Throughout all of the celebrations and challenges I’ve encountered over these first few years of my adulthood, music has been my constant, leading me to life-changing discoveries, everlasting memories, and some of the best friends I’ve ever met. I’ve grown a lot as a person and learned more about who I am and what I strive to be. I’ve never felt more hopeful and confident towards life and what the future holds in store, and I owe it all to the gift of song. This blog is a tribute to the music and the artists that have helped me get to where I am today.

You’re going to hear a lot about a little show called American Idol, the platform from which I gained a whole new level of love and appreciation of music. There are four musicians from Season 7 of the show who have a rather big presence in my life. Allow me to introduce you to them…

This is David Cook, winner of Season 7 of American Idol, RCA recording artist, and my self-proclaimed Guitar Hero. He returned back to the Idol stage on March 17th with an electrifying performance of the Rolling Stones classic, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”. This man really knows how to rock it out.

This is David Archuleta, the lovable runner-up of American Idol Season 7, Jive recording artist, and international humanitarian. The young singing sensation visited Idol on April 7th to reprise his mesmerizing rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine”. It fills me with so much love and pride to see him living out his dream – inspiring others through music.

This is Michael Johns, a finalist from Season 7 of American Idol. He is the man I hold responsible for bringing me into Idol mania in the first place. I was immediately drawn to his distinctive soul-rock sound and dynamic personality. “Across The Universe” (a song which holds a lot of personal significance to me) has always been my favourite performance from his on the show. To my delight, he played this special song as per my request during the Seattle stop of his tour with Brooke White and Benton Paul last September. It was a wonderful moment which I shall never forget.

This is Brooke White, another one of my favourites from American Idol Season 7. The singer-songwriter (of self-proclaimed ‘California-country’ styled music) has joined forces with Angela Kohler (who you may recall as the visionary behind Brooke’s album shoot) for a project entitled “The Girls With Glasses Show”. It stars Brooke and Summer Bellessa and is directed by Kohler. This stop-motion music video for the theme song “I Am A Girl” (as sung by Brooke) pays tribute to a league of beautiful and intelligent women, from Marie Curie to Marilyn Monroe. Undeniably inspiring and refreshing, this short piece of film is empowering to girls everywhere!

Stay tuned…