Louisiana musician Clara Rae discusses ‘American Idol’ journey, future plans

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — A musician from Monroe had the opportunity to showcase her talents on American Idol and share her experience.

Clara Rae is a 23-year-old singer who was featured as a contestant on the popular music series.

“I’m a full-time gigging musician, so I typically sing what people would want to hear at a bar or venue that I’m playing at,” said Rae. “I don’t even really know how I would describe my own stuff. I kind of just do what I feel like in the moment.”

Rae performed with another contestant from Louisiana, John Foster.

Though Rae did not move on in the competition, the judges encouraged her to continue singing and not to let them be the end of the road.

“I was a little bit disappointed, but I’ve been working in the music industry for quite some time now. And so you anticipate a lot of no’s,” said Rae. “I wasn’t even expecting to really get that far, and I was just happy to be in the room. I was disappointed, especially because everyone’s going to Hawaii and that would’ve been really fun. I’ve never been to Hawaii. But it was a great opportunity experience overall and I’m nothing but thankful for it.”

Rae mentioned how she traveled across the world, including London and Paris, singing.

“I was in the Piccadilly Circus in the midst of thousands of people there. It was an incredible experience,” said Rae. “And, you know, I just got there by playing with a buddy that was in Europe, and I was like, ‘Hey, I just want to play with you this week.’ And he said, ‘Great.’ And so I just jumped up with him, and we had a grand old time.”

Coming up for the young artist, she plans to release an album that she recently recorded and open for a few big names such as Mark Chestnut and Tracy Lawrence.

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