AMERICAN Idol contestant Leah Marlene made it to the top 5 after her Mother’s Day performance on May 8, 2022.
Her advance in the competition comes after she released her third album, Many Colors, in March.
Leah Marlene is a 20-year-old singer/songwriter from Normal, Illinois, and has advanced to the top 5 in her American Idol performance on May 8.
Originally from Toronto, Canada, Marlene was born with music in her blood and has followed in the steps of her father, Derry Grehan, who is a singer and lead guitarist in his band, Honeymoon Suite.
She started performing at only 10 years old, traveling to Canada, Nashville, and throughout Illinois.
Marlene was studying songwriting at Belmont University but announced that she has dropped out after two years to pursue her music.
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Over the last 10 years, Marlene has grown as an artist and when she released her first single, Arrow, in 2018, she told WGLT that there were growing pains involved in creating the song.
“I wrote that my junior year when I was questioning, ‘What am I going to do when I graduate?’ Like where am I going and what do I want to do with my life. So there was a lot of confusion that song was being written out of,” she said at the time.
“And that’s part of the song,” she added. “You don’t have to know. You just have to put one step in front of the other and just go for it.”
Marlene has brought her musical growth to the American Idol stage and heading into her performance on May 8, she thanked her parents for their support.
Speaking to her mother, Deanna Grehan, Marlene said, “I would not be anywhere near here if it weren’t for you.”
Marlene performed Electric Love by BØRN followed by Sanctuary from the TV series Nashville.
In a video clip played before her second song, Marlene dedicated Sanctuary to her mom.
“The best part of making it into the top seven was realizing that I was going to be able to sing a Mother’s Day song for you,” she said.
Her songs were well-received by the judges and viewers who voted for Marlene to advance to the next stage of the competition.
“People vote for people that they connect with and people that they like,” Marlene told Parade.
After her performance, Katy Perry told her, “You look like an angel, and you sound like an angel.”
Meanwhile, Luke Bryan told Marlene that she has owned every song she’s sung throughout the season.
“You’re just a great singer,” Bryan said. “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.”
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American Idol airs every Monday through Wednesday on ABC at 8pm ET.
Viewers can also tune in on FuboTV, Sling TV, Verizon Fios, YouTube TV, and Vidgo.
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