Emmy Russell’s journey in “American Idol” is one that many fans of the show won’t forget for many seasons. It only took Emmy one song to make the judges fall in love with her voice and songwriting skills during season 22 auditions, followed by a series of heart-warming performances. Her connection to her grandma and late country legend Loretta Lynn also played a big role in attracting a lot of interested eyes to Emmy in every performance.
Nonetheless, as Emmy leveled up her on-stage presence while revealing her issues with identity and self-expression, she was eliminated from the top five contestants, much to the chagrin of her growing fanbase.
So what happened to Emmy after her exit from the show? Has she continued her music career after that? What about the criticism regarding her well-known family connections?
Stay with us to learn more!
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What Happened To Emmy?
A lot of expectations were put on Emmy Russell from the first time she set foot on the “American Idol” stage. Right from the audition, the then 25-year-old Emmy didn’t disappoint by performing a heartwarming original song entitled “Skinny”, conquering the hearts of the judges and audience. On top of that, the intrigue regarding Emmy’s close family link to the legend Loretta Lynn grew too, especially considering that the late singer passed down her guitar to Emmy.
Nevertheless, Emmy didn’t make it until the end of season 22, going home during the top five elimination alongside fellow singer Triston Harper, aired on 12 May 2024.
Regarding her elimination from the show, Emmy posted an Instagram video thanking her followers for their support, adding a positive message about resilience and refraining from running from rejection. She also paraphrased the lyrics of Miley Cyrus’ song “The Climb”, affirming that ‘It’s not about how fast you get there; it’s not about what’s waiting on the other side. It’s the climb’.
While it’s surely disappointing for Emmy not to become the season 22’s Idol, she seemed to be positive about her career, and what the future has in store for her.
Emmy’s Journey In The Show
Following her Nashville audition at the beginning of “American Idol” season 22, Emmy performed the original song “Like That” at the Idol Arena in California. The solo rounds also saw her perform Ingrid Andress’ “More Hearts Than Mine”, before getting into the 24 top contestants.
For her next appearance, Emmy was coached by singer and songwriter Jelly Roll, and sang Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things”, gaining a safe spot among the 14 top contestants. The next week, Emmy performed the soul legend Bonnie Raitt’s song “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and with that advanced to the top ten finalists.
For the top-ten episode, Emmy sang an acoustic version of Blink-182’s “All the Small Things”, advancing to the next stage alongside other seven contestants. For her next performance, Emmy sang “Coal Miner’s Daughter” by Loretta Lynn, which gained her praise from judges, who pointed out that Emmy’s rendition was different from her grandma’s.
In the next episode, Emmy performed Adele’s “Water Under the Bridge” and “Shut Up + Dance” by the American rock band Walk The Moon. However, the latter rendition surprised the judges and audience given her choice to remain seated playing the piano, despite it being a dance song challenge.
End Of The Journey
Despite the criticism resulting from her toned-down performance of “Shut Up + Dance”, which had Emmy admitting that she’d changed her mind about her performance due to nerves, she was safe to continue in the show. Her next performance was a Disney song challenge, during which she heart-warmingly performed “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus from “Hannah Montana: The Movie”.
Also that night, Emmy sang “Carried Me With You” from the Disney animated movie “Onward”, but neither of those performances were enough to secure her a place in the next episode, being eliminated on that night due to low votes, despite the positive comments from judges. In total, she performed 15 songs of which four were originals.
Criticism
Although Emmy Russell was warmly welcomed by the judges and most of the “American Idol” audience, that didn’t stop her from being criticised on the internet. Most of these negative comments were regarding her family connections, and the media coverage which this attracted from the beginning of her journey.
As Collider stated in an article, Emmy seemed to be favored from the first time she revealed the identity of her grandmother. In the article, the news site affirmed that Emmy ‘had never been bad, but she’s never been great’ either, pointing out that she had been ‘rewarded’ in some of her performances despite not fulfilling the challenges in its entirety.
Emmy Russell Reflects on ‘American Idol’ Journey — and Reveals the Best Advice She Received from a Judge https://t.co/lqa8wljwBw
— People (@people) May 14, 2024
It’s unclear whether Emmy was aware of the negative comments coming her way, but a couple of days before the airing of her final episode in the show, she posted an Instagram story which criticized the misuse of kindness and cruelty while giving criticisms. Though the post was directed at no one in particular, it quickly awakened suspicions that she was referring to her “American Idol” experience.
Nevertheless, Emmy eventually calmed the waters by posting the aforementioned Instagram video in which she showed herself very grateful for the opportunity to be in the show.
What Will Emmy Do Now?
While Emmy’s “American Idol” journey ended, the truth is that there’s a long and bright professional path awaiting her.
For starters, Emmy has made good use of the popularity she gained through the show to move her career forward. Her debut single “Skinny”, released in August 2023, gained thousands of views after she performed it on “American Idol” in early 2024. It didn’t take long for the show to touch the hearts of a wide section of the audience, as “Skinny” is Emmy’s most personal song to date, given how it portrays her issues with an eating disorder.
Only a couple of months after her “American Idol” debut, Emmy’s “Skinny” has over 800,000 streams on Spotify and 150,000 views on YouTube. That was only the beginning though, as the year 2024 has seen Emmy release the singles “Breakup Song” and “Beautiful Things”, the latter the cover of Benson Boone’s song which she also performed in the show.
Emmy also released the original song “Like That” and “Redemption”, which was announced right after her elimination from “American Idol”.
All in all, Emmy has shown a great deal of resilience during her rise to fame, not only because of the negative comments she’s received but also for her will to keep moving forward, and build her path in the music industry.
