Heavy/ABC Former "Idol" finalist Avalon Young has been battling brain cancer
Avalon Young is trying to stage a comeback, but it won’t be on “American Idol” this year. The soulful singer, who made it to the top eight on “Idol” in 2016, has been fighting an incurable brain cancer since 2020 but has kept singing on social media and at occasional public events throughout her arduous fight.
As she neared the end of grueling chemotherapy treatments late last year, Young auditioned for “Idol” again, hoping for a “second chance.” But in an Instagram Story posted on April 3, 2023 — the morning after “Idol” began airing its Hollywood Week performances — Young revealed that celebrity judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie “barely” granted her a golden ticket to Hollywood and then cut her in the first round. She also wound up on the cutting room floor, never appearing in any on-air segments of Season 21’s audition process.
Young is handling the situation with grace, telling upset fans sending that it’s simply “not my time.”
Avalon Young Was Excited About Second Chance at ‘American Idol’ Amid Cancer Fight
Heavy/VEVOAvalon Young performing on “American Idol” in 2016
After a series of seizures in the summer of 2020, Young was diagnosed with brain cancer at age 26, according to People.
“All of my doctors were telling me it was anxiety at first,” Young told the magazine the following year. “I had blood work done and a bunch of mental tests and everything was coming back fine, until my mom finally convinced me to get an MRI. Honestly, that MRI saved my life.”
According to a GoFundMe page set up by her mom, Kristen Young, the “Idol” alum underwent three brain surgeries in 2021 in addition to radiation, chemotherapy, and a trial drug called CB839.
“The doctors removed 98% of the peach-sized tumor from her left front temporal lobe,” the page reads. “The remaining cancer cannot be removed without taking healthy brain tissue. The radiation, chemo and trial drug reduced the cancerous tumor, leaving a slight amount attached to the brain.”
Throughout 2022, Young received monthly chemotherapy treatments in pill form, which ended in January 2023, aiming to shrink the tumor and prevent cancer from growing or spreading. Her mom wrote that Young will need an MRI every three months to monitor the remaining tumor “for the rest of her life.”
While still undergoing chemo, Young, now 28, revealed to her social media followers in November that she had auditioned for season 21 of “American Idol,” advancing through virtual auditions to sing in-person for the judges and hoping to jumpstart her music career after such a challenging three years.
“Thought second chances like this couldn’t come up,” she wrote on Twitter and Instagram, sharing a video from a waiting room with other “Idol” hopefuls.
thought second chances like this couldnt come up
i auditioned
AGAIN
for @AmericanIdol
tune in feb. 19th to see what happens
love u 💕
Three days after posting about being at the auditions, on November 21, Young shared a photo to her of her in bed with her eyes closed. Over the photo she wrote, “chemo sucksss this month BUT so so so close to being done this year. IMMA PUSH THROUGH IT!”
Looking ahead to 2023, she posted a second selfie in her Stories that day, writing, “and when chemos done I can go back to just taking these meds and getting MRI’s every three months … that’s the exciting part. that’s the least amount of work I’ll have to do for this cancer since these past two years have passed. we good we good”
However, despite her compelling backstory, Young wasn’t featured in any footage during the “Idol” auditions that aired throughout February and March.
Avalon Young Says She ‘Barely’ Made It Through Auditions
After the “Idol” audition episodes wrapped, Young’s fans — including 45,000 on Instagram and 23,000 on Twitter — were upset about her not being featured. She offered them a glimmer of hope that she’d appear during the “Idol” episodes chronicling Hollywood Week on April 2 and 3 by posting photos from her audition and encouraging them to calm down.
“lmao y’all TRIPPIN!,” she wrote. “just cuz they didn’t air me doesn’t mean i ain’t goin back to Hollywood”
lmao y’all TRIPPIN!
just cuz they didn’t air me doesn’t mean i ain’t goin back to hollywood ☺️
Many fans replied with relief on Twitter, wondering why “Idol” wouldn’t have aired her story and audition.
One wrote, “After the last auditions I was like holllllllld up where’s my girl at?! She better be in Hollywood episodes! So upset you Al weren’t aired I was hoping it was you each contestantood luck Avalon!!! You got thiiiissss.”
Another tweeted, “was wondering where the hell it was!! thought I was going crazy & missed it somehow. knew regardless you’d be hollywood bound.”
Fans also thought it was a good sign on April 2 when fellow contestant Dany Epp posted a group selfie taken by Young, with six “Idol” hopefuls sarcastically looking angrily at the camera, and wrote, “Our faces if you don’t watch the new Hollywood week episodes tonight and tomorrow 😡 TUNE IN @abcnetwork @americanidol #americanidol”
However, the first Hollywood Week episode briefly mentioned that Epp had been eliminated and, once again, Young was never featured. The following day, on April 3, she uploaded a photo to her Instagram Stories to reveal she, too, had been knocked out of the competition.
Over a photo of her squinting in the sun, she wrote, “this year none of my stuff aired for idol! they barely let me thru to hollywood and i didn’t make it past the first round”
On the morning of April 4, Young posted another Instagram Story to address all the upset fans who’ve been sending her messages.
“y’ll be so upset in my dm’s about not going thru but BRUH,” she wrote. “don’t u remember the season we went top 8?! u guys put me there and we’re ALWAYS gonna have that moment. it’s a different generation it’s not my time for something like that again. i met SO many people who also deserve that so much!”
If Young does decide she wants to give “Idol” another shot, she has one more year to do so, as contestants can’t be older than 29 when they audition.