American Idol season 17 auditions are wrapping up, but Ashley Hess still has to audition. She’ll be appearing on the March 17 episode of the singing competition, which airs at 8 p.m. on ABC. The singer from Fremont, California, is ready to take her music career to a whole new level and follow in the footsteps of season 16 winner Maddie Poppe.
1. Ashley sings a Norah Jones classic for her audition. The singer performs “Don’t Know Why” for the judges. In addition to showing off her incredible vocals, Ashley also plays the piano during her audition. The judges are amazed, and Katy Perry even tells Ashley that she could “win this competition.”
2. She went viral on YouTube way before American Idol. Five years before she auditioned for the show, Ashley posted a Disney medley performance on YouTube. Ashley and Eric Thayne performed an epic mashup of the 13 best Disney songs. The video went viral and has nearly 6 million views.
3. The singer is working on her first EP. Ashley has released three singles: “Running,” “Time,” and “Into You.” Her first EP, that she is currently writing and recording, will be released in 2019.
4. She wants to establish a “connection” to people with her music. “There is no better feeling than going through the process of creating a song, performing that song, and having people connect with the song that I created,” Ashley writes on her official website. “Those are the moments I live for. Getting out there, playing my music and establishing a connection.”
We're in for an intimate piano 🎹 performance tomorrow on #AmericanIdol! pic.twitter.com/AXixBOkofW
— American Idol (@AmericanIdol) March 16, 2019
5. Ashley initially thought she wanted to be a dental hygienist. She reveals in her Idol introduction video that she even went to school to become a dental hygienist, but she soon realized that “cleaning people’s teeth was not for me.” She’s always loved music, so she decided to pursue that passion.