“You’re just a great singer,” judge Luke Bryan told her. “You’re amazing. You’ve yet to hit a bad note in this competition. You always tell the story perfectly. You just did it with that song.” Leah told Parade.com that she selected that song because it is one of the most beautiful songs ever, let alone in the Disney catalog, so it was a no brainer. But she remains modest when it is pointed out that she definitely has a chance of becoming the next American Idol. “I still feel like we’re in Hollywood Week,” she says. “I think we’re all in it together. It doesn’t feel the way it looks on TV. It just feels like we’re one family doing what we love with this incredible team around us. We have this amazing opportunity to have the highest production value of all time and do that together. But when we’re in that room, we’re literally just in the room, cheering each other on. And I think that’s a huge part of it.” Leah has some stiff competition in HunterGirl, Noah Thompson, Fritz Hagen, Christian Guardino, Nicolina Bozzo and Jay Copeland, but odds are that she is one of the three who will make the finale. “I think we’re all remarkably grateful, like no words for how grateful we are to be here,” she continues. “And so, we’re all just taking in every moment because we don’t know when it’s going to end. And so, we’re just cherishing the experience together.” Another thing that Leah is cherishing is getting to work with the vocal coaches that American Idol provides the contestants with at this point in the competition. Leah says she watched the show for years and didn’t even begin to grasp how much works goes into producing each episode. “Literally how much we’re doing every single day, just to prepare for this two-hour show that looks so polished, just the details of the day to day is really interesting that I don’t think a lot of people see,” she adds. “There are so many people behind the scenes that you don’t even realize, but they’re literally the reason that we’re growing the way that we are. They’re like our counselors and also mentoring us in our careers and in our choices on the show. I wish they could all just get up on stage and get all the credit in the world because they’re the ones really behind this show.” Leah is also appreciative of the fact that the video packages which reveal the contestants’ backstory is an important aspect of the competition. As important as their performances are, so is their story. “People vote for people that they connect with and people that they like,” she says. “And so as much as performance is important, what is shown of you in your packages leading up to it definitely plays a key role in how connected people feel to you.” This season in honor of its 20th year on the air, American Idol had a reunion show, featuring past winners and runners-up like Ruben Studdard, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, among others. And while this year’s class of hopefuls didn’t get to interact with the graduates, Leah says they get so much love and encouragement on social media from their predecessors. “It’s really cool with American Idol, because once you’re in the family, you’re in the family,” she says. “So, we all now have this connection to all of our Idols that have been on the show before. That wall is broken down and it’s been really cool. I think all of us have had experience with connecting with past Idols that we looked up to.” American Idol airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Next, Who Will Win American Idol 2022? Our Predictions
