Former American Idol winner Samantha “Just Sam” Diaz is apparently the latest evidence winning a reality singing competition doesn’t mean fame and fortune will naturally follow.
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Samantha — who competed on American Idol’s 18th season and won the show under her stage name Just Sam — has revealed she’s back to performing on subways in New York City to make money, The Sun reported.
Samantha, 24, posted a video of herself singing “Almost Is Never Enough” by Ariana Grande in a train station earlier this month.
Samantha, wearing cargo pants and a brown cardigan, was equipped with her own sound system, a water bottle, and a donation box in front of her in the video.
In a since-deleted caption, Sam admitted she had to return to busking in order to support herself financially.
Despite winning American Idol back in 2020, Samantha wrote, “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.”
“I was disappointed in myself for allowing myself to fall so low after winning Idol,” she admitted, “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.”
Samantha defeated Arthur Gunn on Idol in front of the show’s judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. At that point in her life, she probably thought the tough days were behind her.
“Since then, I have learned so much,” Samantha continued, “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.”
When Samantha was on Idol, she had to perform virtually amid the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when she said people were “unsure of what was going to happen.”
“I was very much unsure of what was going to come. For a few months after winning, I was unsure of what was next, but I was ready and waiting for whatever it was,” Samantha said.
“Everyone wants to know what happened and why this or why that and I will answer those questions someday, but in the meantime I’ll say this: I never expected to win, but I did, I was so grateful and I know that people are feeling like I let them down.”
Samantha felt like she let herself and “everyone” else down, adding, “I know that there’s 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.”
Samantha insisted she’s different from “any other contestant” who has ever been a part of American Idol production.
“My year was unlike any other,” Samantha said.
“My grandmother is who I have and who I have always had and she knows absolutely nothing about the music industry. All she knows is how to listen and call out a good singer when she hears one.”
Samantha explained how she and her grandmother simply “didn’t know what to do with the win.”
Samantha appears to blame American Idol for her misfortune, at least in part, because she felt lost after the show aired.
“We had absolutely no help,” she claimed. “There are people who have had more success than me and good for them I’m happy for them, but I am not them.”
“I don’t like my situation,” she concluded, “but it won’t be this forever.”
Many fans have commented on Reddit how Samantha’s “unfair” situation is “heartbreaking” and “super sad,” and now executives are being called out for “mistreatment” of the former Idol winner post-show.
One person even wrote how it feels wrong to continue supporting American Idol when the show allegedly dropped a winner and stopped caring about her.
Last year, Samantha shared on Instagram Stories that she thought it was “gonna be easy” after the show because she anticipated going into the studio, recording and putting out music.
“And that’s not how the world works. That’s not how the industry works. It takes time, it takes money that I don’t have. It takes patience,” Samantha said, according to The Sun.
Samantha had secured a deal with Hollywood Records thanks to her win, but she reportedly left the label before ever recording a song.
Samantha therefore had to pay the label, which resulted in her going broke.
“I was not the one that pulled [my ‘Rise Up’ performance] down from iTunes, Hollywood Records did that,” Samantha claimed.
“I don’t know the logistics behind it. I don’t know the legal side of things. But I believe that when we parted ways, in order for them to keep 100% of the money that was made from ‘Rise Up,’ I think they had to pull it from streams so that I wouldn’t get a cut, which is smart. Smart move Hollywood.”
Samantha went on to invest in herself and pay her own recording bills, but she admitted that “mastering music costs a lot of money” and so she hasn’t been able to release music professionally.
About The Author:
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.