This Arizona teen's 'American Idol' journey began with her father's encouragement and it left judges in awe
Every once in a while, a contestant would show up for 'American Idol' auditions and be instantly recognized as a natural musical talent, bringing fame and fortune to their otherwise obscure lives. This is one good thing about a long-running musical reality television show: it has the power to unearth singing sensations from even the remotest corners of the country. As the Season 24 of 'American Idol' moves into its audition stage, Arizona native Lanii is among the lucky contestants ready to impress the judges on the episode airing Monday, February 9, at 7 p.m. ET.
AZ Central published a comprehensive report detailing Lanii's journey to the hallowed platform from her humble beginnings. The 19-year-old contestant is a high school student and was born in Long Beach, California, before her family relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, when she was five. Lanii's family eventually settled in Surprise, Arizona, and music was an integral part of her life from an early age. Furthermore, her father encouraged her in this direction.
"I grew up singing my entire life," Lanii said, "My dad was like, ‘You know what? I think you can sing. I think you will sing.’ So he kind of pushed me forward from there. He would put me in choir classes." Her passion for singing soon led her to join the Church choir, where she was singing as part of community service. Recognition of her talent soon followed, and Lanii was subsequently made the president of her high school choir in Phoenix.
Lanii hit a major roadblock when her family relocated from Phoenix to Surprise, thus uprooting all her social connections and friends. Fast forward two years, and Lanii came across the 'American Idol' auditions on her Instagram feed while casually scrolling through. She recounted, "It kind of came up on my feed one day on Instagram. I made my appointment for my audition, and I woke up late that day. I woke up, like, 30 minutes late, 30 minutes before I had to audition, and I was not going to. I did it the last minute.” As described by ABC15, her initial audition earned her a trip to Nashville, where she had to audition again in front of the judges.
Lanii sang 'Tell Me You Love Me' by Demi Lovato, and her performance struck a chord with Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie. As of now, Lanii is looking forward to giving her best on the latest season of 'American Idol'. When asked about her expectations from the reality television show, Lanii said, "I'm not looking for a specific outcome like fame or a lot of recognition. I know a lot of people have the same story I do. I connected with many people on ‘Idol’ during my audition process. So I would like to connect with other people the same way that they connected with me." 'American Idol' airs new episodes Mondays at 7 p.m. ET on ABC and the next day on Hulu.
