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The 12 Best Clever Home Tours of 2022

By Zoë Sessums

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At the end of each year, when I take the time to look back on all the homes we’ve featured on Clever, it never ceases to amaze me (and impress me! and inspire extreme jealously in me!) what people can do with their homes. There are renters who have figured out how to turn less than 600 square feet into a breezy oasis. There are minimalists who will make you want to give away all your clutter. There are homeowners who truly know how to pick a perfect paint color . From Australia to France, Rome to Rotterdam, the incredible spaces keep on coming. 

We dug into our archive of home tours and found 2022’s fan favorites. From a sleek duplex in Long Island City to a handful of gems in Brooklyn and LA, these homes highlight the best of design and space. Get inspired by 12 of the best Clever home tours from 2022.

This 592-Square-Foot Sydney Home Shows Off Compact Functionality

Yasmine Ghoniem (right), founder of design studio YSG, and her husband, Tom Swanson.

“At its core, my outlook is nourished by the layers of my culture and travels,” says Yasmine Ghoniem, founder and principal of YSG Studio . Yasmine, who has an Australian mother and an Egyptian father, grew up between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia—with a few years in-between in Australia—and almost a decade in America for postgraduate studies and work. “Like all YSG spaces, everything in my home is interconnected and there is no hierarchy.”

After renting a place in another Sydney suburb for some time, Yasmine and her husband, Tom Swanson, were ready to take the big leap toward home ownership. “Several months of online searching [brought us to] this golden find,” Yasmine says. Situated on a building’s upper level in the city’s iconic oceanside neighborhood of Bondi, the compact 592-square-foot apartment immediately seduced Tom—who is “a mad surfer,” according to Yasmine—with its beachside location. It didn’t take much more to convince the interior designer, who loved the sensible layout. “It shares no common walls and has no internal corridor, meaning absolutely no space is wasted,” she says. “Tall ceilings were the added kicker. Original timber-framed windows were also a requirement.” — Karine Monié

This Long Island City Duplex Is Its Own Hidden Gem of Beautiful Objects

A Charlotte Perriand coffee table for Cassina is surrounded by Olivier Mourgue’s Djinn ottomans upholstered in a wool bouclé. A Ron Rezek green table lamp sits beside the sectional, and a Sergio Mazza’s Alfa lamp is on the coffee table.

Alan Eckstein has mastered the art of the search. As the founder of Somerset House, a Brooklyn furniture store that’s cultivated from his collection, Alan has the type of knowledge for chairs, consoles, and tables that any professor would have for a subject.

Alan and his wife, fashion stylist Haley Loewenthal , lived in a one-bedroom apartment when the pandemic hit. And though it felt like home, it was missing one detail that suddenly took on a profound amount of importance. “We didn’t have any outdoor space,” he says. “We also wanted to start a family, and there wasn’t room for an extra person to join us there. We knew that in order to grow, or to even have somewhere to exhale, we needed to move.” So, Alan began to do what he does best: search.

The 2,500-square-foot duplex in New York’s Long Island City had two bedrooms and two floors, providing more than enough space for the couple to spread out. It was almost as if Craigslist, a long-beloved treasure chest for Alan, had come through for him again. “I think it was available because of the pandemic,” he notes. “My wife and I were looking for an interesting open space with character. This apartment has that, and the best part about it is that it also has a private roof deck.” — Kelly Dawson

This 800-Square-Foot Brooklyn Apartment Is Full of Smart Storage Solutions

Noah Venezia (left) and Megan Hershman in their Brooklyn apartment.

When Megan Hershman, a design director at Common Living, and her husband—Noah Venezia, a graphic designer and adjunct professor at Pratt Institute—stumbled upon the top floor of this two-story town house in Carroll Gardens , it was the abundance of natural light that instantly hooked them. “The unit is north and south-facing, and gets direct sun for most of the day,” Megan says. “We immediately knew it was right for us.” In addition to good lighting, the couple appreciated the old-world charms of the building, like the tin ceilings, cast-iron built-in kitchen sink, and original hardwood floors. “We also loved the old-school charm of the pink bathroom, which felt so playful and one-of-a-kind,” Megan adds. — Monica Mendal

This 594-Square-Foot Apartment in Silver Lake Is a Modernist Jewel

Fanny Singer in her Los Angeles apartment.

By Kristi Kellogg

By Kelly Dawson

Not much more than 600 square feet, Fanny Singer ’s Rudolph Schindler apartment is housed in a 16-unit complex from the 1920s that has a semi-commune feeling with its interconnected living spaces and garden walkways. As each apartment was given its own identity, Fanny has loved figuring out how to live in this vision. “There is a vast array of different apartments in the building,” she says. “The one across the way is a double-height apartment with an incredible wall of windows. Mine is oriented toward the Hollywood sign—a perfect painting studio.”

The writer and cofounder of design brand Permanent Collection thinks that even though Schindler was an iconic LA architect, the space doesn’t have a particularly local feeling. “The shapes are very Russian Constructivism.” This idea rings true in the wood features, the fireplace, and the shape of the ceiling. “Schindler was very specific with his work. He designed with an idea of exactly how people should live,” Fanny says. “I haven’t become one of those people who are totally obsessed with Schindler, but he becomes part of your psyche.” — Zoë Sessums

Taking Rustic Vibes to New Heights in This Stunning California A-Frame

Bringing things right back up to date, a large floor rug from Cold Picnic injects a sense of modernism to the space. Vintage pieces, including a 1960s dome floor lamp, glass coffee table, and chairs by Marcel Breuer , are judiciously situated, layering the spaces and echoing the home’s midcentury history.

A serene rural setting where you’re surrounded by towering trees, rugged mountains, and shimmering lakes is the perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of city life. So naturally, when SoCal dwellers Gloria Noto , founder of organic cosmetics line Noto Botanics , and her partner, designer Ash Owens , first set eyes on the arresting 1,900-square-foot rustic hideaway that they now own, they knew it would reshape their lives. And not just in its triangular A-frame form, but by providing both a personal refuge and workspace.

Located in the remote wilderness of Crestline, California, with its cozy cabins and quaint cottages, their 1964-built midcentury marvel is the first home the creative couple have bought together. “I was in LA and Ash was commuting between there and New York, so we really wanted to find a home for all of us,” Gloria says. She shares a dog, Mio, and cats, Holly and Benny, with Ash. “I still keep a loft in the Arts District so we can go back and forth, but it’s nice having the option to step away from the city now, and to submerge ourselves into this sanctuary we’ve created.” — Kate Lawson

Patrick Janelle Transforms a Rundown Rental Into a Chic New York City Loft

When Patrick signed his lease, he thought the fireplace was functional. As it turns out, he can’t use it, but it still adds character to the place.

Patrick Janelle always dreamed of living in a downtown Manhattan loft . The lifestyle influencer, who also runs the talent agency Untitled Secret , fantasized about an airy and industrial home as he spent the past decade climbing the rungs of the New York City housing ladder. So when he grew out of his most recent abode, a compact yet curated SoHo apartment, he knew it was time to actualize his goal.

“I’m very romantic in my ideals about how I envision things for myself and my life in New York,” Patrick shares. “I’ve always made a point that I wanted to be in Manhattan—as cool as I think Brooklyn is—and I never have had this quintessential loft moment.”

Since Patrick couldn’t afford to buy the type of spacious loft he’d been lusting after, he focused his hunt on rentals that would allow him to renovate. After a handful of viewings, he found exactly what he was looking for: a generous three-bedroom in an early 20th-century factory building with a very lenient landlord. He adored the prime Flatiron location too. — Morgan Goldberg

A Charming 200-Square-Foot Apartment on Paris’s Left Bank

The beautiful 19th-century floor tiles and the fireplace were original to the building. Throughout the loft, discreetly integrated storage is present, sometimes highlighted with bronzed brass details.

You might assume that a 200-square-foot apartment would be the home of a student on a budget or maybe a short-term rental for travelers. This apartment, however, belongs to a successful businesswoman who lives outside of Paris and was in need of a small pied-à-terre in the capital. 

Pauline Lorenzi-Boisrond was commissioned to renovate the studio on the rue du Cherche-Midi. “She comes to Paris regularly for work, but she had grown tired of impersonal hotel rooms where she can’t leave her things from one visit to the next,” Pauline, the interior designer and founder of Studio Ett Hem , explains. “She wanted her own little suite in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area.” Ett hem means “house” in Swedish. It is indeed a fitting name for a designer tasked with overcoming the limitations of the space to bring out its homey charms. — Nicolas Milon

This 400-Square-Foot New York Apartment Is Maximized With Custom Millwork

Eight-foot-long drawers offer storage beneath the bed.

Like most people with internet access, Corey Kingston is obsessed with scrolling through the real estate listings on Zillow . The New York–based architect could argue that this hobby doubles as valuable market research for Le Whit , the design studio she founded with Liza Curtiss, but its most fruitful reward was the discovery of a Lower East Side apartment she could actually afford.

The 400-square-foot residence popped up on Corey’s screen during a heat wave, so she quickly put in an offer while the city was a ghost town. It was accepted thanks to the lack of competition and her instant connection with the seller, who was giving up the place to enroll in a Philadelphia architecture school. They bonded over an appreciation for the early-20th-century building’s history as a tenement and then a squatter property. — Morgan Goldberg

This Enchanting Los Angeles Apartment Was the Longtime Home of Mae West

A visual centerpiece of the apartment is Kimberly’s “wall of kooks.” It includes portraits she’s picked up through the years. Here, the small black table next to the leather chair was owned by Mary Pickford, the red pen on the coffee table was owned by Zsa Zsa Gabor, and the perfume on the table was owned by Mae West.

Designer Kimberly Biehl ’s fascination with old Hollywood began as a child. That was around the same time that her quest to discover and bring new life to old pieces also began. She started shopping at estate sales, garage sales, and flea markets in her teens. “As soon as I could drive, that’s where I was,” she says.

It’s no wonder then that Kimberly’s own home is filled with old Hollywood relics and classic furniture pieces she’s breathed new life into. What is a wonder, though, is that it’s happening in a piece of old Hollywood itself. Kimberly lives in the former apartment of Mae West, in the historic Ravenswood apartment building. — Lauren Harkawik

Art Imitates Life in This Bauhaus-Inspired Brooklyn Apartment

Vicente (left) and Audrey pose in their living room.

Raised by two aesthetes in an historic 1899 house in Hartford, Connecticut, Audrey Rose Smith had an art-filled childhood. Her father was a preservation architect, and her mother ran an art gallery, so their home was constantly host to artists and their work. It’s only logical that Audrey later became a gallerist herself.

It also makes sense that she swiftly fell in love with a fellow creative. Only eight months after meeting Ecuadorian photographer and designer Vicente Muñoz , the pair jointly purchased their prewar Clinton Hill apartment in Brooklyn. They married soon after, partnering in matrimony as well as real estate without looking back.

Eight years later, the couple has cultivated a tight-knit and like-minded community in the neighborhood. Turn-of-the-century buildings by architects like William Tubby, Montrose Morris, and Ebenezer L. Roberts pepper the streets where they frequently run into friends and colleagues. “It feels like an art world sitcom,” Audrey quips. “The farmers market is really exciting.” — Morgan Goldberg

Jewel Tones Heighten This 700-Square-Foot Rome Apartment

Counter stools offer a space for guests to accompany the chef in the kitchen. Wood elements further reflect the forest-inspired colored choice for the cabinetry.

“I think of a house as a complicated machine in which something new breaks down every day: a lamp, a faucet, a lock, an electric socket, the boiler, the refrigerator …. But when we can forget about the responsibility of continuous maintenance, we feel happy. Then the other side of the coin, opposed to the responsibilities of ownership, is sheer gratitude.”

That was the thinking of Álvaro Siza, the great Portuguese architect who, at the age of 89, continues to inspire a younger generation. In their space, design duo Eugenia Rolando and Federico Patacchiola of Paros Architettura —a couple in life as well as at work—start from these very words to create subtly inventive places.

A prime example of their work is Casa Costantino, a small but elegant Rome apartment. The building, a 1960s structure in the Ostiense district , is a stone’s throw from the famous Garbatella area. The 700-square-foot apartment is all modern, and thanks to Paros Architettura, it’s been transformed from an old family home full of memories into a light-flooded environment with a contemporary feel. — Ludovica Stevan

A Rotterdam Apartment Is Filled With One Artistic Couple’s Many Vintage Finds

Jeroen (left), Stéphane, and their dog, Henry.

Stéphane Monnet and Jeroen Dijkstra either have good luck, good timing, or simply the good sense to know when something just feels right. When they were apartment hunting in Rotterdam, the Netherlands , Stéphane was seeking out distinctly European surroundings—since he was moving from Toronto—and they found them in a one-bedroom property, downtown. “With all of its flourishes, huge windows, and open spaces, it was a perfect fit,” Stéphane says. “It was already snatched up, but that deal fell through at the last minute.”

Set inside a building from the 1880s, facing a busy street on one end and a verdant courtyard on the other, their home had been recently restored to reflect what existed way back when. Intricate crown molding sprawled across ceilings while wainscoting lined the lower half of the walls, and that artistry was painted in shades of green to contrast the white in between. Windows stretched over their contrasting outdoor views, and plenty of light streamed in. The couple also had a private balcony to share, in case they ever wanted a closer look at the birds, whose pleasant song woke them in the morning. — Kelly Dawson

By Morgan Goldberg

By Vaishnavi Nayel Talawadekar

By Nicolas Milon

House Beautiful's Most Popular Home Tours of 2021, According to Instagram

From a cool cocktail and storage nook in Atlanta to a country superstar's sweet nursery, these spectacular snapshots raked in the most likes on our feed.

More surprising picks include a mint-chocolate-chip-colored cabana on Long Island, a cozy baby’s room in Nashville, and an elegant New England foyer.

Officially intrigued? Keep scrolling for the most-beloved interiors to grace HB ’s IG page in 2021!

The quaint cocktail nook of this colorful Atlanta home by Melanie Turner racked up the most nods by a landslide.

“It’s probably the most thoughtful project we’ve ever worked on,” the designer tells House Beautiful . “A young family, a historic house, heirlooms, and playfulness all in one.”

Exposed brick floors lend this Texas kitchen reimagined by designer Marie Flanigan and her associate, Ashlee Garner, its rustic European look.

“The overall aesthetic is one that’s layered and transitional with an underbelly of tradition,” Flanigan says of the Houston home .

Tour the home here

Just off the mudroom of this Hamptons family retreat by Lauren Wills lies a light-filled cabana replete with everything you need for a lazy afternoon on the beach.

The cheery space showcases no-fuss cement floors that make for easy cleanup.

When it came to revamping her longtime abode in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, designer Liz Caan repurposed a lot of pieces and strategically filled the historic house with whimsical art and antiques.

“I think the beauty of this home is that it's constantly evolving," she says.

Want beautiful homes? We’ve got plenty. Let’s swoon over them together.

Instagrammers swooned over this darling nursery , thoughtfully put together by Nashville-based designer April Tomlin for her close friend Lauren Akins (who happens to be married to country superstar Thomas Rhett).

"It is a real and happy home," Tomlin enthuses. "I love how much love it holds."

Liz Caan turned heads once again with this shot of her family home’s incredible kitchen , which features an enviable walk-in pantry.

“I wanted this kitchen to have some soul and wanted to be surrounded by things I love made by people I love,” she reveals.

The English-inspired kitchen and servery of this Nova Scotia new build by Philip Mitchell boasts reclaimed antique wood floors, handcrafted cabinetry, and ultradurable surfaces.

“Every drawer is divided to hold something specific, whether it’s utensils or spices,” notes the designer.

Designed by Nannette Brown , the glossy all-black kitchen of this New York City apartment oozes with high drama and sophistication.

“I’m a big believer that within a home, different rooms should evoke different feelings and purposes,” says the local designer.

The spectacular transformation of this Boston home bar by Twelve Chairs Interiors , designed for serious wine collectors who love to entertain, involved adding an extra row of cabinets and polished nickel knobs and pulls—not to mention a fun rolling ladder.

“By going all the way up, we added function and erased the unsightly void,” explains the firm’s cofounder, Miggy Mason.

Last but not least: Rounding out this year’s list is Brown Hall Design principal Colleen Bashaw’s sweet bar setup.

Replete with a little brass sink and mini fridge, the charming space seamlessly blends in with the rest of her New Jersey home ’s whimsical interiors.

Looking for more jaw-dropping spaces? Follow House Beautiful on Instagram .

House Tours

Inside an Italian Villa by Jenny and Dave Marrs

How a Texas Home Got a British-Inspired Makeover

A Cool West Village Townhouse With Warmth and Soul

A Brooklyn Brownstone Gets a Do-Over

An L.A. Home That's Made for Stylish Entertaining

A Cozy Open-Concept Home on Long Island

An Equestrian-Inspired Home in Wellington, Florida

A Charming Floating House in Sausalito

A Nantucket Home Made for Family Hangouts

A Serene Midcentury Gem on Long Island

Inside a Modern Coastal Jersey Shore House

Virtual Open House

Mansion Global's virtual home tours allow for the viewing of our luxury houses from anywhere.

• Lyford Cay, Bahamas
• $12.5 million HG Christie
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• $5.95 million RE/MAX By the Bay / Knowles Co.
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• $3.7 million Seeff Zimbali
• Bagpath, Gloucestershire, U.K.
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• Clio, California
• $25 million Sierra Sotheby's International Realty
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• $7.5 million Sotheby's International Realty
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• $5.2 million Sotheby's International Realty
• Henderson, Nevada
• $13.75 million Luxury Estates International
• Glanvilles Wootton, Dorset, U.K.
• Strutt & Parker

Virtual House Plan & Home Tour Videos

Featured House Plan with VR Video

This charming country farmhouse house plan ...

An increasingly popular request from our clients is videos of our house plans. These can include:

• 360 degrees of the exterior using a drone flyover
• Video walk-through of the interior
• Even a photo-inspired video showing the home's layout from room to room.

More recently, we've begun to offer virtual reality house plan videos (VR) of select houses on an exclusive basis. These VR videos provide a truly enhanced walk-through experience like no other!

An Interactive Experience

By utilizing interactive tours of both the inside and outside of your future home, you get to experience the layout before you move in. You can feel the livability of your house, discover the flow from room to room, and feel comfortable with your decision without ever breaking ground. We're happy to be at the interactive forefront of home building and strive to offer the best customer experience possible.

We will continue adding house plan videos to this collection as we receive them . If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us . We appreciate your input and suggestions.

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+ Basic Options

House features, + - {{attribute.inventoryattributetype}}, + - foundation type, room features, construction features, purchase options, + - purchase options.

Plan: #142-1265

Plan: #142-1204

Plan: #142-1242

Plan: #195-1216

Plan: #106-1325

Plan: #123-1102

Plan: #141-1166

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From the design book

Breakthroughs in vr technology make it affordable and accessible for house plans.

Imagine Walking Through Your Future Home – Before Its Built – Right Now!   Perhaps you first saw it in a sci-fi movie like The Matrix – and were blown away by the concept. While much of it may be far-fetched, the idea of plugging into a virtual environment and having a rich and almost lifelike experience is getting closer thanks to advances in virtual reality headsets and software. Unfortunately, the most technologically advanced commercial VR systems can cost thousands of dollars, and even the highest end on the

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8 Expert Tips to Film a Great Home Tour Video

This post was sponsored by Ted’s Camera Stores . Thank you for supporting my blog’s wonderful sponsors.

Wow, Perth – what a crazy time to sell a house! The real estate market in WA – well really, the real estate market in most of Australia – is going nuts at the moment. In some parts, homes are being snapped up in days. Things are competitive between buyers and lots of properties are receiving multiple offers, so it can be a really good time to put a house on the market.

My sister and her hubby bought their first place recently, and I went with her to some home opens. We’d arrive EARLY and some of these houses already had lines of people queuing down the driveway and down the road. It was mental. And they’d be under offer within a couple of days. Lots of houses are selling in days.

Last month, property prices across Australia increased at their fastest rate in 30 years, and in Perth, houses are selling at their fastest rate in 15 years. And understandably, they’re fetching their owners good prices. New findings from CoreLogic found that since January, Perth house values have risen tens of thousands of dollars. (I can’t lie, it’s actually very tempting… we have also thought of selling our house to take on another project!)

It makes sense that sellers right now are making the most of the competitive market for buyers to get the highest selling price they can for their home. When Western Australia had a COVID-19 lockdown last year, we saw a huge uptick in real estate being listed with home tour videos. Made sense – videos showed people who couldn’t travel far from their homes what a house was really like.

What surprised me though was how many people during lockdown were making offers on a house without even visiting it in real life – these big life decisions based just off photos and video. I was astounded – it really showed the power of real estate videography in effective property marketing.

You know I love a home tour – whether it’s in real life or virtual. The other day I had a home tour of my friend Larisa’s new-build and it gave me so much pleasure; it was so fun to see how she had brought all her ideas for her dream house to life.

But I love VIDEO home tours almost as much as seeing homes in person! As much as I love stunning house photography, there is something you can capture with interior videography that you can’t get with just photos. How great is it that the internet means we can virtually tour a home on the other side of the country (or the world) simply from our desk or through our phone?

Real estate agents are now totally leading the home tour video trends, with lots of them now marketing their properties with property tour videos that really show the feel and atmosphere of a place. While we’re so fortunate not to be under strict COVID lockdowns at the moment, it’s clear that real estate video marketing is only going to get bigger and more widespread from here. A video is a great way to give your home an edge when selling your house in a burgeoning real estate market, and whatever you can do to attract multiple offers to get the price you can for your home, the better!

Real estate aside though, there are other reasons you might be interested in filming a home tour, whether you’re planning on outsourcing it or doing it yourself.

• To show off a realistic take on your home if you have a home or interiors Instagram account (or even a ‘before the reno’ tour – I love watching these!)
• To show off your talents as an interior designer, architect or stylist
• To promote your AirBnB through social media
• As a personal project to keep to remember the house you love

Today I’m picking the brain of Matthew Grahame, who is a photographer and expert writer at Ted’s Cameras , Australia’s most beloved camera store who specialise in helping people find the right camera (no matter your photography skill level or budget, which I like!). Matthew is the brain behind all the great tips over at Ted’s photography blog , where he shares loads of photography and videography tips for all skills levels.

He knows ALL the tricks when it comes to filming a great home tour, whether it’s for a real estate listing, your folio, or just to share with your followers online. Here are some simple steps that you can take to produce stunning home tour videos.

Tip #1: Tidy up first

“We are not trying to be funny here,” laughs Matthew. “Obviously, you will have already thought far enough ahead to clean and tidy your home before you start filming, but we have to make a point of saying this as it can be surprising the things that we miss during filming which become glaringly obvious during the editing stage.”

He’s right – I see this all the time when we shoot homes for House Nerd or for publications – and for some reason I swear it’s harder when it comes to your own house! What might seem like normal house things lying around to you, might look like clutter to someone else; especially when it’s filmed or photographed.

So try to be a little bit more scrutinising than you would usually be. Put away gadgets like phone chargers and computer speakers, tuck cords away neatly, hide toothbrushes in a draw, trim back unruly plants and cut brown or decaying leaves, clear kitchen and bathroom counter surfaces of most items, leaving just a few pretty, styled items on show. Only through lots of practice, with lots of photo and video shoots done at our home over the years, have I become any good at the “home shoot” whizz-around, where I have now achieved pro level at stuffing unsightly stuff in cupboards. (A quick trick? Use your laundry hampers to whizz around the house and collect up stuff).

“You want to pay special attention to clearing up clutter, cleaning reflective surfaces which can show up fingerprints, and if you really want to amplify your presentation, consider hiring furniture or artwork as is often practised during house sales,” says Matthew.

Tip #2: Mount your camera on a tripod

Nothing says amateur home movie like shaky and bumpy footage. “Luckily, this problem is easily fixed by mounting your camera on a tripod ,” says Matthew. “Using a tripod makes it easy to pan your shoots smoothly and precisely, while it also helps you to fine-tune your framing in order to create stronger compositions. The best tripods can be set both low and high, so you can experiment and find the best angle to showcase each room, while video-friendly tripods feature fluid heads for smoother and more cinematic movements.”

Tip #3: Use a wide angle lens

Have you ever visited a house you saw in a real estate listing to think it feels a lot smaller in real life? I swear this was me when I started house hunting as a first home buyer – that said, most of the homes in my budget WERE teeny-tiny apartments, so this is not surprising 😉

There is a reason real estate photography shoots are usually done with a wide angle lens – and honestly, despite what you may think, it’s really ISN’T to trick you or set you up into thinking a room is bigger than it actually is. Wide angle photography is used for real estate listings because it can show you the WHOLE room or space so you can get a feel for it, and see from photography how a home’s floor plan works and how rooms flow into one another. With a standard lens, you simply usually can’t capture most of a room effectively, says Matthew.

“When filming indoors, lenses of a standard focal length or longer will often be too long, which results in much of your room being cropped out no matter how far into the corners you set up your gear. The answer is mounting a wide-angle lens on your camera. Wide angle lenses make it easy to fit in every detail and characteristic of your room with minimal effort with the added bonus of making each space appear larger than it actually is.”

Tip #4: Harness as much light as possible

Maybe your bathroom gets the best light at 10am when the sunlight hits the window? Shoot that room then. “Dark and gloomy scenes are just as detrimental to your home video tour as the bumpy footage that we discussed earlier,” says Matthew. “To counteract this problem you need to allow plenty of light to enter your space so your camera can work its magic.”

If you live in the home you’re shooting, you’ll also know when the best natural lighting occurs in each room, so make a plan of what room you’ll shoot at what time. “Take note of when the main windows of your home are treated to the most natural light and open up your curtains and blinds to let in as much of this light as possible,” says Matthew. “If you are lucky, you may be able to make use of the beautiful natural light that is available during the golden hour, which is the period just after sunrise and before sunset. If natural light isn’t serving its purpose, you can turn on your overhead lights or even consider using a portable LED lighting kit to illuminate your home.”

Tip #5: Pan and zoom slowly and sparingly

While we all want to unveil our inner cinematographer, Matthew says you should save this desire for your short movies and keep your home video tours simple and gimmick-free. “Minor panning and zooming is fine and essential for showing your rooms as a whole, but using these techniques too often or too quickly can be distracting and take the attention away from the space that you are attempting to showcase.”

Tip #6: Find the best angle to shoot from

Photo of Heather Robbins .

The best angle for filming your tour often differs from room to room, says Matthew. “You will need to familiarise yourself with various framing techniques and use them all to produce a complete tour,” he says. “For larger spaces you can set your tripod in the center of the room and pan from one corner of the room to the next and then turn your camera around and reproduce the same shot facing the other way. Alternatively, you can attempt a full 360-degree pan; for these shots your tripod should be at around eye level.

Smaller spaces should be filmed from a corner. “Oftentimes this shot is filmed from a low angle with the camera being angled up slightly to fit the room in the frame, without too much of the ceiling being visible,” reveals Matthew.

Tip #7: Don’t neglect the exterior

Time to mulch, people. There’s a reason real estate agents advise making sure your garden looks neat before it goes on the market, you want your outdoor areas to look great too. “You want to paint a picture of your home as a whole, so some of your video tour should focus on its exterior elements,” says Matthew. “Include anything that is a selling point of the home, such as the inviting main entrance, or the carefully tended garden and lawn.

“External shots are often taken at night, so turn on the outside lights and make good use of that tripod.

“Alternatively, you should consider utilising a drone to do a fly over and produce a bird’s eye view of your home – this is a great way to illustrate where your house is situated on your property.”

Tip #8: Add some finishing touches

Now that you have filmed your home tour video you can use video editing software to piece all of your shots together into a finished product.

Think about how you would be showing the house to someone if it were in real life, advises Matthew. “Sequence your shots in order, which will give viewers the best impression of how it would feel to actually walk through your home,” he says. “Avoid showing too many shots of one room and too little of another; you want to give a good overall view of your home but also keep your video short and snappy.”

If you are producing your video for real estate purposes, you can include some extra information, such as a plan of the space which will help the viewer make sense of the footage they are seeing, he adds.

And lastly, your backing track. “Adding some background music can result in a more polished work,” says Matthew.

Thank you so much to Matthew Grahame for sharing your tips and the Ted’s Camera Stores team for sponsoring this post! You can check out more of Matthew’s expert tips on all things photography and videography over at Ted’s blog . They have an epic online store, but with 18 stores across Australia, you can also visit in person and chat to a friendly face about the best camera for your needs. Maya x

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Author: Maya Anderson

When Maya Anderson was thinking of a name for her homes and design blog, nothing seemed more fitting than House Nerd. Obsessed with everything to do with houses, renovating and interior design, Maya is a features journalist by training with a background in print and a focus on homes and real estate. She has been renovating her 1970s house since forever, loves dogs and can eat her body weight in dumplings.

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Handmade Home Tours

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Halloween Home Tours

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Holiday Home Tours

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8 Expert Tips to Film a Great Home Tour Video

It’s a good time to sell your home! The real estate market is skyrocketing. Many properties receive multiple offers, so it’s a really good time to bring your home to the market. The days when people were queuing up and getting ready for physical tours of homes are over.

Homes are selling at the fastest pace, getting a good price for the owner, and the most shocking part is that all of this is happening without the buyer visiting the property! These big life decisions are now often based solely on photos and videos.

Real estate video tours are powerful and get the right attention. They are very much in demand and make your property stand out, provided you use the right execution and strategy.

Video tours effortlessly show what the house looks like to those who can’t get far from their own homes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The power of real estate videos for effective real estate marketing is tremendous.

Many prefer taking a home tour through video before they make a deal. Videography is better than photography as you can virtually visit a house. Realtors are now at the forefront of home tour video trends.

However, there are other reasons why you should be interested in filming house tours as well, like:

1. If you have a Home or Interiors Instagram account, a home tour video helps showcase your artistic and aesthetic side. 2. Home tour videos help you share a realistic view of your home and show off your talent as an interior designer, architect, or stylist. 3. You can promote homestays or AirBnBs through video marketing. 4. Stakeholders love watching home videos; plus, they can watch them multiple times. 5. You can highlight different features and introduce rooms that may be overlooked on an in-person home tour. 6. They can show the vast area around the property that prospects may not be able to cover on foot on a short tour. 7. People who cannot travel to a particular location can see details of properties that are thousands of miles away.

8 Tips to Create a Great Home Video

Tip 1: clean up and beautify your space.

What looks like a normal household item lying around you may seem cluttered to someone else. Especially if the tour is shot by a videographer. Therefore, try to be a little more thorough than usual while cleaning up your space.

Store gadgets such as phone chargers and computer speakers, neatly wrap cords, hide toothbrushes in drawers, hide unruly plants, cut off brown and rotten leaves, make sure your kitchen and bathroom are in good shape, and clean the surfaces of the rooms thoroughly.

You need to pay particular attention to cleaning up messes and reflective surfaces where you can see fingerprints. It is advisable to place some items on the table or shelf to add a homely feel. Put fresh fruits on the dining table, a chopping board with fresh vegetables on the kitchen counter, and comfortable cushions on the sofa in the living room. All of this creates a cosy atmosphere.

Make sure there is no clutter, such as shoes on the floor or clothes on chairs. It’s also a good idea to clean the walls or wipe the kitchen cabinets near the handles. Do not neglect the outer areas either. Ensure the garden plants are pruned, the leaves are swept away, and everything looks neat, spacious, and attractive.

Tip 2: Add some finishing touches

Once you have captured the video, you need to assemble and edit all the footage. You can use online free video editing softwares to add the finishing touches to your videos.

Add some captions to provide additional information about what your viewer is seeing. You can stitch all the footage together and sort the shots so that you can best understand how a viewer feels walking in your house through the clips.

Give an overview of the house, but also keep the video short and crisp. Consider adding a good background score.

Tip 3: Attach the camera to a tripod and use accessories

Amateur home videos look erratic and choppy.

Fortunately, this problem can be easily solved by attaching the budget video camera to a tripod that can pan shots smoothly and accurately. It helps you fine-tune your framing and create a better composition.

The best tripods are adjustable on both sides, and you can find the perfect angle to showcase any space. Such tripods feature a sleek head for smooth, cinematic movement, minimising amateur, erratic shots.

Tip 4: Use a wide-angle lens

The rooms in your house may appear small to the visitor. While this may be true, there is no need to lean into the crowded look.

By using a wide-angle lens, you can create a sense of space. Wide-angle photo and video recording enable you to include more detail than a regular lens. With a regular lens, you’ll be shooting for a long time to include everything. On the other hand, wide-angle lenses cover the details and features of objects in a shot in a much shorter amount of time.

Wide-angle photos are used for real estate advertising because they can display an entire room or space. This allows you to see from the pictures how the floor plan of the house works and how the rooms flow into each other.

Tip 5: Use good lighting

Dark spaces and scenes have the same negative impact on home video tours as choppy footage. Shine enough light on the space so that the camera works magically.

Check for natural lighting, especially through the main window of the house. Open the drapes and blinds and take advantage of the beautiful natural light available during the golden hours right after sunrise and before sunset. If the natural light doesn’t work, turn on the overhead lights or use a portable LED lighting kit.

Tip 6: Pan and zoom slowly

Gradual, short pans and zooms are great and essential for displaying the entire space, but frequent use of these techniques or using them too quickly can be distracting from the space you’re trying to present.

Tip 7: Use animations and graphics

You can enhance the quality of your real estate videos by adding outstanding visuals, 3D views, landscape modes, graphics, and even animations to give the viewer an ‘at home’ feel.

These are trending and have the potential to attract audiences to your property-related videos.

You can do so by using some of the image editors available online like Adobe . These programs are often free and offer a lot of options you can try, so you can find something that will make your videos really pop out.

Tip 8: Don’t neglect the outdoor view

Make sure your garden looks clean before the video tour hits the market. In addition, some of your video tours should focus on the outer elements because you want to represent the whole house.

You can consider using a drone to fly over a house and create a bird’s-eye view to show where the house is on your property.

Selling and purchasing Real Estate – whether commercial or residential, is serious business. Whether you want to sell your property or you are an agent, you must highlight the minutest details of your property beautifully.

Using some smart tech gadgets and upgrades for your home, you can conveniently showcase various elements to impress potential buyers . Even if you want to offer a physical tour to a potential buyer, you can follow the above expert advice to give an impressive home tour video.

So, go on, and film great home tour videos that will greatly increase your chances of getting an early sale at a lucrative price!

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The 10 Best Architectural Digest Celebrity House Tours on YouTube

Architectural Digest's YouTube channel, and its "Open Door" series in particular, is one of life's greatest gifts. It filled the void that MTV cribs left in its wake when the series ended in 2010... and we're huge fans.

Because it's not every day we real estate addicts get to see behind the closed doors of luxurious, extravagant, and quirky celebrity homes. From a converted windmill in the Hamptons and a duplex penthouse apartment at the Plaza Hotel in NYC to the mansions of the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles , each home on this list will leave you both in awe and filled with inspiration.

These are the top 10 best Architectural Digest celebrity house tours...

1. robert downey jr..

First up we have Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan Downey's converted windmill abode. This is not your run-of-the-mill (see what we did there?) Hamptons summer home, it was designed by renowned New York City firm Fox-Nahem Associates who transformed the late-19th century windmill into a charming and very private East Hampton masterpiece with stunning grounds. The highlight? Susan's office in the very top of the windmill is the ideal WFH situation and we couldn't be more jealous.

In this very humorous home tour we get to see everything from Robert's art projects and clutter closets to their table-side nap zone and numerous cats. If you're in the mood for a chuckle, look no further.

2. Dakota Johnson

If you love all things mid-century modern, this is the celebrity home tour for you.

Architectural Digest kindly bring us inside the beautiful home of movie star Dakota Johnson. Formerly the home of director Ryan Murphy, Dakota purchased the super private Hollywood Hills home for $3.55 million in 2016. Features of envy include beautiful crushed mohair vintage sofas, her cozy office with book wall, gorgeous green kitchen, and backyard oasis complete with citrus trees, a heated swimming pool, and an elevated bamboo-sheltered hot tub area.

There isn't an inch of this lush but humble abode that we don't love.

3. Wiz Khalifa

This episode of "Open Door" is currently the most viewed of all time with 43 million views. It brings us inside Wiz Khalifa's $4.6 million mansion and recording studio in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.

The rapper's super cool pad features a heated infinity pool with incredible views, a games room with a dab AND booze bar, an underground recording studio, weed-themed photo wall, and a fleet of killer cars. Proof that this man is living the dream.

4. Cara and Poppy Delevigne

You may never find more personality in a home thanks to the Delevigne sisters' jungle-inspired home in Los Angeles.

Nicolò Bini of Line Architecture told Architectural Digest of the home, “I wanted to create a true L.A. moment for them, with nods to California midcentury modern, Laurel Canyon bohemia, Beverly Hills swank, surfing culture, and a little Mexico. Then we tied all that in with Cara and Poppy’s Englishness to give the house another layer of Delevingne charm.” The interior of this home is one-of-a-kind, no doubt about it.

Header image credit: Architectural Digest / Trevor Tondro

Over in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles , you'll find producer and DJ Zedd's $16 million mansion.

Highlights of this Architectural Digest "Open Door" episode include the incredible canyon and hill views, indoor trees, an art gallery, and a Skittle machine. Spanning a whopping 9,500 square feet, this mansion even has its own detached studio and gym and will soon have a separate "guest-house-bowling-alley-complex". Casual...

You can understand why this is the second most viewed video on Architectural Digest's YouTube with a staggering 43 million views.

6. Kendall Jenner

Next up we have supermodel and Kardashian clan member Kendall Jenner whose serene Los Angeles home was designed by Kathleen and Tommy Clements and Waldo Fernandez. The interior of the home blends super tasteful elements and earthy shades with fun, unexpected pops of color and a calm, peaceful atmosphere.

Keep an eye out for Kendall's incredible art collection including a signature James Turrell ovoid wall sculpture as well as her incredible fireplace, beautiful bar, art studio, dream-worthy chef's kitchen, gold bathtub, glam room, and so much more.

7. J Balvin

Travel with us to Colombia for this next "Open Door" episode where we get to explore superstar J Balvin's tranquil home. Inspired by Japan aesthetics and minimalism, the house features floor-to-ceiling windows that bring nature indoors. The open plan kitchen and living room open up to the great outdoors, with a wonderful indoor / outdoor flow. The pool area is beyond dream-worthy and is surrounded by lush and tropical greenery and bonsai trees.

The minimalism and neutral color palette changes greatly when you enter J Balvin's walk-in closet where  over 850 pairs of sneaker line the walls in explosions of color. The man loves his shoes...

8. Hilary Duff

Next we'll enjoy a tour of Hilary Duff's vibrant, colorful, and cheerful family home in Los Angeles . A self-confessed home renovation addict, Hilary has renovated this house twice in the last eight years. The latest one has resulted in a quirky and somewhat eccentric aesthetic with a focus on family, livability, and large spaces to spend time in with beautiful art and tasteful features throughout.

The highlight of this home tour has got to be the chicken coop out in the back yard.

9. Tommy Hilfiger

Journey back to New York with us now for what may be the most luxurious and opulent home on this list. Legendary fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and his wife Dee reportedly purchased this duplex penthouse apartment at the Plaza Hotel for $25.5 million in 2008 (they've since sold it for $31 million, although originally listed it for $80 million).

This Plaza apartment overlooks Central Park, with incredible views of the city as far as the eye can see. This particular unit steeped in history having once hosted the likes of The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, and many more iconic figures. You won't find another apartment like this in New York City.

BROWSE:  Homes for sale in New York here.

10. Aaron Paul

Come check out Aaron Paul's custom wood and stone Idaho home. Despite the house being enormous, it has a very cozy, almost cabin-like vibe to it, tucked away in the snowy mountains and surrounded by trees and lakes. Just watching this home tour will make you feel warm 'n' fuzzy inside.

With the help of interior designer Jake Arnold and Pearson Design Group, the Pauls purchased and used the wood from three 120-year-old barns to build the house from scratch. Drool over the cathedral ceilings, vast living spaces, stone bathrooms, spacious bedrooms, and an incredible floor-to-ceiling fireplace.

Plus, a bonus one, but a must-watch nonetheless.

11. Naomi Campbell

Last but not least, we just haaad to include icon Naomi Campbell's Kenya compound and airy villa. On the coast of the Indian Ocean, in the tranquil seaside town of Malindi, lies this tranquil and "very calming place".

From the indoor/outdoor flow and two pools, to the restaurant-like outdoor dining area and on-site spa - we've never seen anything quite like this one... take a look for yourself.

You can check out our YouTube channel filled with house tours here !

READ NEXT: The Best Real Estate Shows To Binge on Netflix

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Further reading

Complete Guide to Finding & Buying Fixer Upper Homes

If you want to buy a property on a budget or if you’re looking for a project you can get stuck into, a fixer-upper property could be perfect for you.

States that collect the most in property taxes

We looked at Census Bureau data to see how much revenues states collect in property taxes each year.

These 25 metro areas have the highest homeownership rates in the US

ZeroDown has gathered the 25 metro areas with some of the highest homeownership rates in the U.S., which are concentrated in the Midwest and South.

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Thunderbolt

Hands-on: multi-cam home studio – powered by a macbook pro and thunderbolt.

After years of waffling, I decided that it was time to update my workspace to be more friendly to on-camera work, reviews, tutorials, product photography, podcasting, etc. Instead of having a space that I sometimes use for work, sometimes for study and entertainment, and sometimes for editing, I decided to switch it up and wholly dedicate it to video and photo production.

This setup is primarily powered by a 14-inch MacBook Pro connected to a single Thunderbolt cable. It’s also made possible by a whole host of software, including MovieRecorder , a pricey but fantastic application from Softron. MovieRecorder allows me to simultaneously record high-quality HEVC-encoded video in a multi-cam setup from multiple cameras directly to my computer, bypassing SD Cards of CFexpress cards entirely.

As you’ll see in my hands-on video, I’ve done many other things to customize my setup for productivity, and I hope you find it enlightening and fun. Be sure to subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more videos like this.

My Desk Setup

At the center of my setup is the aforementioned 14-inch MacBook Pro featuring an M1 Max chip , and 32GB of RAM. This machine continues to impress me with how utterly capable it is. Because it’s an M1 Max chip, it has enough power and video encoding capability to make for a rock-solid centerpiece to my setup.

The 512GB of configured storage isn’t ideal, but since MovieRecorder can encode in HEVC, the storage limit is much less of an issue than if I were working with ProRes-encoded video. I plan to upgrade to a 16-inch MacBook Pro eventually, and I’ll configure more storage then, but my current machine has performed so well that I haven’t felt rushed.

Video: Jeff’s 2024 multi-cam home studio tour

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I sold my Pro Display XDR, a staple of my setup since early 2020 , and picked up a Studio Display . I miss the HDR capabilities of the Pro Display XDR, but the smaller size and added functionality of the Studio Display make it better for my small workspace.

My MacBook Pro and Studio Display rest on a Husky mobile workbench from Home Depot. This 52-inch workbench includes a wood desktop and two drawers underneath. The drawers are instrumental to my setup, however, I needed to remove the top drawer in order to fit everything inside. This also allows me to store items like the Rode Rodecaster Duo Integrated Production Studio , and quickly access the smart pads without even opening the drawer.

The Husky workbench features four high-quality casters, so I can quickly move it around and reconfigure my shooting space. The bench is also height adjustable, although it’s the manual variety featuring a hand-crank.

Another desktop staple is the Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP microphone arm with a Shure SM7dB attached. The Elgato Wave is a surprisingly well-built and capable arm that costs just $99, and it’s perfect for on-camera work due to its low-profile nature.

The Shure SM7dB sounds fantastic, and its non-boosted iteration, the regular SM7B, is the de facto standard for podcasting. I have reviews of the SM7dB and the Rodecaster Duo in the works. The Rode interface is an insanely capable all-in-one production studio that features powerful pre-amps, smart pads for sound effects and midi, and a ridiculous amount of connectivity options.

Sidenote: Earlier this year we launched a new podcast on YouTube called 9to5Mac Overtime which I record in this home studio. Overtime is a video-first podcast, but we also publish an audio version that you can listen to on Apple Podcasts . Here’s one of our recent episodes:

The Rodecaster Duo can even route audio from one or two Macs, and route audio from specific apps. And yes, you can even connect it directly to your iPhone 15 Pro via USB-C, and interface with the audio coming from it. The Rodecaster Duo is by far one of my favorite products in my setup, and I haven’t even started to scratch the surface of what I can do with it.

Although I use the boom arm for podcasting, I enjoy using the Rode Wireless Pro lapel microphone for reviews, unboxings, etc. The Rode Wireless Pro is an extremely capable microphone that sounds great. And because the wireless mics can connect directly to the Rodecaster Duo, it makes using one or both wireless transmitters even more seamless.

Sidenote: On my recent trip to Vegas for NAB , I put the Rode Wireless Pro to the test in the field, and I was amazed at the performance. This is easily one of the best lapel mics I’ve ever used, and it has absurdly good ambient noise rejection. You can watch the full video here:

Also inside my Husky Workbench is the Elgato Stream Deck + controller , which I use exclusively to control the Elgato Prompter that’s attached to my A-cam used for talking head shots. The knobs on the Elgato Stream Deck + are ideal for scrubbing back and forward through a script, changing the speed of the teleprompter, and even adjusting the display brightness.

For headphones, I use the super-flexible Shure AONIC 50 Gen 2 wireless headphones . Although I use AirPods Pro 2 primarily, when I need direct audio monitoring, the AONIC 50 is my go to. The AONIC 50 can be used wirelessly via Bluetooth, but also features high-resolution USB-C audio capability. More importantly, they can even be used with a traditional 3.5mm headphone jack, and that’s how I have these connected to my Rodecaster Duo for monitoring voiceovers. I have a review of these headphones in the works, so stay tuned.

A Single Thunderbolt cable

It took a while, but the USB-C Thunderbolt cable now lives up to the promises initially laid out during the 2016 MacBook Pro refresh launch. We were promised a single cable to provide power, connect to peripherals, and even drive displays. Accessory makers took a few years to get on board, but now we have a vast array of Thunderbolt-enabled products.

Connected to my MacBook Pro is a single 3-meter Thunderbolt Cable from Apple. This cable is costly, but it’s exceptionally well built and long enough that I can quickly move my MacBook Pro around on my desk, or even move it off the desktop, and work from my couch while maintaining connectivity. A second 3-meter Thunderbolt cable connects one of my hub interfaces to another Thunderbolt-enabled interface, which makes the whole setup work.

With just a single Thunderbolt connection to my MacBook Pro, I’m able to connect to the following devices:

• Apple Studio Display
• Rode Rodecaster Duo
• Shure SM7dB
• OWC 8TB Envoy Express SSD
• Rode Wireless Pro TX
• Elgato Prompter
• Elgato Stream Deck +
• Shure AONIC 50 Gen 2
• 3x Sony FX30 cameras

These connections are made possible by several additional hardware devices in between, including:

• OWC Thunderbolt Hub ( review )
• Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock ( review )
• CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub ( review )
• OWC Mercury Helios 3S ( coverage )
• CalDigit SOHO Dock

( Full disclosure: I am a CalDigit ambassador and sometimes make paid content for CalDigit independently of 9to5Mac. )

Inside the OWC Mercury Helios 3S external PCIe enclosure is the Blackmagic Design DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder . The DeckLink Quad, as its name alludes to, features four HDMI inputs on a single interface, allowing me to connect up to four Sony FX30 cameras simultaneously. Unfortunately, the card’s stock fan is super loud, so I replaced the stock heat sync, which greatly helped.

I chose the Sony FX30 as my main camera for various reasons. The biggest reason is that they are relatively inexpensive, considering their impressive capabilities.

The FX30 is the Super35 version of the popular full-frame FX3. It’s not as good as the FX3 in low-light scenarios, but I have plenty of light in my controlled environment. The FX30 is a wildly-capable camera for its asking price, and it’s hands-down one of the best values in cameras I’ve ever seen.

Two FX30s are “permanently” mounted in such a way that avoids using typical stands, and thus saves precious floor space. I mounted an FX30 on an Impact Wall-Mounted Boom Arm for my overhead camera. These boom arms are permanently installed and can quickly raise and pivot. The overhead camera resides directly over my Husky mobile workbench and works great for product showcases and detailed unboxing videos.

Attached to the overhead FX30 is a Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4 G OSS lens . At f4, this power zoom lens isn’t the fastest, but its range and power zooming capabilities are hard to beat. This lens lets me quickly zoom out to capture a wide shot, say, a giant product unboxing, while also letting me zoom in to capture detail.

Two additional cameras reside directly in front of my workbench. The first camera, mounted to the wall above the television, is dedicated to on-camera talking headshots. This FX30 is paired with a Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM lens , which provides a roughly 50mm angle of view after the crop factor is taken into account.

Attached to the front of the 35mm lens is the Elgato Prompter, an excellent teleprompter that Elgato recently launched. I’ve long tried to use iPad and iPhone-based teleprompter solutions, but I much prefer to use a dedicated solution. It’s just a much simpler and cleaner solution and for the most part it just works.

Beneath the talking head camera, mounted on a tripod, is another FX30. I use this camera for detailed product shots on the desktop. A simple Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 lens is attached to this camera.

The final FX30 is my so-called “floating” camera. Sometimes, I use it handheld; sometimes, I attach it to a gimbal; other times, I mount it to a tripod. I use this camera to capture everything else the mounted cameras can not, and generally don’t have it rigged to my multi-cam setup, although I can with a simple HDMI connection.

Setup routing hardware

The Thunderbolt cable connected to my MacBook Pro goes directly to the upstream port of the OWC Thunderbolt Hub, which is mounted on the back of my Husky mobile workbench. The 8TB SSD (also mounted on the bench), Pro Display XDR are all connected to this hub.

Additionally, I have the CalDigit SOHO Dock connected the OWC Thunderbolt Hub, which provides me with a few more necessary ports. The SOHO Dock is also mounted to the back of my workbench, and it have it connected to the Rodecaster Duo, which is connected to the Shure SM7dB, and the Rode Wireless Pro TX. One of the awesome things about the Rodecaster Duo is that it allows for a direct connection to one or two of the Rode Wireless Pro transmitters, which makes it super easy to capture audio for talking head shots or for sound design.

This setup makes it so that I can maintain connections to critical components like the microphones, external drive, and external display while being disconnected from the other elements of my studio setup that connect my cameras.

The second 3-meter Thunderbolt 3 cable in my setup goes from a port on the OWC Thunderbolt Hub to the uplink port on the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub. I had some issues with handshaking when waking up my MacBook, and I found that introducing the CalDigit hub into the mix eliminated the handshaking issues and made it so that I could more easily power-cycle the hub to get everything back online if needed.

The Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock and the OWC Mercury Helios 3S each connect to a separate port on the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub, completing the routing.

The Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock is a fantastic piece of hardware for the sheer amount of ports it allows you to access from a single interface. It features a 2.5Gb Ethernet port, which I have connected to my AT&T fiber connection. This provides my MacBook Pro with blazing-fast upload and download speeds, which is especially useful when uploading large videos to YouTube and for live streaming to YouTube with OBS.

The second, more important reason I use the Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock, is that it features terrific power delivery properties that just works. Sonnet’s dock features multiple USB ports that provide consistent power to attached devices via USB-C. In addition to connecting all of my FX30s to my MacBook Pro so that I can control them remotely, the Sonnet Dock also keeps all connected cameras charged, eliminating the need to switch batteries or, worse yet, utilize dangerous dummy batteries.

Finally, there’s the OWC Mercury Helios 3S. I installed the Blackmagic Design DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder inside this PCIe Thunderbolt enclosure. The FX30s connect to the DeckLink Quad via HDMI cables, and while I’m pretty bad at cable management, I’ve tried my best to make it look somewhat presentable.

MovieRecorder – a pricey but awesome multi-cam solution

So now that we’ve gotten most of the hardware details out of the way, the software issue remains. How might one interface and capture video from such a complex setup? Is it overly tricky? Thankfully, several apps can do the job, but one stands out above the others.

Before I learned about MovieRecorder, I used Blackmagic Media Express to interface with my cameras via the DeckLink hardware. Unfortunately, Media Express can only interface with a single camera at a time, which means running multiple instances of the app. It works, but it gets messy.

The bigger problem with using Blackmagic Media Express is its limited amount of available codec options. ProRes 422 Proxy is the most lightweight option, and those files can still get huge. On a 512GB MacBook Pro, this quickly poses a problem unless you rely on an external drive. It’s not the worst problem in the world, but even with a cavernous external drive, ProRes files quickly eat up storage.

MovieRecorder solves the issues with Blackmagic Media Express I mentioned and is better suited for multi-cam environments. As long as your computer is capable, it can simultaneously capture video from multiple cameras. Softron gave me a trial license throughout my testing, letting me capture four inputs. Many other license options are available, even one that can capture up to eight inputs, but it gets pricey.

Granted, this software is aimed at larger production companies with vast budgets. Softron’s S|40 Bundle featuring 4 Movie Recorder licenses on a single serial will set you back a cool €5950,00, north of $7500 USD. Again, for a solo creator like myself, that’s probably not going to be realistic, but there are lesser versions of Softron’s apps that are a bit more palatable price-wise. For instance, MovieRecorder Express, a pared-down version of the main app, can be had with four licenses for €2195 or about $2800 USD. It’s still not cheap but much more realistic for a solo creator like myself.

The great thing about MovieRecorder is how simple and easy it makes things. Video devices from Blackmagic, AJA, and NDI sources are automatically discovered and surfaced. It’s just a matter of clicking the checkbox next to the local sources, which are immediately displayed in the viewer.

You can rename sources – for instance, I have Talking Head, Desk, Overhead, and Extra as source names. You can also configure details for each source, like resolution and frame rate, audio source, and even timecode settings.

Destination settings let you configure codec, including super-efficient 10-bit HEVC, save location, custom naming, metadata, and more. You can even set up AppleScripts to trigger at the start or end of the recording. I feel like I’m just scratching the surface of what’s possible with MovieRecorder, and I could probably make the process even more efficient than it already is.

Each viewer can be individually interfaced with. There are transport controls for starting, pausing, and stopping a recording, renaming a source, switching out a source, or altering configured destinations. You can also maximize a given source to get a larger view of its contents.

For multi-cam setups, MovieRecorder includes handy gang controls. These controls allow you to simultaneously start or stop capturing footage from all enabled sources. This is super-handy for multi-cam setups because it captures video from every source with a single click.

Because I can’t afford a full MovieRecorder license, I use OBS for all of my capturing and live streaming functions. The greatest thing about OBS? It’s free!

OBS works well, is highly customizable, and it has some features that I prefer when compared to other software. The main issue I encountered with OBS is that it doesn’t allow you to record from multiple sources at once without a plugin, and the plugin doesn’t work very well in my experience.

There are other issues with OBS, and it has a much higher learning curve than MovieRecorder, but it’s probably the best solution for those on a budget. It’s also great because it can record high quality HEVC video.

I use the smart pads on the RodeCaster Duo to control OBS via MIDI commands interpreted by the amazing BetterTouchTool utility for Mac . With a quick press of one of the pads I can easily cycle through all camera angles, start and stop recording, and more. I’ll have a lot more on how I use OBS in an upcoming post and video.

Being able to quickly and efficiently control this setup was imperative to me. My goal was to have as little friction as possible. Here are some of the ways that this setup removes friction.

Camera charging and battery management

The FX30 features a good system of battery management and features USB PD that lets you keep the cameras charged via a USB-C cable. Each USB-C cable connects directly to a port on the Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock, which has great power delivery capability. Thus, all three of my main FX30s are always ready to go when its time to start filming.

Camera power

I use a several smart switches, such as the Eve Energy, to power on and power off my cameras. For example, the Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock is connected to one of these smart switches, and I created a simple shortcut to control the timing of the power in order to manage the connected FX30s. To turn on the cameras, the shortcut looks like this.

To power off the cameras (actually putting them to sleep using the FX30’s battery management settings), the shortcut is a bit more complex to accommodate for the FX30s power management timing:

The goal of this shortcut was to put all connected cameras to sleep at the same time, and also make it so that the cameras would begin charging once they were sleep. The FX30 will not charge while awake, even if you have a USB-C cable connected. If you don’t get the timing right, sending power to the FX30 via the USB-C cable will wake the devices and thus prevent them from charging. It took a lot of guess and checking to figure out the exact timing, but it works.

After the shortcuts were configured, I then mapped them to a smart pad on the Rodecaster Duo. With a simple press of a smart pad, I can power on or power off all of my FX30s in one fell swoop.

Remote controlling cameras

Sony’s excellent Imaging Edge Desktop suite features a remote tether option that lets you control various aspects of the cameras via USB-C. This is yet another benefit of having each camera connected to my MacBook Pro via the setup routing explained earlier.

I have a dedicated desktop page that I can swipe to featuring three instances of Sony Remote for controlling all three cameras if needed. I don’t use remote control often, but in certain situations it can be handy when you need to change exposure values or change focus area.

Teleprompter

The Elgato Prompter connects to my setup via USB and it also directly integrates with the Stream Deck + for direct control. With it, I can easily scroll forward or backward through my script, quickly jump between paragraphs, change font and brightness, or start or stop scrolling via the knob controls on the Stream Deck +.

It’s not perfect, but having a dedicated teleprompter that’s this easy to control has been a game-changer for my workflow, and saves tons of time. Stay tuned for the full breakdown and review.

This is my home studio setup in a nutshell. Of course, there are many other aspects to my setup, such as lighting, that I haven’t touched on. Perhaps I’ll save that for another post and video.

The whole point of this setup was to streamline my workflow, and reduce friction as much as possible, and I think it largely achieves this. There’s no juggling SD Cards, batteries, etc. It’s basically just a matter of pressing a couple of buttons and you’re ready to record. I’m still tinkering and making refinements, but for the most part, I’m very happy with it.

As most of you know, I’m not usually one to appear on camera, and prefer to stay behind the scenes so to speak, but this setup has made me a lot more comfortable sitting in front of the camera.

But the biggest takeaway, in my opinion, is just how flexible and capable the MacBook Pro is. With Thunderbolt connectivity, there is just so much you can do, and it all works via a single cable connection to my Mac. When I’m finished, I can just eject my SSD, disconnect the cable, and take my Mac with me for working on the go. Throughout all of this the MacBook Pro has performed pretty much flawlessly.

What do you think about my setup? Do you have any suggested changes or observations? Sound off down below in the comments with your thoughts.

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Jeff is the head of video content production for 9to5. He initially joined 9to5Mac in 2016, producing videos, walkthroughs, how-tos, written tutorials, and reviews. He takes pride in explaining things simply, clearly, and concisely. Jeff’s videos have been watched hundreds of millions of times by people seeking to learn more about today’s tech. Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube to catch Jeff’s latest videos.

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Meet 2024’s ‘American Idol’ Top 10 Contestants

Up close and personal with the top singers of season 22.

By Fred Bronson

Fred Bronson

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For 22 seasons and running, American Idol has unveiled which contestants have qualified for the competition’s most elite tier, the top 10. This season is no exception, with the names of the final 10 being announced on Monday (April 22) evening’s live broadcast on ABC.

For over a decade now, Billboard has been first in line to sit down with each finalist and conduct their first in-depth interviews. Earlier this week, Billboard sat down with the top 14 performers to talk about their formative years, their Idol experiences to date and how they envision their futures.

On Sunday (April 21), the top 14 performed songs by members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (the Rock Hall’s Class of 2024 was also revealed during the episode by Ryan Seacrest and Rock Hall member Lionel Richie). At the end of the two-hour episode, Jordan Anthony and Nya were eliminated from the competition.

On Monday night, the theme was Billboard No. 1 Hits, a subject first presented in season two and again in season four. The episode saw the end of two more journeys, with contestants Roman Collins and Jayna Elise leaving the show.

Below, Billboard goes deep with season 22’s top 10 contestants as well as the four contestants eliminated over the last few days.

To quote Ryan Seacrest, here they are, in no particular order. (Well, that isn’t strictly true, as we present them alphabetically – first the newly-minted top 10 and then the four singers who were eliminated over the last two days).

Jack Blocker

Born : June 8, 1998 – Dallas, Texas

Musical Influences:  John Prine, Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, OutKast, Tyler the Creator, White Stripes, Green Day

First  Idol  Experience:  “I was four when the show started. My parents watched the first season and said we were all going to watch the next year, so I remember Ruben (Studdard) and Clay (Aiken).”

Jack Blocker did not grow up in a musical family. His earliest memories of music are from the traditional church he attended as a child. “Once a month, someone would come in with an acoustic guitar and they would do stripped-down worship music and I thought it was cool. In high school I was listening to older country artists and that’s when I fell in love with music. At 16 I picked up the guitar and tried to learn their songs. I attended a Christian high school and played in a student-led worship band. That’s when I figured out I could sing and started writing songs in my bedroom for fun.”

Blocker is self-taught on guitar thanks to YouTube. He still hasn’t taken any lessons and never had vocal coaching until he auditioned for American Idol . The first song he wrote was “Finally Home,” which he recorded with the band he had in college, Rightfield. They played gigs while attending the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where Blocker majored in communications. “When bands would come through, we’d message them to see if we could open for them. Then we did some traveling and were able to make half a living playing gigs.”

At this point, Blocker had not decided on making music as a full-time job. “I was considering every career besides being a musician. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I had no real perception of what having a career in music would look like. Growing up in Dallas, I didn’t really know anyone who did that.”

In 2022, Blocker became a solo artist. “My wife and I and my bandmate Reed Hoelscher moved to Nashville. We weren’t experiencing that much growth in Dallas and so we tried to push ourselves. It was difficult. In Dallas and Arkansas, we were the only people performing alt-rock music. In Nashville, everyone is doing the same thing and probably a little better than you and they know more people than you. Trying to make an impression was a bit of a culture shock. We were competing with all the other artists around us and we were losing. I realized I needed to write. My wife was really supportive. She felt this was something I was supposed to be doing, so I started making music that I really cared about and doing it on my own.”

Blocker has already learned a valuable lesson from his Idol journey. “I have been encouraged throughout the whole process to be myself as an artist, to find your wheelhouse and go 100% toward that. I haven’t been trying to compete with anybody else on the show, like go head-to-head and out sing this one person. I’ve been getting to sing songs that I love and I’ve just been really encouraged throughout the show that people respond to that authenticity. Luke said, ‘If you’re doing Jack Blocker, you’re doing the right thing.’ That meant the world to me.”

McKenna Faith Breinholt

Born : Aug. 19, 1998 – Mesa, Ariz.

Favorite Alums:   David Archuleta, David Cook, Lauren Spencer-Smith

Musical Influences:   Adele, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift

First  Idol  Experience:  “I watched the season that David Cook and David Archuleta were on. That was the most memorable Idol for me.”

Born in Mesa, Ariz., and raised in nearby Gilbert, McKenna Faith Breinholt’s earliest musical memory is from when she was seven years old, playing songs by ear on her piano. “I would hear music on television and would go to my little keyboard and pick them out. I thought it was awesome that I could play. My parents thought it was really cool and they bought a bigger keyboard. The first song I played on that was ‘Apologize’ by Timbaland and OneRepublic.”

Breinholt confesses, “I took piano lessons to learn theory. I was cheating the whole time. I wasn’t listening to it, and then I got caught. Yeah, I’m not great with piano lessons! I couldn’t sing very well at the time. I wasn’t really a great singer until I picked up the guitar. My guitar teacher required all students to sing, and that’s how I found my voice.”

By the time she was 14, she was performing in talent shows and in church on Sundays, just with piano or guitar. “I never was accompanied by anyone. I’d always play by myself. Then I sang in my high school talent show and that was probably one of the best performances ever for me. People saw that video and asked me to start working with them after that. Rob Gardner, who Breinholt describes as “a crazily talented musician from Arizona,” had her cover Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” and Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This).” “He had me take great iconic songs and turn them into orchestra pieces with choir and we went around performing in Arizona every year. One of my videos with him (“Hallelujah”) got over 12 million views on YouTube.

Although Breinholt said during her Idol audition that her family has no musical talent, she corrected herself while talking to Billboard . “They were offended when I said that. They all have great ears. My dad can play a little bit at the piano. My grandpa plays the guitar. Everyone can mess around here and there.”

Asked what the most valuable lesson she has learned on her Idol journey so far, Breinholt says, “To have a good time and cherish every single moment and make friends too. Yes, you have to be in a certain mindset when you’re on stage and when you’re rehearsing, but we’re never going to get this opportunity again. It’s all about the people and the things that we’re doing and being in the moment because it’s going to go away real quick.”

The Arizonan already has a vision for her future. “My ultimate goal is to release a song after the show and it takes off and I’m touring and performing in front of hundreds of thousands. I know it’s going to take a lot of work to get there, but that’s the goal.”

Born : July 31, 2002 – Indio, Calif.

Favorite Alums:  Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, David Archuleta, Adam Lambert, Jordin Sparks

Musical Influences:  Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, My Chemical Romance, Paramore

First  Idol  Experience:  “We always watched the fails. That used to be the greatest part of this show, seeing people absolutely lose their minds in an audition room. I was at my aunt’s house in Idyllwild [Calif.] and I remember looking at Carrie Underwood and telling my mom, ‘I want to do it now.’ And she said, ‘You’re not old enough.’ ‘Well, how freaking old do I have to be?’ I was eight.”

“My mom always sang lullabies to us,” Abi Carter says when asked about her earliest musical memory. “But the first true song I remember is the intro credits song to (Nickelodeon’s 2006 film) Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses . There are no words. It’s so beautiful to me and I wanted to be a ballerina and a singer.”

Carter isn’t the only singer in her family. “My mom got a full scholarship to university. She went on a voice scholarship, but she had kids and that made it impossible for her to continue. All my siblings sing. I was the only one who really loved it and wanted to pursue it and felt a deep connection with music. But we’re always singing around the house.”

As a young girl, Carter says she idolized Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson. “I grew up in a really religious family, so we weren’t allowed to listen to all kinds of music, but my mom bought a Carrie Underwood album and it got stuck in our little CD player in our old broken down van and so that was all we could listen to for a really long time. So I love Carrie Underwood. I’m not a country singer, but sometimes I’ll sing something that’s just a little bit country.”

Carter wrote her first song relatively recently. “It’s called ‘Still Breathing.’ I wrote it about a friend of mine who I was very close to growing up. “We would sit in her computer room and talk about the future and about what life was going to be like and how she was going to decorate her apartment when she moved out. When she went away to college, I was so excited for her because she was so excited to start her life and she ended up getting into drugs and it just absolutely changed who she was chemically. I wrote that song about her not being able to respond anymore. I don’t even know if she is still alive. I didn’t know if she was still breathing. I wrote that in late 2020/early 2021.”

Reflecting on lessons learned so far from being on American Idol , Carter explains, “I grew up being home schooled. When I entered high school, I went for less than a semester and had to leave to help my family. And I just assumed that coming to Los Angeles to audition that everybody here was going to be fake. I had a mindset of what Hollywood was like and what the music business was like and thought I was going to be around gorgeous people who are gorgeous because of the plastic surgery and would treat me like I was less than. But what I’ve learned is that friends are so much closer than you think and all you have to do is get out to make them. I didn’t grow up with a lot of friends. I only had one at a time. Any prejudice I had has been sucked out of me because I’m surrounded by many people who are so different and yet we’re all the same. There’s something that you can relate to in everybody. I’ve learned that the world is so much bigger but so much more connected than we think.”

As for her future, Carter says, “I want to be an artist. I’ve never felt so passionately about something. I went to school and got a psychology degree because I figured if I can’t express my emotions through something artistically, maybe I can just help other people express their emotions. I was going to be a family therapist.” But then she was asked to audition for American Idol , and she thought, “I’ve never done something for myself. I had to start working young and leave high school to help my family. When this opportunity came along, I thought, ‘If I get a master’s in psychology and have a stable job, I’ll never have this opportunity to pursue what I love because I’ll have so much more on my plate then.’ I want to perform. I want people to be able to relate to my songs the way that we relate to Taylor Swift songs. I used to be scared about stage presence, like I don’t know what to do with my arms. I’m not a dancer. When you think about a home-schooled kid, I’m about as awkward as they come. But I’ve never felt so energetic before. It’s so much fun.”

Julia Gagnon

Born : March 29, 2002 – Guatemala City, Guatemala

Favorite Alums:  Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia, Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert, Wé Ani

Musical Influences:  Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Jennifer Hudson, Cynthia Erivo

First  Idol  Experience:  Always aware of it, her parents didn’t watch TV, so she didn’t see a complete season until last year, when she and her now-fiancé watched all of the episodes of season 21 on Hulu to prepare for a local Idol -type competition.

Julia Gagnon was born in Guatemala and after being adopted, was raised in Cumberland, Maine. There was a grand piano in the house and Gagnon remembers banging on the keys as a two-year-old until her parents bought her a toy piano. While she doesn’t recall, her mother assures her that as a very young child, she would sing around the house and in pre-school. That stopped until middle school, when Gagnon saw two musicals on Broadway – Wicked and The Phantom of the Opera . “ Phantom was my favorite and I thought, ‘I really want to do that. It would be amazing.’ I entered a talent show and sang ‘Popular’ from Wicked . My chorus teacher Nora Krainis heard me sing and said, ‘I’m not going to let you avoid this anymore. You need to share this with the world and I’m going to help you.’ She was a very strict woman and I replied, ‘Alright. I’ll do what you say.’ She gave me some solos in our chorus concerts and then I was in some of our high school musicals, like Beauty and the Beast , Sister Act and The Addams Family .” I only sang in school. Competitions made me nervous and I didn’t like the idea of auditioning.”

Like the rest of the top 10, Gagnon’s Idol journey began months before season 22 started airing on ABC. From then until today, what is the most important thing she has learned? “It may sound cheesy, but to be yourself. It’s easier said than done. For a long time during this competition, I was trying to be a heightened version of myself, singing hard-hitting soul songs every time. But then I realized that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you always need to. You can hold back. You can let loose. You can have intimate moments and diva moments and it can all be you. You could be vulnerable. You could be soft. You can change your tone. You can tell a story and that is really important. The last couple of rounds, I was struggling with who I was.”

Gagnon’s biggest surprise during her Idol run so far is the competition itself. “We’re such a close-knit family, being together for so long and learning from each other. It doesn’t feel like a competition anymore. It’s such a diverse group that I didn’t expect it to be so familial and supportive.” Support is nothing new to Gagnon. “My parents supported my music even before I knew I wanted to do it. My mom put me in piano lessons and I hated it. She had me play trombone and I hated it. But she’s always been pushing me to be artistic and creative. I think my dad just wants me to be me and said he wasn’t really pushing me in any direction but the second I said, ‘Music is very important to me,’ he’s been unwaveringly supportive and in such a dad way too. He cheers on the sidelines like it’s sports. It’s not a theater cheer. It’s like stand up and ‘Let’s go!’ But I love that. They’re both very excited for me.”

Looking ahead, Gagon says, “If I could design my future, I would incorporate the things that are important to me as much as I can into a music career. So still staying close to family and still writing songs that are close to my heart. That would be the dream, to have everything that I need to support me and having enough love to share and give out my music and performance and art.”

Triston Harper

Born : June 17, 2008 – Mobile, Ala.

Favorite Alums: Colin Stough, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chayce Beckham

Musical Influences: Johnny Cash, Charles Johnson

First Idol Experience: “I’ve always watched since I was a little boy. My favorite thing was the funny auditions where people would walk in and they would sing and we would just die and then someone would walk in and just blow your mind.”

Raised in McIntosh, Ala., Triston Harper found music before he was even born. “My mama sang nursery rhymes to me when I was in the womb. Later, she taught me how to play ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ on the piano.”

When he was six, Harper sang in church with his grandaddy. “It was homecoming and there was a butt load of people there and they requested for me to sing. So he got up there with me and we sang and everybody loved it. I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.” Harper continued to sing in school. “They always put me out front. I sang. I preached. When we moved to Conway in Arkansas, they put me in choir to learn how to read music. After that, I forgot everything, and I’ve been unable to read music ever since. So I just listen and I’ll grab my guitar and pick it up.” Harper wrote his first song when he was seven. “It’s called ‘I’m Yours, You’re Mine.’ It is God talking to me. I still sing it.”

Even though he has watched American Idol all of his life, Harper says he didn’t have the courage to audition until last year. “My grandaddy said, ‘One day, boy, it might be you.’ I never thought it would happen. An ad [for auditions] kept popping up and I kept swiping it away. The Lord spoke to me and said, ‘If you take a step toward me, I’ll take two toward you.’ So I signed up with all my information and I’m here.”

Only 15, Harper has already learned valuable lessons during his time on Idol . “When your mentors and your vocal coach tell you to do something, they’ve got your best interests and they want to see you progress far in this competition. So be yourself and make the right song choices and put your faith in yourself.”

One of Harper’s mentors this season was Jelly Roll, who said the youngster had the soul of a 75-year-old. “I get that a lot,” Harper tells Billboard . “I try to give people a lot of advice and they say I’m young but they take it and go a long way with it. I’ve been through a lot and I know what to do in situations and I give people hope and courage so they don’t turn to drugs or alcohol. My teachers are surprised because I’ve taught them a lot about decisions they’ve made that weren’t the best. They say, ‘I should have listened to Triston.’”

The teenager admits it was surreal standing in front of Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan. “The first time I did, I was shocked. The second time I was like, ‘Okay.’ The third time I was getting used to them and now I look at them as aunts and uncles. They’re family now.”

Harper has taken in their advice. “Katy Perry told me about my pronunciation, that she wants to hear what I’m saying and I’ve tried my best in this competition to pronounce my words more than when they first met me. Lionel Richie told me to be me, to keep that old Alabama soul. Luke Bryan smiled at me and said I’m doing what I’m supposed to. When you hear that from people you look up to, it means the world.”

Asked what he wants his future to look like, it was clear he has given the subject a lot of thought. “I’ve got about 60 some acres, living in a nice home. We have four kids and I’ve been married to my wife about 20 some years and last Saturday I performed at an arena with people singing along with my songs.”

Born : May 22, 2003 – Ogden, Utah

Favorite Alum:  Carrie Underwood

Musical Influences:  Katy Perry, Adele, Carrie Underwood

First  Idol  Experience:  “I watched Carrie Underwood. She was a small-town girl living her small-town life and then her life changed overnight, and I related to her.”

Kaibrienne grew up an hour away from her birthplace, in Henefer, Utah. She describes it as a “super-small town.” She had two gateways to music. “I listened on YouTube, and I listened to my older sister sing. She would jam out in our car to Katy Perry hits like ‘California Gurls,’ ‘Teenage Dream’ and ‘Last Friday Night.’” So what was it like when Kaibrienne first met Katy? “I was freaking out. I could never have imagined that I would have the opportunity to meet her. I haven’t told her yet about my sister.”

Kaibrienne says her parents were not musical, but her sisters had leads and other parts in their high school musicals. “I thought that I would want to do that. I loved watching them in  Les Misérables ,  Hairspray  and  The Music Man .”

In school, Kaibrienne was active in sports and cheerleading. “Then I was listening to a girl on YouTube sing ‘Hallelujah’ and I told my family I wanted to sing it at a school talent show. None of them knew I had been singing alone in my room so I sang it for them and they said I should definitely do that. My focus at the time was on tumbling but after that I loved singing.”

At the talent show, one of Kaibrienne’s teachers leaned over to her father and said, “She has a God-given gift. She’s going to do big things.”

“There weren’t a lot of opportunities, but my dad tried to find places where I could sing. I struggled with performance anxiety where my hands and feet and face would go numb. My throat would go dry. And so I never wanted to perform. I practiced and I hated it. I thought I sounded so much better than what I was able to give. Things fell apart with cheerleading and tumbling so I was trying to find my place in the world. I tried out for high school musicals and I was in  Shrek ,  Into the Woods  and  High School Musical .

How did Kaibrienne overcome her anxiety? “My dad posted videos of me singing in the car on TikTok. They started going viral. He told me, ‘Look at all these people who believe in you.’ But I still wouldn’t sing outside of the car. Over the summer I was working in sales, knocking on people’s doors. I’m in the middle of Florida and a pastor opened his door. He didn’t know anything about me. But he said, ‘This isn’t what you were sent here to do. I feel like you have a dream that you are running from.’ I told him he was exactly right. He said, “God wouldn’t have given you this gift if there wasn’t a way to work through it. If you take this seriously, big things are going to happen for you in the next year.’”

That was the last door Kaibrienne knocked on. “The second I got home I started singing alone again. I studied guitar and began writing songs and then  Idol  reached out to me and everything fell into place.” So it’s no surprise what Kaibrienne has learned from her  Idol  journey to date. “I’ve learned to love myself in a lot of ways. Being on the show has instilled a lot of confidence in me that I didn’t have before. Even during my audition, I felt insecure. I’ve learned I’m here because I sound like me, not because I sound like anyone else. I’m here because I’m me and not anybody else and I feel like each round, I’ve grown more and more. I’ve worked through so much of the performance anxiety that I never thought I’d be able to work through.”

And what lies ahead? “I’m going to do this forever. I want to write music forever. I’ve always wanted to heal people through music the way that it’s healed me, and so that’s my goal.”

Born : June 14, 2000 – Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Favorite Alums:  Chris Daughtry, James Durbin

Musical Influences:  Bon Jovi, Journey, Whitesnake, Queen, Ed Sheeran

First  Idol  Experience : “When Chris Daughtry got voted off, I wrote a handwritten letter to  American Idol  and said, ‘You made a mistake. This guy’s a star.’”

“I have older parents and they looked in the Yellow Pages to find a piano teacher. My dad said, ‘I want you to teach my son. He’s three years old. And the teacher said, ‘We normally like them to read English before they read music.’ My dad told him, ‘He reads, let’s get him in. We’ve got to start him early.’ So I went to his studio and my little legs didn’t touch the floor. I was swinging off the piano bench and I learned how to read music along with English. When I was 10, my parents asked if I actually liked taking lessons. I said, ‘I’ve been doing it forever, so I might as well keep doing it. It’s a part of my identity at this point.’”

Kayko says he was always a music kid. “I did classical piano competitions for a long time and then I always wanted to change the song and not play what’s on the page, so I did jazz. And I thought, ‘This really isn’t really my vibe. I’m a rocker. I would never do a singing competition, not even  American Idol . I would never try out for that.’ And then I did theater.”  

After appearing in musicals like  Side Show ,  In the Heights ,  Ghost ,  Cabaret  and  9 to 5 , Kayko turned to YouTube and  Billboard  to see what music was popular and was inspired to record cover songs. “I was definitely a YouTube kid and that’s how I learned how to produce my own music.”

Kayko attended Berklee College of Music for three semesters, until he realized he didn’t want go to school. “I quit and moved to Nashville. I needed to write and produce my own songs. I needed to book live shows. I had no mentorship or insight, just a dream of being an artist and putting out music.”

Kayko’s audition for  Idol  was unlike most other tryouts but he assures  Billboard  that what was shown on television was 100% true. “I don’t know if the world will ever believe that. One of my very good friends from college, Abby Blake, got a call to do  American Idol  and they wanted her to prepare two songs but said the accompanist would only play one. She said, ‘I feel more comfortable with you in the room.’”

Kayko agreed to go with her. They woke up at 4 a.m. for the Nashville audition and sat in a room all day without ever seeing the judges. The producers asked Blake to come back the next day and Kayko said he would return with her.

“Abby’s voice was shot and she wasn’t feeling well that day and I was thinking I have to break the ice for her, so I was probably talking way more than any accompanist has ever done before. Abby sang her song and got a yes. Katy Perry looks at me and says, ‘There’s something about you. You look like an artist.’ I said, ‘No, I’m not doing this.’ Abby said I should sing for these three music legends. I played an original song and they look at each other and tell me I’m going to Hollywood. What?!”

But Kayko had a huge conflict. “I booked a job in New York playing guitar for a new off-Broadway musical,  Hard Road to Heaven , and I had this in place for a year. The guy who got me the gig put his neck on the line for me and now I have to call him and say, ‘I don’t know what to do. Katy Perry just told me that I have a thing and I need to go to Hollywood Week and I could get cut and get no airtime and lose this thing, or it could be great.’ He said, “I would never hold you back from doing something like that.’ So I spent a week and a half in New York and flew directly to L.A. for Hollywood Week. The only reason I went was for that chance for airtime and the potential viral moment and for my friend Abby. She got cut in Hollywood and I’m still here.”

It could have been an awkward situation, but it wasn’t. “Abby and I are real friends and we’re both in the music industry and know that it’s not personal. I didn’t take her spot. My dad always said, ‘If Simon Cowell walked into the bar and you’re playing a lousy gig, are you going to blow him away?’ And it actually happened with Katy Perry.”

Mia Matthews

Born : Dec. 7, 2004 – Gadsden, Ala.

Favorite Alums:  Daniel Seavey, Clark Beckham, Nick Fradiani, Laci Kaye Booth

Musical Influences : Dolly Parton, Kelsea Ballerini, Kacey Musgraves

First  Idol  Experience:  “I grew up watching the show. My older sister Sadie loved it. I had an  American Idol  karaoke machine. I would stand on my mini trampoline like a stage and then sing with my  American Idol  microphone.”

Born in Gadsden, Ala., Mia Matthews grew up in a very musical family 45 minutes down the road. “My dad was a heavy metal rock star, playing electric guitar. I’m told he toured with Whitesnake. My mom sang with Ernest Tubb and Barbara Mandrell. When I was three, my dad passed away and music was our therapy. It’s how we coped. My mom taught vocal lessons at our house. There’s never been a point in my life where I wasn’t surrounded by music.”

The middle child of seven, Matthews remembers taking road trips with her mother and siblings. “There’s not much to do in Alabama so we would drive around. Mama would play a game with us to see if we could find harmony. It started with, ‘I’m going to hit this note. See where you land.’ And then we sang ‘Jesus Loves Me.’”

Matthews sang in elementary school, but her mother pulled her out of public school and home schooled her children. “Singing was our passion and we would sing for anyone and everyone. My mom led worship at church – she was the choir director. One day when I was 11, we were shopping at Walmart and we sang the National Anthem for the cashier because she was having a bad day. A woman behind us recorded it and posted it on Facebook and it went viral.”

The family booked small shows in Centre, Ala., and performed at football games and festivals. “We moved our way up to Nashville and did shows on Broadway at Ole Red. I was 15 and my little sister was 13.”

Matthews never believed it would be possible to appear on  American Idol . “This past summer I felt stagnant. I had just graduated from high school. I wanted to be a singer but how do I do that? What was the next step? I was searching for an opportunity but was it time to open the door to  Idol ? Then I received a message asking if I wanted to audition and somehow I am here now.”

Mia asked her sister Jacy if she also wanted to audition. “She hopped on some of our virtual auditions and they loved her, too. So we both went to Nashville to audition for Katy, Luke and Lionel. We both got golden tickets and made it to Hollywood. I had been singing with my mom and sister in a trio for years. So we were very comfortable singing with each other but this was a brand-new experience. We were together but we were separate. It was really comforting to have her there because she is my best friend.”

Jacy was cut during Hollywood Week, leaving Mia to compete on her own. “It hurt me, but she took it like a champ. She’s been so supportive. I’m blessed to have such a good relationship with her.”

Will Moseley

Born : July 10, 2000 – Douglas, Georgia

Favorite Alums: Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson

Musical Influences:  Bob Seger, Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs, Blackberry Smoke

First  Idol  Experience:  “In an interview I said I remember the season that Adam Lambert won, and they all looked at me and said, ‘He didn’t win.’ I was a kid, but I remember watching it.”

Growing up in Hazlehurst, Ga., Will Moseley always loved music. “My uncle drove a big semi-truck, and I would go on the road with him. He had a Bob Seger  Greatest Hits  CD and my mom listened to Shania Twain. There was a Shania CD in her car. We played the fire out of that thing. My dad was an earlier Kid Rock fan, so then we covered that genre and then I loved classic country music. That’s just part of the culture where I’m from. Waylon and Willie, George, Merle, Conway, all of that. As a kid, I remember we would go camping and every Friday night at 9 o’clock there was a local radio station that would play Johnny Paycheck’s ‘Old Violin.’ And so now if I’m playing a show, I’ll take an acoustic break in the middle of a full band show and it’s just me and an acoustic guitar playing ‘Old Violin.’”

Music became an important part of Moseley’s life when he was 15. “You know how parents are when Christmas comes around. ‘What do you want for Christmas?’ I told my mom I wanted a guitar. I thought it would be cool to learn how to play. She looked at me and said, ‘Are you going to learn how to play? I’m not buying something else to put in a closet.’ I told her, ‘I’ll give it a shot.’ She bought the guitar and I picked it up and my fingers hurt. My brain didn’t work with my hand. I didn’t even think they were connected to the same body. And after two days it went in the closet. It was a disappointment to my mom at the time, but a few years later I was in college and I took my guitar to school with me.”

When he ended up with a dorm room to himself for a few months, he started playing around with the guitar again. “I decided to teach myself. After Christmas break I didn’t have a TV in my room so all of my free time went into learning how to play guitar.”

Moseley worked at a printing company during the COVID years, when a lot of people were laid off.  “They never brought me back and I had a lot of time on my hands so I played guitar and learned more songs and developed my singing. I found little places that would pay me a couple hundred bucks here and there to play. That’s how I paid my way through college.”

Moseley graduated from Georgia Southern in May 2023 with a degree in biology. He had enough gigs lined up to pay his bills for a few months. “If I didn’t give being a full-time musician a shot I would regret it. So I gave myself a year and said if it wasn’t working by then, I’d get a real job. Eleven months later I’m working with Gene Simmons and Meghan Trainor. If you told me that a year ago, I would have called you a liar.”

Moseley says he has learned a lot during his time on  Idol , especially from mentors Jelly Roll and Gene Simmons. “They both said the same thing: ‘You’re in the right lane. You just have to own it. You’re here for a reason and you have the voice to do this for the rest of your life.’ Of course, there’s going to be turns and hills and ups and downs and all that, but the biggest thing I’ve learned so far truthfully has probably been humbleness and that connections will take you further than anything else in the music business.”

Moseley has a clear eye on the road ahead. “All I want to do is get on a bus and drive around the country and play music for a living. If I play music until the day I die, I’ll die happy.” 

Emmy Russell

Born : Jan. 10, 1999 – Nashville, Tenn.

Favorite Alums:  Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson

Musical Influences:  Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus

First  Idol  Experience:  Watching on her bed, singing along. “I loved the funny auditions.”

“I was supposed to be born on March 12,” says Emmy Russell. “I was a preemie born on Jan. 10, my meemaw and grandpa’s anniversary.” (Meemaw being the legendary Loretta Lynn). “I was in an incubator for 30 days because of an undeveloped lung. Ironically, I sing.”

As soon as Russell was out of the incubator, she was on the road with her mother, who managed Lynn. “Meemaw took me on stage and showed me to everyone, saying, ‘This is Emmy Rose.’”

That was one introduction to music. “My first memory of music was when I was two, seeing a piano player. I was singing my ABCs and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” When I was four, I wrote stories and then I wrote my first song for a second-grade talent show. It was called ‘Try Again,’ about not giving up.”

Russell continued to write songs at this early age, including “Identity.” “Which is ironic,” she says, “because that’s been my war – what is my identity? In school, all the girls would be chasing boys and I was writing songs. I was a bit overweight, wearing big T-shirts and being quiet. I was bullied a lot. I started playing guitar and put my stories into songs.”

Russell’s grandmother had a huge influence on her. “She had this charm about her. She wrote the truth. It must be embarrassing writing a song about your husband cheating on you all the time, but she did. People would ask her about that and she would say, ‘I still love him.’ Her gutsiness is the thing I’ve taken the most from her, but I didn’t realize that until recently. She made you feel like she was so likeable. She would sing ‘Fist City’ but it was never hateful. She smiled whenever she sang it.”

In middle school, Russell was in the chorus. During her high school years, she continued to be on the road with her meemaw. “I opened up for her.” That actually started when Russell was in fourth grade. “She’d call me up and I’d sing two songs. I had an original and then one everyone knew. She’d tell me, ‘People want to hear a song they know. Until you have a song that’s your original one, people want to hear a song that they know so they can sing with you.’” During those high school years, Russell would open with five or six songs. “When I was 15, she passed me down her guitar. It started to feel like we were business partners and that created a lot of pressure. I quit when I was 18.”

Asked about lessons learned while on Idol , Russell says, “Trust your spirit. For some people, it’s God. Just trusting that little voice inside. Being true to yourself is the biggest lesson I’m learning right now. Because when I’m not, my voice gets really pitchy. I get more nervous when I’m not myself.”

Looking ahead, Russell says she wants to travel to different countries. “I love kids. Music is my passion, but I want to use that to help other people. If you’re not, then what’s the point?”

Jordan Anthony (Eliminated)

Born : Dec. 16, 2004 – Melbourne, Australia

Favorite Alums:  Adam Lambert, Kelly Clarkson, Lauren Spencer-Smith, Iam Tongi, Guy Sebastian ( Australian Idol )

Musical Influences:  Ed Sheeran, Adele, Sam Smith, Bruno Mars

First Idol Experience:  “When I was younger, I used to watch the compilation videos like ‘The Best of American Idol’ or ‘Craziest American Idol Auditions.’ I loved them as a kid. I thought that could be me one day.”

Jordan Anthony has heard this story from his mother but finds it hard to believe: “When I was one and a half I’d be in my parents’ car and when this certain song came on the radio, I would sing along and hit this one note pitch-perfectly every time. That is the moment my parents realized I might be a singer.”

Anthony grew up around music. “My dad was a vocal coach. My parents met doing musical theater, so I’ve always been in that world.” When he was five, his parents put him into musical theater shows. “I realized a couple years later that wasn’t really the thing for me.” At seven, he wrote his first song, “Wait,” about being bullied at school. “I had some tough times at school. I’d come home from classes and sit down at the piano. I was never good at talking about my feelings, so for me, music was an outlet because I could express those things.”

When he was 10, his family moved from Melbourne to Perth. “I busked on the streets there. My mom was my roadie. There’s nothing scarier than standing in a random spot, singing to people walking by. But it helped me develop my confidence and my stage presence. I sang for money and saved up until I had enough to record my first album, One Word , when I was 12.”

Anthony still lives in Perth, so he had a long journey to come to America to audition before the judges on American Idol . But this is not the first time he has performed for millions of viewers. When he was 14, he represented Australia at the 2019 edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest , performing a song he co-wrote, “We Will Rise.” “I looked very different back then,” he tells Billboard . “It was unbelievable to perform on a world stage in an arena full of people with Australian flags flying everywhere. It was incredible and I met incredible people, other young artists like myself from all around the world and I made friends everywhere. It was such an honor to be able to do that.”

Although his Idol journey came to an end on Sunday (April 21), he says he learned a lot during his time on the show. “One skill that I’ve learned is to control my energy and my emotions and my nerves. There are a lot of ups and downs. One minute we’re going onstage. It’s high energy and then you might be sitting around for a few hours and then you’ve got to be ready for showtime again. I’ve been lucky to always have a good head on my shoulders and be able to manage my emotions, but in the pressure cooker environment, it gets tough sometimes.”

Helping Anthony along the way was sage advice from Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan. “They’ve mentioned that even when I was singing a cover, they felt my artistry through the performance. That meant so much because I always want people to see who I am through the emotions I’m conveying and the song I’m singing.”

Roman Collins (Eliminated)

Born : Sept. 18, 1999 – Natchitoches, La.

Favorite Alums:  Haley Reinhart, Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez, Joshua Ledet, Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson, Tori Kelly, Kelly Clarkson

Musical Influences:  The Clark Sisters, Mary Mary, Kirk Franklin, Andre Crouch, Timothy Wright, John Legend, Blossom Dearie, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker

First  Idol  Experience:  “I was a bit young when Kelly Clarkson won. Then I saw Ruben Studdard and Fantasia.”

Roman Collins is a worship leader who grew up in Coushatta, La. “Most people say I started in church,” he tells Billboard . “I’m still in church, where I am also a choir director. I’m told that when I was three years old sitting in my mother’s lap, I got up, grabbed a mic and sang Vicki Yohe’s ‘Because Of Who You Are’ in front of everyone in church.” When he was a little older, Collins was always asking his teachers if he could sing in class. “How annoying is that?” he laughs. “I would hate to be a classmate of mine. “I have to study for this test and Roman wants to sing. Can we not do that?”

Collins was only aware of religious music until the third grade. “My uncle is a great musician and he would say this artist was doing R&B and I thought R&B was a group. I didn’t realize there were other genres besides gospel. Then I found out about Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. Eventually I heard Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse, Blossom Dearie and B.B. King.”

Moving to Los Angeles in 2007, Collins went to a small high school that didn’t have music classes until he graduated. “Thanks a lot!” he exclaims. “When I was 16 I started going to open mics at places like Tha Juice Joint in Hollywood and the Pocket in Culver City. I would watch people from all different walks of life share their gift. It was the best thing ever. I would sing Musiq Soulchild, Marvin Gaye, John Legend and Gnarls Barkley. That opened me up to more R&B and awakened my creative bones.” Then Collins started to get paying gigs. “In December 2018 I sang behind Childish Gambino at the Forum [in Inglewood, Calif.].”

Auditioning for American Idol was always in the back of his mind, he says. “But I did not pursue it. When I was 14 there was a woman visiting our family’s church. She told me, ‘Young man, I want you to write American Idol and put it on your door and look at it every day.’ I never did it, but I never forgot her prophesizing that to me.” But that door opened on a Wednesday in November 2023 when Collins was asked to submit a couple of his videos to the show. “By the following Tuesday I was in front of Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan. That changed my life forever.”

The main lesson Collins has learned since starting that journey is that “rest is vital,” he says. “I want to do this for the rest of my life and it is important to rest when you can. I have also learned that I have a platform that God has allowed and to use it for the better. I’ve changed by being more consistent vocally, doing what I have to do to get my voice ready. I’m eating better but I miss my ginger ale.” And what lies ahead? “Changing the world through love,” he answers without hesitation. “Changing the world through music. People ask me why I am so passionate. Because I had a second chance at life. When I was three, I was pronounced dead. I was in a coma for two weeks. The doctor said there was a 97% chance I was going to die. If I did come out of the coma, I would be brain dead for the rest of my life. So when you see me jumping, when you hear my laugh, I’m laughing at fear. I’m alive. I’m doing what I love. Some people are impacted through my gift. We have a saying in church, ‘The joy that I have, the world didn’t give it and the world can’t take it away.’ I want to import the same joy that He has given me.”

Jayna Elise (Eliminated)

Born : Sept. 26, 2001 – Washington, D.C.

Favorite Alums:  Michael J. Woodard, Catie Turner, Grace Kinstler

Musical Influences:  Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Journey, Queen, Mötley Crüe

First  Idol  Experience:  She started watching season 3, the year Fantasia won.

“My grandparents had a rule: No TV until 4 o’clock in the afternoon. You could either play outside or listen to the oldies on the music channel they listened to. That’s what I grew up on. My whole family sings and some of my earliest memories are singing with my grandma at the piano. She taught me how to play the piano. When she and my grandfather were 19, they were in a band. They went to an audition in New York and she got scared and didn’t show up. Then she gave birth to my mom. My mom also sings, but never professionally.”

Elise was six years old when she wrote her first song. “I was in the back seat of the car and was mad because I was told to do something and I didn’t want to do it. That was kind of the vibe of the song: ‘I’m going solo, solo, solo.’ Sometimes it will pop into my head and I think I should do something with it.”

When Elise went to live with her mother, she started listening to music on YouTube. “I posted some covers. The first video that went viral was ‘Skyfall,’ the Adele song. It got 40,000 views in one month. My most-viewed video is me singing the gospel song ‘Take Me to the King.’ I was 11 and it has eight million views now.” That led to more performances at different churches and that same year, Elise joined the children’s group Kidz Bop. “We covered ‘All About That Bass’ and Meghan Trainor sent us a video message saying she couldn’t believe we were covering her song. And now I got to meet her because she is our mentor for Billboard ’s No. 1 Hits.”

After touring with Kidz Bop, Elise attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in the District of Columbia. “That’s where I became classically trained,” she says. “I sang opera there but I also learned how to actually sing. Before I was just going through the motions but my teacher Daphne Dunston Wharton taught me how to breathe correctly.”

Two years ago, Elise wanted to rebrand herself from the little girl singing with Kidz Bop. Having just moved to Los Angeles, she thought about auditioning for American Idol . She tried out for season 21 last year and went as far as the Showstoppers round during Hollywood Week.

“I definitely had my reservations about auditioning again. I saw people who came back last year and they didn’t make it as far as they had before. It is a risk coming back. But I knew that I had grown and that I had a better handle on everything.”

Elise says her most outstanding moment with the judges this season happened during Final Judgment, when the field was narrowed down to a top 24. “Hearing Lionel say you’re not a background singer anymore and that I made it into the top 24 was my goal. I was talking to another one of the contestants and she said, ‘After you get to where you thought you were going to make it, everything else is a gift.’ That put things in perspective for me, because getting to this point is an opportunity I’m really grateful for.”

Nya (Eliminated)

Born : Nov. 10, 1995 – Fort Meyers, Fla.

Favorite Alums:  Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood

Musical Influences:  Whitney Houston, Victoria Monét

First  Idol  Experience:  Watched season one and decided she wanted to be on the show.

“Every Sunday when I would hear [the music of] Sade I knew it was our cleaning day. Mom and I would go to the laundromat. Throughout the day we’d listen to Barry White and African music. That’s my earliest memory of loving music and wanting to dance around and it made the chores seem like fun.”

It may be difficult to believe now but Nya grew up in a family that didn’t want her to become a professional musician. “My family would not pay for any type of music lessons because in my culture in Kenya, it is considered a hobby. It’s not really a life choice or a life career. I grew up in America, but I lived a very strict Kenyan lifestyle. At school, I was in the marching band. I was in band. I taught myself how to play instruments. I started off with clarinet. Went to saxophone, piano, guitar, and did a whole bunch of band-related instruments as well like trumpet. Vocally, if you’re playing an instrument, you can learn so much. So I knew if I learned these instruments that it would only help my voice even more.

“I was going to school to become a lawyer. I was on the student court. I was a very smart kid and didn’t really have to be in school to get good grades and manipulated the system in that way. I started doing school plays. I got a scholarship through playing the clarinet. They wanted me to come and then once I got there, they heard me sing and said, ‘You’re not playing clarinet. You’re going to sing.’ That was the first moment that I thought, ‘I can sing and this is what I want to do.

“At college, I was in an a cappella group, Voices Of Lee, as in Lee University. I lost my voice, singing with a group of people and having to blend, learn other people’s voices and make a group sound good. It was a toxic environment.”

Four years later, Nya moved to New York. In school and summer camp she had been in  Ragtime  and  Shrek . Now she was going to try her hand at Broadway. First, she went home and told her mother that she wanted to pursue a career in music. “She wasn’t having it. She came here from Africa with nothing and wanted the best life for me. In her head, that meant going to school to become a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer. I did not want to be a singing lawyer.”

Nya moved to New York City with nothing and within three years, she was in her first Broadway show,  Caroline, or Change . She had the lead in an off-Broadway show,  Cleopatra , and then played Nina Simone in an Israeli production of  Soul Doctor  and Martha Reeves in a touring production of  Motown: The Musical . In  Beautiful , the Carole King musical, she portrayed Little Eva and sang “The Loco-Motion.” Most recently she was in the off-Broadway hit  Titanique .

Post- Idol , Nya intends to continue with her Broadway career. “Oh yes. I don’t have a Tony yet, so they’ve got to have me back. One of the shows I really want to do is  Hamilton . I want to write my own musicals. I want to do TV, film, all of the above. Have my own beauty line.”

Nya’s father passed away in Georgia when she was 16, and when she sang “Georgia on My Mind” on  Idol , she dedicated it to him. And her relationship with her mother now? “It’s good. She just really wanted me to succeed and I think whatever that would have been, she would have been happy with. Now that I’m an adult, I feel like she is way more open and really proud of me. To hear her say those words knocks me for a loop.”

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Taylor Swift releases YouTube short that appears to have new Eras Tour dances

Taylor Swift  released a new YouTube Shorts video and fans believe clips are signifying a "The Tortured Poets Department" number or set during the Eras Tour.

After the double album was released Friday, fans wondered if the singer would fit any of the 31 songs into the three-plus hour set. In the quick 15-second video, fans pointed out a couple of suspect shots, including Swift leaning against a railing that seems to have the "TTPD" logo and a quick scene where her backup dancers hold poles and wear top hats.

Swift has been on a two-month break from the Eras Tour and has spent much of her time in Los Angeles.

If there is a new Eras Tour set, the next question is where would she add the era? "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince's" opening line is a perfect opening for an artist who has released seven albums and hasn't seen fans: "It's been a long time coming."

She could end the show with the "TTPD" set, but "Karma" is also a good show closer. Other than those two options, she could place "TTPD" after "Reputation" and before "Speak Now" or also right before "Midnights."

"A fortnight til Paris 🤍," Swift says in the caption. Her next tour stop is Paris, France on May 9. Swift will tour in Europe for 51 shows until she takes a break and heads back to the United States and Canada.

Follow Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West on  Instagram ,  TikTok  and  X as @BryanWestTV .

Don't miss any Taylor Swift news; sign up for the  free, weekly newsletter "This Swift Beat."

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Taylor Swift shares big video hint that the 'Eras Tour' may be changing

Taylor Swift is taking fans behind the scenes of her “Eras Tour” with a series of clips, and Swifties now suspect there’s a hint as to changes coming to the world-renowned show.

Days after releasing her newest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift posted another YouTube Short video with her hit single “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone,” playing over videos of her and her dancers rehearsing for the tour. But there’s one moment in the montage that has fans doing what they do best: speculating.

Fans will recognize many of the scenes being practiced, such as Swift's iconic entrance from the ground, her performance of "Lavender Haze" in a coat surrounded by clouds, playing "Champagne Problems" seated at a moss-covered piano and more. But one clip, in which Swift stands in the middle of a stage with her dancers lined up behind her wearing top hats and holding canes, did not appear in the original "Eras Tour."

“Since when do background dancers have a top hat and canes?!” one fan with the username armaisacat.1989 captioned a TikTok of the scene, adding “Taylor Swift you have some explaining to do!!”

The “Eras Tour” is a three-hour, 15-minute concert in which Swift performs songs from all of her albums since her 2006 self-titled debut record. Many — including the TODAY.com staff — have speculated whether or not the pop star would integrate “Tortured Poets Department” as another era in the show.

All will be (hopefully) be revealed when the tour begins again in Paris on May 9.

This is the second YouTube Short Swift has posted since the latest album release. On April 19, she shared glimpses of her personal life , again set to the tune of “Fortnight.”

In that compilation, her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, makes appearances with the star. The videos are in collaboration with YouTube, encouraging users to post their own “14 snippets” of their lives set to the same song.

Amy Eley is the assistant managing editor and oversees the West Cost digital team for TODAY.com, covering breaking news, what's happening in pop culture, those viral TikTok videos and everything in between. She's currently based in Colorado.

Amy’s been with TODAY.com since three days after she finished graduate school in 2013. She's covered breaking news, launched lifestyle verticals, taken readers to anchors’ homes (Al Roker’s kitchen remains a personal favorite), documented a surrogacy pregnancy, managed various editorial teams and even appeared on-air to tell America how to clean behind their refrigerators.

Expertise and Education

Amy graduated from CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism with a master's degree in journalism. Prior to that, she earned her bachelor's degree in Hawaii and worked for "Ski Racing" magazine.

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2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Full Field: The PGA Tour's Two-Man Team Game

Irishmen Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy team up for the first time at TPC Louisiana.

• Author: John Schwarb

Much of the country is finally into the golf season, and for many players that means weekend pairs games. Pick a partner and take on another two-player team, either in a better-ball format or (if you want to see how much you really like your partner) alternate shot.

This week, the PGA Tour does the same thing.

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is a refreshing change from weekly Tour individual stroke play, with 80 teams of two playing the above two formats at TPC Louisiana. The first and third rounds are better ball and the second and fourth are alternate shot, with a cut after 36 holes.

Davis Riley (Titleist hat) and Nick Hardy won the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports

The format always makes for interesting teams, from longtime friends to countrymen to completely random pairings.

Rory McIlroy is making his first appearance at TPC Louisiana, teaming up with fellow Irishman and Ryder Cup teammate Shane Lowry. They’ll see some familiar faces including their Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, playing with his European assistant captain Francesco Molinari, as well as English brothers Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick.

Brothers and Tour rookies Parker and Pierceson Coody are a team, while at the other end of the age spectrum are Matt Kuchar and PGA Tour Champions regular Steve Stricker. Billy Horschel, who has won the Zurich when it was an individual event as well as a team event, has a new partner in Tyson Alexander, a fellow University of Florida alum.

Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, close friends and frequent partners on U.S. Cup teams, won the Zurich in 2022 and return. Defending champions Nick Hardy and Davis Riley are also back. 

Winners earn FedEx Cup points and two-year Tour exemptions, but do not receive Masters invitations or world ranking points.

2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Full Field

Fitzpatrick, Matt/Fitzpatrick, Alex * Morikawa, Collin/Kitayama, Kurt Woodland, Gary/Hodges, Lee McIlroy, Rory/Lowry, Shane Molinari, Francesco/Donald, Luke Horschel, Billy/Alexander, Tyson Cantlay, Patrick/Schauffele, Xander Berger, Daniel/Perez, Victor Brehm, Ryan/Hubbard, Mark Champ, Cameron/Daffue, MJ Conners, Corey/Pendrith, Taylor Echavarria, Nico/Greyserman, Max Eckroat, Austin/Gotterup, Chris Garnett, Brice/Straka, Sepp Hardy, Nick/Riley, Davis Hoge, Tom/McNealy, Maverick Kisner, Kevin/Brown, Scott Lee, K.H./Kim, Michael List, Luke/Norlander, Henrik Malnati, Peter/Knox, Russell Moore, Taylor/NeSmith, Matt Norrman, Vincent/Campillo, Jorge Ramey, Chad/Trainer, Martin Reavie, Chez/Snedeker, Brandt Spaun, J.J./Buckley, Hayden Taylor, Nick/Hadwin, Adam Theegala, Sahith/Zalatoris, Will Wallace, Matt/Olesen, Thorbjørn Hoffman, Charley/Watney, Nick Johnson, Zach/Palmer, Ryan Kraft, Kelly */Tway, Kevin * Chappell, Kevin */Dufner, Jason * Højgaard, Nicolai */Højgaard, Rasmus Wu, Brandon */Nicholas, James Lawrence, Thriston */Potgieter, Aldrich * Putnam, Andrew/Highsmith, Joe Cole, Eric/Cochran, Russ Montgomery, Taylor/Griffin, Ben Smalley, Alex/Schmid, Matti Detry, Thomas/MacIntyre, Robert Hossler, Beau/Ryder, Sam Mitchell, Keith/Dahmen, Joel Stevens, Sam/Barjon, Paul Kuchar, Matt/Stricker, Steve Rai, Aaron/Lipsky, David Kim, S.H./Bae, Sangmoon Suh, Justin/Hoey, Rico Thompson, Davis/Novak, Andrew Taylor, Ben/O'Hair, Sean Higgo, Garrick/Fox, Ryan Shelton, Robby/Furr, Wilson Tarren, Callum/Skinns, David Wu, Dylan/Lower, Just/n Hall, Harry/Piercy, Scott Lashley, Nate/Campos, Rafael Sigg, Greyson/Hadley, Chesson Young, Carson/Martin, Ben Streelman, Kevin/Laird, Martin Blair, Zac/Fishburn, Patrick Yu, Kevin/Pan, C.T. Ghim, Doug/Kim, Chan Merritt, Troy/Streb, Robert Yuan, Carl/Dou, Zecheng Vegas, Jhonattan/Burgoon, Bronson Whaley, Vince/Long, Adam Kohles, Ben/Kizzire, Patton Phillips, Chandler/Bridgeman, Jacob Barnes, Erik/Endycott, Harrison Stanger, Jimmy/Dumont de Chassart, Adrien Tosti, Alejandro/Potter,Jr., Ted Silverman, Ben/Dougherty, Kevin Springer, Hayden/Whitney, Tom Meissner, Mac/Smotherman, Austin Coody, Parker/Coody, Pierceson Xiong, Norman/McCormick, Ryan Crowe, Trace/Higgs, Harry Sloan, Roger/Teater, Josh Pereda, Raul/Cook, Austin Gutschewski, Scott/Byrd, Jonathan Hale, Jr., Blaine/Haley II, Paul *Sponsor Exemptions

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• Kid Cudi Cancels Tour After Breaking Foot At Coachella: “There’s Gonna Be A Long Recovery Time”

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Kid Cudi , whose real name is Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi, is canceling his tour after he injured himself during a performance at Coachella Weekend 2.

The rapper is now heading into surgery and will focus on recovering before returning to the stage.

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The We Are Who We Are actor assured fans that “anyone who bought tickets will get a full refund” and should be getting an e-mail soon.

“We will be back with new tour dates as soon as possible, and I can’t wait to get back out there with you guys and turn up how we do,” he continued. “I’m so sorry fam and I love you all so much, thanks for the endless love and support. Im really disappointed as im sure you guys are too, but I will be back.”

Cudi said he was in “good spirits” and was just experiencing “a lil soreness.”

The artist had to cut his set short on Sunday after jumping off the stage saying in a post, “So I broke my foot today at the show. just leaving the hospital. Never a broken bone before so this is all a bit crazy. I wanna thank u all for ur concerns and well wishes!! I love yall man. I heard yall still ragin when I was offstage. Made me smile big.”

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