American Idol 2022 Premiere: Meet The Contestants (Photos)

American Idol’s landmark season 20 begins on ABC Sunday Feb 27. The premiere episode includes hopefuls whom judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan auditioned in Austin, Los Angeles and Nashville.

Sunday’s American Idol premiere contestants include the granddaughter of a legend, a teen who received a life-changing nudge from a special mom, and a singer who made Katy cry. Host Ryan Seacrest teased that during the episode, a singer will receive the coveted Platinum Ticket. The special ticket, is handed out to one standout in each audition city. That singer gets to sit back and relax during the first Hollywood Week singing round.

*Contestant research by Blake Busch

American Idol Premiere Contestants List

Tyler Allen – The 24 year old from Mobile, Alabama has been featured prominently in American Idol promos. He auditions with a song that he sang to his sick nephew who recently passed away. Katy Perry dissolves into tears. The singer is an ordained Elder in hi s church and has performed all round the world. – Instagram Tik Tok
Camryn Champion – 16 year old Camryn lived in Japan with her family until they moved back to the US. She began to sing at the age of 4. The family moved around quite a bit until they settled in New Jersey. In high school, she plays volleyball as well as performing various gigs. – Instagram Tik Tok
Taylor Jalen Fagins – Taylor graduated with a degree in drama from the UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts in California. In 2020, he released a song dedicated to Black people killed by police and/or guns, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. – Instagram Tik Tok
Danielle Finn – 17 year old from Los Angeles has been singing since she was a young kid. – Instagram Tik Tok
Grace Franklin – Does that last name ring a bell? Grace is Aretha Franklin’s granddaughter! The 15 year old sang “Ain’t No Way” at the Respect premiere last year. The star of the Aretha biopic Respect, American Idol alum Jennifer Hudson introduced her. Later, Jennifer posted the clip to her Instagram account (Watch). – Instagram Tik Tok
Maddie Glidewell – The singer is from Kentucky and studied to be a nurse practitioner at SKYCTC. – Facebook
Cole Hallman – Cole’s sister has a form of autism, and they have a very special relationship. She features in many of his popular Tik Tok videos – Instagram Tik Tok
HunterGirl – 23 year old country singer, Hunter Wolkonowski goes by the moniker HunterGirl. In her audition she shares about working with veterans as a music therapist in her day job, which inspired an original song that she wrote. She sings with a classic country twang and has been performing in Nashville for years. Watch her audition preview HERE – Instagram Tik Tok
Nicolina – 18 year old from Toronto, CANADA. She auditioned for AGT in 2021, and made it past the audition round, but she didn’t appear on the show. A clip of her audition singing “She Used to Be Mine” from Waitress previewed during the judges interview on GMA Tuesday morning. A bunch of her videos have gone viral–she has over 200K followers on TIK Tok. – Snip of Audition Instagram Tik Tok
Delaney Renee – The woman she babysits for posted a video on tik Tok of her singing Disney’s “Part of Your World” while playing with her kid and it went totally viral. The clip will air on American Idol during her audition. Mom will be there too.- Viral Tik Tok Clip Instagram Tik Tok
Noah Thompson – Kentucky native Noah Thomson is a gritty singer who performs Americana, Country and folk. He’s reminiscent of last years winner, Chayce Beckham. – Instagram Tik Tok

Meet more contestants

For more on American Idol contestants, check out our 31 contestant mega-guide HERE. The Voice, AGT, and returning Idol alums are profiled HERE. And meet the contestants featured in television promos HERE.

American Idol 2022 Season 20 SPOILERS are here! But please keep spoiler talk in the spoiler posts. Thank you.

Showcase Contestant List and Song Choices
Top 24 Season 20 Contestant List
What Did Top 24 Sing in Hawaii?