American Idol returned on ABC in March of 2018 after a two-year hiatus. Many of the singers are very passionate about their art, and have accompanying inspiring stories of perseverance in the face of nearly impossible personal obstacles.
Recently Amber Fiedler, a 23-year-old woman from Idaho auditioned sometime ago, when she herself was 38 weeks pregnant. According to Lifenews, Katy Perry, one of three judges–Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan are the other two–asked her at the time if she knew the baby’s sex—a girl—and what name she had picked out.
Amber replied that she hadn’t come up with a name, and that she was placing the baby up for adoption.
“How did you come to that?” Perry asked
“My mom was a user most of my life,” Amber responded. “So my grandma is the one that raised me. The last few years I was going out and drinking a bunch. I was getting caught up in life. With this pregnancy, I’ve learned who I was as a person. I’ve had time to sit and think, and looking at the big picture of life, there’s days where I don’t even have $20 in my pocket. If I’m not ready to be a mom, why would I put her through that, you know?”
The family she had chosen for her baby will be able to “give her everything she wants,” Amber said.
“I’m not going to be able to do that,” she said. “I’m hoping that she’s gonna understand I am trying to choose the best for her.”
After her performance, the judges gave Amber her “golden ticket” to Hollywood, and Perry remarked, “Maybe you’re not ready to be a mom, but you are ready to be an American Idol.” As Fiedler left the stage, according to People magazine she said:
“Do you hear that, baby?” Fiedler asked her belly, before reuniting with her ecstatic family outside the doors of the audition room.
As Fiedler’s family embraced her, she said, “I fulfilled my dream today by getting a golden ticket. My dream for the baby is that she lives a beautiful and happy life with the life that I have chosen for her, and I know she’s gonna.”
Amber performed on the Hollywood stage last Sunday night, after having given birth just three weeks before. She told the judges about her birth experience, saying that it was “such a beautiful moment when she came out and just seeing the adoptive mom hold her. it felt good, it felt right , it felt peaceful. And I am really happy about my decision. The adoptive family named her, they named her Norma Rose They chose Rose because of my red hair. She’s really going to bring light to a lot of people’s lives. I mean she’s brought a lot of light to mine.”
Before singing on the Hollywood stage she told the judges that she was going to sing “Rise Up,” by Andra Day. Amber said, “It is a weird thing going through all this. I never would have thought that this would be my life. But I have a really good feeling that I am really am going to help people and help girls go through what I went through.”
Amber said the song was, “All for her,” referencing the baby she carried to term. Amber said, “The baby saved me, she really did.”
[Editor’s Note]: You can listen to Amber’s story and her magnificent voice here.
