Samantha “Just Sam” Diaz, the “non-binary” 2020 winner of TV talent show American Idol, is back singing in the New York City subways because she “legit needed the money.”
The 24-year-old season 18 winner, who claims to use the pronouns “they/them,” said she was “super embarrassed” to be back to busking in the subways, the New York Post reported.
“Back in 2021, I was super embarrassed to be going back to the trains. I didn’t want people to know that I legit needed the money & I didn’t want people to know that it wasn’t optional,” Diaz wrote in an Instagram message that has since been deleted.
“I was disappointed in myself for allowing myself to fall so low after winning ‘Idol,’ but then I had to take it easy on me and remember that I started my journey with ‘Idol’ at 20 years old. Not even knowing anything about Hollywood or the music industry,” she added.
“Since then, I have learned so much and I’ve been able to take my experiences and share them with other artists in hopes that they don’t experience the same things that I did when it comes to making it in this life,” she concluded.
Diaz reportedly won a $250,000 payday at the end of the 2020 season of the TV show.
But since winning, Diaz says that she still can’t afford to put out recorded music commercially; the cost of production is too high.
“I am making music,” she said. “I just cannot afford to release music, because mixing and mastering music costs a lot of money. And I invested in myself and ended up broke. That’s the truth.”
“It’s just hard because I’m coming out of pocket and I have bills to pay. And American Idol is not going to pay my bills. Lionel Richie’s not going to pay my bills. Katy Perry’s not going to pay my bills. Luke Bryan is not going to pay my bills,” Diaz said. “I have to pay my rent. I have to make sure that I’m eating every day, which is hard to do.”
The singer also noted in a past social media post that she left the American Idol label because after putting out her first album, they told her she owed them money!
“I’m not even going to tell you guys the amount of money that I had to pay after leaving the label to claim songs that I had already recorded,” she explained at the time.
Diaz also said that the years of COVID hysteria added to her troubles.
“Everyone wants to know what happened and why this or why that & I will answer those questions someday, but in the meantime I’ll say this,” Sam’s caption continued. “I never expected to win, but I did, I was so grateful and I know that people are feeling like I let them down.”
Diaz also said she often worries that she is letting fans and herself down, but also feels there is “more coming for me.”
“I know that everything happens for a reason and I know that this too shall pass no matter what things may look like right now,” Sam added.
American Idol has had several controversies in the last few years. In 2021, the show was castigated for “exploiting” 16-year-old Claudia Conway for political reasons. Conway is the daughter of Trump ally Kellyanne Conway. And this year, judge Katy Perry was slammed for making fun of young contestant Sara Beth Liebe’s motherhood in a “hurtful” and “embarrassing” “mom-shaming” on national TV.
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