‘Idol’ Winner ‘Just Sam’ Will Return to Show After Struggling to Survive

Heavy/ABC/YouTube Samantha "Just Sam" Diaz

When “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest announced on the most recent episode that guest performers on the next show — airing live on April 28, 2024 — would include 2020 winner Samantha “Just Sam” Diaz, there was an audible gasp from the crowd and judges amid their cheers.

The performance will mark Just Sam’s first time on the show since winning “Idol,” awarded the title virtually — singing each week in a hotel room at the height of the COVID pandemic — only to spiral back into poverty after returning home to New York. After four years of financial and health challenges, Just Sam is the only “Idol” winner — at least since the show moved to ABC in 2018 — that has not performed on the show post-victory.

Over the last 18 months, the singer has gained national media attention — including a profile in the Washington Post and a performance on “The Tamron Hall Show” — after being recognized by fans while busking at New York subway stations to make ends meet. The upcoming “American Idol” appearance, on a stage Just Sam never got to perform on, could be an emotional one.

Just Sam is ‘So Grateful’ for Opportunity to Return to ‘American Idol’

Just Sam, who was the show’s first LGBTQ+ and nonbinary winner, per the Washington Post, is in Los Angeles to perform during the two-hour show, which will also include a guest performance by 2011 winner and bestselling country star Scotty McCreery.

On April 26, Just Sam posted a video to their Instagram Stories from the backseat of a car, makeup-free and grinning widely.

Excitedly, the 25-year-old said, “Hey y’all, make sure y’all tune in this Sunday to watch me back on ‘American Idol!’ I know I look crazy, but I’m here and ready. I’m here and ready, y’all!”

When “American Idol” posted on Instagram that Just Sam will be performing, the singer replied, “Thank you JESUS I’m so grateful”

Though Just Sam received a record deal as part of their season 18 win, the singer struggled to thrive since no one was working in-person or recording as the pandemic raged on, they told the Post. Young and inexperienced in the music industry, Just Sam said they backed out of the record deal without understanding the financial ramifications, and wound up “broke” again, per Just Jared.

In May 2023, Just Sam revealed on social media that they’d returned to singing in the subway system for money, just trying to survive, after noticing videos that “Idol” fans had filmed of them and posted online. So Just Sam posted their own videos wearing a plain sweat suit, singing underground with a collection box on the ground.

Several of those videos went viral, catching the attention of several stars like producer Timbaland and rapper Lil Durk, and Just Sam signed on with a new management agency, CrowdMGMT, which specializes in representing talent “that identify as Queer, POC, and  LGTBQ+ allies.”

In December, Just Sam provided a hopeful update in their Instagram Stories, writing, “I now have a new and BETTER team that loves and supports me and wants me to win, I have more gig opportunities and bookings coming in everyday and so much more in the works that everyone will be able to see and know about very soon. God is so good.”

On April 23, Just Sam posted an Instagram video of their “Idol” performance in Hawaii from 2020, filmed before the world shut down for COVID, and shared a lengthy reflection about the last four years.

“I was so sure that I knew what was in store for me after my journey with idol,” Just Sam wrote. “I was wrong about it all. I never expected to be faced with the same struggles that I had before the show, after . I thought that once I met the judges , that i would be guided into a career or path of only success and more growth…”

“I haven’t had the best life,” Just Sam continued, “but I’m also NOT PERFECT and I have messed up a lot in life . I’ve been through so much b.s but I’ve also always been super blessed no matter what my situation looks like.”

Just Sam Blew Judges Away & Captured Their Hearts During Season 18 Audition

Just four years ago, viewers were introduced to and enchanted with Just Sam during a heart-wrenching “Idol” audition that had Katy Perry and her fellow judges, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan, promising to take good care of the 20-year-old singer given all the challenges they’d been through, including being abandoned by their parents and living in the projects with their elderly grandmother.

Prior to singing for the judges, Just Sam said tearfully, “I feel this opportunity, it’s gonna change my life. I’m gonna sing like I’ve never sang before.”

Just Sam struggled to audition at first, choking back tears with the first notes of Lauren Daigle’s “You Say.” As Just Sam crumpled under the pressure of the situation, the judges wrapped the singer in a group hug and Bryan said they could all “tell you’re gonna be amazing.”

“Just Sam, you are safe,” Perry assured the singer, who went on to pretend they were all on the subway, just to feel comfortable, and then wowed them with a powerful rendition of “Rise Up.”

“A lot of people come in here, they haven’t lived the struggles you have,” Bryan told Just Sam after the audition. “You have those qualities in your voice to tell stories and you can sing really beautifully, too.”

“Remember where you came from and sing to where you want to go,” Perry told Just Sam.

When Richie asked Just Sam if they’d every truly felt safe, they replied, “I feel safe when my grandma hugs me. It’s just that, I’m not used to people caring without needing or just, like, pretending to care.”

Richie got out of his seat, walked over and told Just Sam, “I want you to feel safe. Uncle Luke, Auntie Katy, Papa Richie — I want you to understand we got you. And I want you to rely on us to coach you through this. And forget about winning. You’ve already won.”

Just Sam will perform on “American Idol” on April 28, airing at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The Top 10 will also perform and viewers will have to cast live votes to determine the two singers who will go home at the end of the show.