Heavy/ABC "American Idol" winner Iam Tongi with Top 12 contestant Nutsa Buzaladze
Iam Tongi may have won “American Idol” and landed on top of the Billboard charts with his first single, but Top 12 contestant Nutsa Buzaladze is giving him and her season 21 castmates a run for their money when it comes to achieving fame and fortune.
When Buzaladze auditioned for “Idol,” the powerhouse singer was already well-known in her native country of Georgia, where she won “X Factor Georgia” in 2015. She had also appeared in other reality competitions including the Turkish version of “The Voice” and Georgia’s take on “Dancing with the Stars,” according to the Georgian Journal.
Though her star has been rising in Europe and in Dubai, where she’s lived for the past few years, Buzaladze often spoke on “Idol” of her lifelong dreams to achieve stardom in Hollywood. And since her elimination from season 21’s Top 12 in April, she has been determined to make that happen, with a nonstop travel schedule of appearances and promotions, hobnobbing with celebrities, appearing on a Times Square billboard, and touting her latest plans to launch clothing and fragrance lines. Here’s what you need to know:
‘Idol’ Contestant Nutsa Buzaladze Working With ‘Mega’ Hollywood Agent
Buzaladze, 26, was a controversial contestant on season 21 of “Idol,” with some viewers eager to see her American dream come true while others were put off by her Hollywood Week gaffe, when she headed back to her room to sleep instead of rehearsing overnight with her duet partner, Carina DeAngelo.
Buzaladze apologized and judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie went on to become her biggest fans on the show, even saving her from elimination to advance her to the Top 12, with Perry and Bryan exclaiming, “We’re nuts for Nutsa!” But viewers weren’t quite as forgiving and voted her off on April 30.
In an Instagram post the next day, Buzaladze wrote, “Guys, think I’m devastated with the results? Absolutely not! And quite frankly, I expected it 😉 This is the very first step of me trying my chances as a singer in the United States 🇺🇸 And this is only the beginning… honestly speaking when i look back at my journey I get very emotional and It makes me feel like a winner already..❤️🔥🙏🏻”
While her peers continued to compete on “Idol,” Buzaladze wasted no time stepping into the spotlight wherever she could. She linked up with Darren Prince, whom Yahoo calls a “mega sports and celebrity agent,” and in addition to working on music and merchandising deals, she has accompanied him to multiple star-studded events, from a Lakers game in May where she posed with Kardashians matriarch Kris Jenner to an event with actress Nina Dobrev on July 13.
Nutsa Buzaladze Says She’s Developing Clothing & Fragrance Lines
Buzaladze seems to have skirted past another recent controversy in her native Georgia after apologizing for an appearance she made in Russia. She has just spent the last several days in New York City, chronicling her arrival on Instagram on July 10, and shared her second appearance on the TSX Live billboard screen in Times Square.
On July 13, she performed “Alive” on “Good Day New York,” and said that she is leveraging the phrase Perry and Bryan used on the show — “We’re nuts for Nutsa” — in her branding.
“On ‘American Idol,’ they were always saying — especially Katy Perry — she was saying always, ‘We’re nuts for Nutsa’ all the time,” she said. “So I think that’s a really good branding name. We are having a lot of meetings with different brands about my clothing line and also about my fragrance.”
“Also, I’m working on my album, on my new music videos, as well,” she continued. “We have lots going on right now and I’m so excited and I’m so happy for what’s gonna be in the future.”
Buzaladze also confirmed she’s moving to Los Angeles in September, saying that it’s been her lifelong dream to live there and that it’s where she’ll be recording new music. Only time will tell if she’s able to continue making a name for herself in Hollywood.