Photo: Instagram
She first appeared on 90 Day Fiancé. Now Evelyn Cormier is on American Idol.
By Rebekah Kuschmider — Written on Mar 31, 2019
One of the breakout stars of this season of American Idol is Evelyn Cormier, a 19-year-old singer from New Hampshire. She caught the ear of judge Katy Perry when she auditioned singing “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaac and has moved on to Hollywood and the top 20 round of auditions.
But Evelyn is no newcomer to the world of music or the world of reality television. She’s been singing since she was a child, both with her family band and as a solo musician. Moreover, she spent a season on TLC’s 90 Day Finacé, where she and her husband David gave the world a glimpse into the process of navigating the K-1 visa process. David, a native of Spain, connected with Evelyn online after hearing her music. After several years of courtship and traveling to see one another, he proposed and they began applying for him to come to the States so they could get married. Now they've been married for a year and Evelyn is trying to advance her music career.
Who is Evelyn Cormier? Read on to find out.
1. Claremont, New Hampshire
Evelyn was born and raised in Claremont New Hampshire, a small town in the center of the state. Evelyn is truly a hometown girl and adores where she grew up, something that caused friction when David arrived there. The native of Spain is well traveled and used to a more urban environment - not to mention a warmer climate - and often talked about leaving the town to explore other parts of the US once he and Evelyn were married.
This distressed Evelyn who tried to talk up her beloved home, once taking David apple picking and declaring that Claremont apples were the best in the world. David brushed her off and said he’d had better apples.
2. Cormier Band
Evelyn claims to have begun her music career as a middle schooler, asking her dad to teach her to play on a guitar she bought herself at a yard sale. She has even written a song called “Yard Sale Guitar” about the process. Her musical aspirations became a family affair and she, her bother and dad started the Cormier band, which performs regularly at their church and in local venues.
3. Religious background
Evelyn has a deep Christian faith, encouraged by her father who is a pastor. With his long dark hair and winning smile, Maciah Cormier he was a fan favorite on 90 Day Fiancé, with some fans nicknaming him “Hot Jesus Dad.”
The whole family centers religion in their lives and Evelyn explained early on in the season that she didn’t believe in pre-marital sex. She told audiences that she and David were both virgins for religious reasons. While David didn’t seem to mind sharing that information, he was quite unwilling to talk about sex with Evelyn, despite her repeated attempted to discuss intimacy in marriage. He even went so far as to walk out of his own apartment to avoid one such conversation on camera.
4. Wedded bliss
The couple made it through the visa process and had a big, family wedding in Claremont despite some friction in the planning process. Evelyn had very specific ideas for what she wanted her wedding to look like - including her wearing her mother's wedding dress.
Without dress shopping to stress her out, she turned to picking tuxes for David and his groomsmen who were flying over from Europe to be a part of this. While they had budget concerns, Evelyn wouldn't give an inch on making sure her wedding was exactly how she wanted it.
5. Self-promotion
Like many musicians these days, Evelyn uses social media to promote her work. She often posts videos of herself practicing and even recording music. She doesn’t often leave Claremont to perform, however, so it was a surprise when she suddenly revealed that she had auditioned for Idol.
6. Fan response
While Katy Perry immediately took to Evelyn - perhaps because, like Evelyn, she started out singing in church and has a preacher father - some fans of 90 Day Fiancé were less than thrilled to see her back on TV. Some fans just hadn’t been all that impressed with her singing when they heard it on TLC.
However, someone in the production team at American Idol spotted potential in the young singer and asked her to come audition. While she had been resistant to the idea when friends had proposed it in the past, being approached by producers changed her mind, She told a local news program “I always would respond, ‘If God wants me to audition, He will bring the opportunity to me.'”
In addition to the production team taking her under their wing to get her on the Idol stage, Katy Perry said Evelyn has “Literally one of my favorite voices I’ve ever heard in my life,” and quickly sent her on to the next several rounds of auditions.
7. Spoilers?
While we know Evelyn made it to Hollywood and to the top 20, who will perform in showcase night, which airs on March 31. These episodes filmed in January so the live rounds haven’t begun yet. There haven’t been any leaks about whether Evelyn will make it to the live rounds but anyone following her social media can see that she’s been in Claremont for the past few months. She’s done some local interviews about her experience and she’s posted videos of herself recording an EP at a local studio. Would someone who is still hoping for a shot at stardom be back to the usual grind at home? Fans will have to wait until the showcase round to find out.
American Idol airs on Sunday nights on ABC.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.