Sixteen-year-old Haven Madison stunned “American Idol” judges with the audition of her original song titled, “15.” The lyrics include, “What if I want it now? What if I don’t want to wait? What if I don’t wanna waste my time waiting on someday?”
Madison is the daughter of Jason Roy, lead singer of the Grammy-nominated Christian contemporary music band Building 429.
Haven Madison Is an Extraordinary 16-Year-Old
Madison is an active student at Clarksville High School, a cheerleader, and a member of the student government. In addition, Madison is clearly “a contender for season 21 of American Idol.”
“Haven is no stranger to the stage,” the video explains. “For the past few years, she has been touring with her dad, Jason Roy, who was the lead singer of the Grammy-nominated Christian music group, Building 429.”
At only 16 years old, Madison has spent much of her life on the road. Her family chose to homeschool her to provide flexibility as the family went on tour with her dad. “By the time she was eight, Haven had traveled to 46 states and begun composing her own music.”
As Madison and her dad connect deeply over a love of music, they have shared the stage and, later, their home studio.
During the pandemic, touring proved too difficult to sustain for Building 429. Roy then focused on building a home studio. Later in 2020, Madison released her first single, “Already Gone.” The lyrics include:
Well, I know it wasn’t you who held me down
Heaven knows it wasn’t you who set me free
So oftentimes it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key.
Later, in her next single, “Stronger,” Madison boldly described a desired relationship: “I wanted you to be the one. I started thinking what we could become—just a little love story.”
Madison promotes her music and her take on everyday life through social media. She has thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram and is not afraid to share her heart, mind, and voice with the world.
American Idol staff quickly advanced Madison to the producer rounds after reviewing her audition via Zoom. It wasn’t long before she was performing live before the American Idol celebrity judges.
American Idol Celebrity Judges Unanimously Advance Madison with a Golden Ticket
Madison “delivered a heartfelt performance of her original song, 15,” to the judges. “As Haven sang the final line, judge Katy Perry flew to her feet screaming, ‘You can have it. You can have it right now!”
At the end of the audition, both Madison and her father, who accompanied her on guitar, were in tears.
Judge Lionel Richie said, “You could be anything you want to be. I don’t see anything wrong, except the world doesn’t know anything about you. That was incredible. I’m so happy you came to American Idol.”
Perry continued, “The vocal decision you made, they were just like so on another level. And they’re so you and authentic and coming from your heart, that song has a lot of opportunity to be something.”
While Perry was enthusiastically supportive of Madison, Perry had encouraged a previous contestant to use music to rebel against Christian parents.
Haven now heads to “Hollywood Week” for what she hopes will be the start of her journey to the American Idol finals.
