text: American Idol 2024 Auditions 3 Contestants List (Photos)
  American Idol’s 22nd season continues on ABC Sunday March 3. The Auditions 3 episode includes more hopefuls whom judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan auditioned amid a hometown theme. The show travelled to each of the judges hometowns to audition contestants, in addition to Los Angeles and Nashville.
  The hometowns included Leesburg, Georgia (Luke), Tuskegee, Alabama (Lionel) and Santa Barbara, California (Katy).
  American Idol 2024 airs on ABC Sundays, 8 pm ET/PT and next day to stream on Hulu
  *Contestant research by Blake Busch
  American Idol 2024 Auditions 3 Contestants List
  Aniston is a 20-year-old singer and tractor driver with a country western sound from the West Texas city of Dalhart who now resides in Nashville. She released an EP in 2022 titled Keystone Cowboy. She moved to Nashville to attend Belmont in 2021, and was initially studying music before leaving the school of music to study music business. Her audition was previewed by Entertainment Tonight where she sings an original titled “Hummingbird” for her audition and Lionel Richie compares her to Dolly Parton.
  Avery Guinn is a singer and multi-instrumentalist from Russellville, Alabama. His tone is very crooner-like, and at times he sings rock music and other times, his sound is more jazzy. He was in several theater productions in high school and after graduating in 2021, has starred in several more in Shoals, Alabama where he attended Northwest Shoals Community College. He has released two songs, one titled “Juliet” and another titled “Judas.” It appears for portions of his audition, he will be playing both the piano and accordion.
  CJ Rislove is a singer from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. He released a series of demos on Spotify in February. At the end of last week’s episode, CJ was featured in a preview that depicted him living out of a bus while playing music. In an interview with the WQOW ABC in Chippewa Falls, he said his style is comparable to Billy Joel and Elton John. CJ will be performing an original for his audition.
  Dan Hoyt is the lead singer of the Donahue Diaries, a band from Athens, Georgia, and it looks like he’ll carry that name through to American Idol. In some of the group’s bios, they label themselves as “rock music with electronic fusion.” The group released an album titled, What Is This World? in 2021.
  Jennifer is a 17-year-old folk singer-songwriter from Starkville, Mississippi with a raspy mature sound. She will be singing an original titled “Change My Way” for her audition which is her only released song out on streaming services.
  Freskim Rama, who goes by the name of Kimi, is a 25-year-old Albanian singer from Kosovo who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He appeared on X Factor Albania Season 4, 9 years ago, and the only clip available is an audition, so it’s likely that he was cut shortly after that. He has released one original which is a pop ballad titled “Out of Time.”
  In his preview for his audition, we learn his mom struggled with PTSD when he was growing up due to the war in Kosovo and she also has Multiple Sclerosis, and Kimi took care of her and sang to her. People tell him that he got his voice from his mother, but he has never heard those words from her. He moved to the U.S. by himself six years ago. For his audition, he sings “Heal” by Tom Odell followed by an Albanian song which he sings to his mom on the phone, earning him 3 yeses and a golden ticket. Watch his audition HERE.
  Kyra Waits is a 24-year-old soul singer from Berea, Kentucky. She grew up performing as well as watching her mom, a bluegrass singer Tasha Harris perform as a regular at Renfro Valley Entertainment Center. According to an article from the Richmond Register, Kyra is a frequent auditioner, auditioning more than five times. She will be singing “Up To The Mountain” for her audition.
  Laela, is a 20-year-old singer originally from Black Mountain, North Carolina and the sister of Max Dasher who also auditioned. They often write and sing songs together. She recently got married, and is a student at Lipscomb University in Nashville. Laela writes her own folksy music while also singing worship music. She is a part of LO Worship, a band that is a part of the Live Original ministry (a female worship group founded by her cousin Sadie Robertson Huff of Duck Dynasty). The group is quite popular and their song “Open” which Laela sings the lead in has 6.7 million streams on Spotify. For her audition, she will be singing, “Angel From Montgomery” followed by a duet with Max of “Rivers and Roads”, according to @idolspoilers.
  Madai Chakell is a soulful 23-year-old singer from Queens, New York. She has built a large Tik Tok following of 686.2K where in her bio she calls herself an Emo R&B singer. She posts both acting and singing content. Her cover of Lil Uzi Vert’s “The Way Life Goes” which she sang in a very stylized pop punk style has 3.5 million likes and 20.6 million views on the platform. She also appeared in two episodes of the CBS comedy, Elementary, Her pop/pun original titled, “You’ll Get Over It” has over 98K streams on Spotify. According to @idolspoilers, she will be singing “I Kissed A Girl” by American Idol judge Katy Perry.
  Max, a senior in high school and football player from Black Mountain, North Carolina, auditioned with sister Laela. As noted in Laela’s bio, the two are related to the Duck Dynasty family, as Phil Robertson from the show is their great uncle. Max is a mix of folk, country, and Americana and also performs worship songs. For his audition he sings, “Rock Salt and Nails” which we previewed where Lionel Richie compares his look to James Dean, before earning a golden ticket. It appears he’ll also perform a duet of “Rivers and Roads” with Laela. Watch Max’s audition HERE.
  Nick is a 22-year-old pop and soul singer from Pasadena, Texas who has had several viral moments and now resides in Nashville. He has 649K followers on Tik Tok, and one of his most viewed videos which has 2.9 million likes and 17.6 views, is an artist challenge where he shows off his talent by imitating the inflections of various artists’ voices.
  He went viral for a national anthem he sang at a Houston Rockets game when he was 12, after which then-NFL star JJ Watt rushed onto the court and greeted Nick. Nick also made Judge Cuts of America’s Got Talent in Season 14. He more recently performed as a part of a San Antonio Spurs Artists Showcase at halftime where he showed off his impressive range on Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” He has released several originals, including a recent soulful pop number titled, “Sayin’ Too Much.” According to ABC13Houston, he will perform “Easy On Me” for his audition.
  Scarlett Lee a 26-year-old from Surrey, England, was the runner-up of the last season (2018) of the X Factor UK to air (Season 15). She was a bit of an underdog as she botched her first run at the title in Season 14, and even had a rough audition in Season 15. But she fought back after criticism from Simon Cowell for doing too much with her voice and made it all the way to the finale. Now six years later, she is trying to bring her talents to America.
  Will, a singer from Hazlehurst, Georgia, has a raspy country sound with a lot of power. He is a graduate of Georgia Southern University. His originals “Coming Down” and “Gone for Good” have a 90s and 2000s country rock sound to them. Will is performing “Gone For Good” for his American Idol audition according to @idolspoilers. In a preview shown at the end of last week’s episode, we learn that Will was a football player who suffered several concussions. In the press release images, it appears Luke Bryan will be accompanying Will at some point of his audition.