out the guitar chords.
'American Idol' Season 22 contestant Payton Riley receives 2023 Young Artist of the Year award from TCMA
Payton became the youngest person ever to receive the 2023 Young Artist of the Year award from the Texas Country Music Association. She was presented with the prestigious award on November 7 at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth.
After receiving the award, Payton posted on Instagram, "So this happened last night…I’m still in shock! I wanted to tell each of you THANK YOU!!! I would not be here without the support of other Texas artists, my family, God, and my amazing friends. I love each of you! 2023 has been great, but 2024 is going to be bigger!"
On January 20, 2024, she debuted her new band called 'The Payton Riley Band.' The band features Payton as the lead singer and three other members: bass guitarist Luis Lozano, electric guitarist Branden Clay, and drummer Kross Patrick.
Catch new episodes of 'American Idol' Season 22 every Sunday at 8 pm ET on ABC. The latest episodes will be available to stream next day on Hulu.