American Idol 2026: Premiere Preview and Photo Gallery
The American Idol Season 24 premiere airs Monday January 26. The new season features a NEW night (No Sundays), a new format and more. Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan return to the judges desk, while Ryan Seacrest hosts as he has for all 24 seasons.
The cast headed south as the auditions took place at Belmont University in Franklin, Tennessee and “Hollywood Week” transformed into “Nashville Week” as the round took place in Music City.
Monday’s premiere lineup is loaded with a couple of past The Voice stars, a few viral singers, a rapper’s protégé, and some fresh undiscovered talent. Read on for more.
Brock Ryne
Brock Ryne is an actor and singer from Fort Gibson, Ohio. He has 53K Tik Tok followers, where he creates “duet me” videos as well as covers. Some of his videos involve playing a dream role of Frankie Valli. His cover of “Jersey Boys” by Frankie Valli went viral with 398K likes and 2.3 million views showcasing his range and ability to imitate Valli. He does have covers that showcase his own style, which shows off more booming pop vocals mixed with some theater. He has starred in theater productions and also released his first pop mid-tempo ballad, titled “JUST TO SAY” in May.
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“Jersey Boys” Cover:
Brooks
Brooks Rosser is a singer from Bel Aire, Maryland. His real name appears to be Sam, but he goes by Brooks. His style appears to be a mix of pop and folk, and he has a really interesting higher pitched tone that should stand out.
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“Sparks” Cover:
Bryant Thomas
Bryant is originally from Mobile, Alabama, but now resides in Palm Beach, Florida where he often gigs with a band named after himself, the Bryant Thomas Band. His style is a blend of gritty country, rock, and soul with a raspy voice. Bryant has had multiple viral videos on Tik Tok where his girlfriend reacts to him singing in the shower, which sometimes consists of unexpected song choices like flipping a pop song or singing heavy metal. She is the one who we actually see across his socials with his face being anonymous. His most viral cover was of the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” which has over 500K likes and nearly 5 million views. He also has gone on to release some of these covers to Spotify, one being “Champagne Problems” by Taylor Swift which has over 100K streams.
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“Iris” Cover:
Brianna Yancey
Brianna is a soulful pop singer from Johns Creek, Georgia. She had a viral moment at her high school graduation singing the national anthem with Season 26 The Voice Top 20 finalist Mikaela Ayira with whom she who she graduated. The video racked up 533K likes and 3.1 million views. It even earned them an invite to reprise it at a Kansas City Chiefs game this season. Brianna sings smooth, light airy runs on soulful pop tracks. She has released a couple Christmas songs as well as a couple of pop songs including her latest “One Day.”
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Viral National Anthem:
“A Couple Minutes” Cover:
Daniel Stallworth
Daniel Stallworth is a gospel and soul singer and elementary music teacher from Moss Point, Mississippi who now resides in Houston, Texas. He is a 2021 graduate of Alcorn State where he was in the gospel choir. Daniel has 66K followers on Instagram where he has had a few viral singing videos including one of “Jesus is Love” by American Idol judge Lionel Richie. The video now has 886K views with 126K likes. He has great control over his effortless vocals.
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“Jesus is Love” Cover:
Genevieve Hayward
Genevieve is an Indie pop rock singer who is Nashville based, but originally from Wisconsin. She has been touring for over 8 years, but she finally signed a distribution deal in February of 2025 with Symphonic Distribution. She has released a number of songs including her latest EP, “Sprinkles.” Her style is reminiscent of Season 20 finalist Ava Maybee but has a deeper voice with a hint of rasp and a grunge sound. Notably, she has opened for alternative singers, Ethel Cain and Gayle. Also of note, Genevieve’s vocal coach is Season 9, 10th place finisher Didi Benami who has posted in support of her.
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“Silver Springs” Cover:
Jacquie Lee
Jacquie Lee is a singer from Colts Neck, New Jersey who now lives in Los Angeles, and was the runner-up on The Voice season 5, featured on Team Christina Aguilera. She was only 16 then, and is now 28, so it has been a while since she has last competed. After the season ended, she was signed to an imprint of Atlantic Records, 300 Entertainment. Jacquie’s vocals feature vintage soul, mixed with blues and rock elements. She steadily released music over the years including three songs this past fall, but her most prominent was her debut single titled, “Broken Ones” which has 48 million Spotify streams and charted at 36 on the Billboard US Digital Pop Songs chart. She also appeared on an episode of Riverdale, as the singing voice of Polly Cooper.
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The Voice Audition:
Jayson Arendt
Jayson Arendt is a 24-year-old contemporary country singer and member of the popular Banana Ball League team, the Texas Tailgaters. The Banana Ball League is more of an entertainment baseball league that attracts social media attention; for instance, the group has 343K followers on Tik Tok and Jayson himself has 157K. It appears based on the previews, his team will accompany him to his audition. According to his website bio, he played at UNC Wilmington, and after finishing playing, he made music his career in 2023. He gigs often and has a lot of music out including “My July” which has 442K streams. His style seems to blend modern country sounds and southern rock.
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“Go Rest High On That Mountain” Cover:
Jesse Findling
Jesse Findling is a 19-year-old singer and college student from Long Island, NY, and was the auditioner who was featured in the first full preview of the season performing Benson Boone’s “In The Stars.” He has been pursuing music since a young age, singing in choirs. In his audition, he told his story of having a stutter since he was little, and being embarrassed of it at a young age. Singing was an outlet for him. His younger brother also has a stutter, and he sings too, so he wants to be a role model for him. Jesse is a stand out singer with a soulful crooner-like pop voice. He could go very far.
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Audition:
“Look After You” Cover:
Jewels
Jewels is an R&B singer and rapper from Charlotte, North Carolina, known as rapper Dababy’s protégé. According to her Spotify bio, she grew up singing in church. Her song, “Love How I Love You” about self-love before falling in love has 2.7 million streams on Spotify and was posted on Dababy’s YouTube page where it has 1.6 million views. She has a massive social media following with 1.7 million followers on Tik Tok and several viral videos, some of it which she shares about her real voice being much deeper than expected, and how she had to create a “fake voice” due to bullying.
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“Love How I Love You”:
Josiah Dyer
Josiah Dyer is a 20-year-old classic country singer from Charleston, Maine. He has a super deep voice and a throwback country sound. According to the local CBS affiliate, WABI TV5, he has won state and national singing championships.
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“Forever and Ever Amen”:
Keyla Richardson
Keyla is a 29-year-old Gospel singer from Pensacola, Florida, best known for placing 4th on BET’s Sunday Best Season 9. Fun Fact: last season’s American Idol winner, Jamal Roberts actually competed in both Season 9 and 10 of that show. She also has had quite the success on the Billboard Gospel Airplay Chart, first with her song “So Good” which reached number 1 in August of 2020, and then her song “Home” reached number 1 in August of 2024. “So Good” also has nearly 650K streams on Spotify. Keyla brings big stage presence and a booming voice to the stage, and has experience sharing the stage with several prominent Gospel singers.
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Sunday Best: “Love is All We Need”:
“You Are The Living World” Cover:
Khloe Grace
Khloe Grace is a 15-year-old country singer from Jacksonville, Florida. She is a talented songwriter with a piercing country voice. Her song titled, “Forever 13” has 513K streams on Spotify after going viral on Tik Tok. The song is suicide awareness about a girl, Aubreigh Wyatt who was 13 and died by suicide after enduring bullying. Aubreigh’s mom is a mental health advocate with a large social media platform. The song went on to win the Social Impact Song of the Year at the Josie Awards which was presented at Grand Ole Opry. Khloe has a youthful and twangy sound, but still has great control over her voice for her age.
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“Forever 13”:
Kyndal
Kyndal Inskeep is a 29-year-old Nashville based pop singer-songwriter who was a fan favorite The Voice season 17 Top 20 contestant, cut during the Playoffs on Team Gwen. Her unique tone made her stand out from the moment she graced the stage. Since then she has had much social media success.
In 2021, she signed a publishing deal with Cornman and Warner Chappell, and in 2022 her career really took off with two song releases through the Songhouse, a songwriting collective with a massive social media following. She was one of their first successes, and several American Idol, pre-and-post show, have released music with them, including Wé Ani, Kayko, and Emmy Russell to name a few. The first song was named “Honest” and has 17 million streams and the other was “Parachute” which has 16 million streams. “Parachute” is the group’s biggest social media video to date with 11.2 million views, and a whopping 1.8 million likes.
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The Voice Audition:
“Parachute” Tik Tok:
Lainey Grace
Lainey Grace is a 16 year-old who grew up in Iowa before moving to Prattville, Alabama. She possesses a storyteller, singer-songwriter pop sound. She often posts singing with her older sister, Maggie.
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“See You Later” Cover:
Lucas Leon
Lucas Leon is a country and Americana singer from Gallatin, Tennessee who is a senior in high school. On his website bio, he has claimed to have written over 100 songs. He has released two songs to streaming including his most recent, “Summertime Dream.” His voice is one that fits on both old and new country and features a little bit of grit too.
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“She’s Actin’ Single” Cover:
Ricky Boyce
Ricky Boyce is a country singer from Goldsboro, North Carolina. He joined the army at the age of 18. In his Spotify bio, he lists losing his stepdad to suicide as his turning point when music turned into “more than a passion.” He tries to honor him with his music. He is also part of a metal group, The Fall Equinox where he sings backup vocals. This doesn’t surprise me as his music is infused with a rock sound. He has also released a cover of “Your Grace is Enough” by Chris Tomlin to streaming.
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“Sandy Creek” Original:
Tate Emmons
Tate Emmons is a 15-year-old gospel singer. Tate has a massive Facebook following with 404K followers on his page. He also has a viral cover on Instagram where he remixed “Goodness of God” with Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” which has 708K likes and 8.9 million views. Tate has released a lot of music, including a couple of albums. His style combines Gospel and classic country music, and he has shared the stage with other Christian singers.
