Over the past eleven years, UC High Honor Roll Student, Varsity Athlete, and Music Club Vice President Mica Giaconi has been working very hard on and off campus to pursue her musical aspirations.

  Coming from a very supportive and musical family, Giaconi was exposed to music, and developed her passion for it, at a very young age. “Mica started working with recording and singing when she was five. She started learning instruments like piano, guitar, cello, ukulele, violin, and others too,” explained her father, Mr.  Daniel Giaconi.

  The first time Mica tried writing and composing her own music was back in seventh grade, although she did not take her songwriting as seriously until she started her freshman year at UC High. “Throughout high school, I have written and composed a lot of songs. I have also released music,” explained Giaconi.  It is obvious to see that music runs through her blood and with her drive, dedication, and work ethic it is no surprise to hear about the different opportunities she has obtained over the years. She continued, “I’ve taken a lot of time to get gigs, do different shows, and meet people who also play shows.”

  After playing gigs at various restaurants, house parties, and county fairs, Giaconi received the opportunity of a lifetime over this past summer. On the third day of this school year, Giaconi drove up to Los Angeles to try out for the well-known show, American Idol, in front of the celebrity judge panel.

  Giaconi explained she had the chance to be on the show due to one of her family friends who has connections in the industry. This friend called Mica’s father asking if she would be interested in auditioning, but Mica and her father didn’t think too much of it at first. Daniel Giaconi said, “I was always one to keep my distance from reality shows like that but thought it might be a good idea for her to get the feedback.” About an hour later, one of the show’s producers called Mica and her family and that day marked the start to her American Idol journey.

  Explaining the process of the auditioning, Giaconi stated, “The normal audition process to get onto shows like American Idol involves about three auditions beforehand where you have to sing for different producers.” The three different auditions, that come before the celebrity panel audition, include a general audition, a creative producer audition, and then the executive producer audition. Giaoni was one of the few contestants that was called by a producer from the show. Because of that, she got to skip straight to the executives’ audition. The executive producers loved her and sent her on to the next auditioning round, where she would be singing in front of Celebrity Judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, and Katy Perry.

  “I really just wanted exposure. I was really excited to do a show like American Idol but I was really looking to learn the most out of it and meet a bunch of people.” According to a Hawaii Newspaper, “the singing competition … drew more than 9.5 million viewers per airing last season” (staradvertiser.com). The show airs in just two days, on March 3.

  Giaconi continued, “I think with every new opportunity or gig, I come closer to finding my own style. I do think that every musician has their own vibe, and I’m still trying to find that.” She explained that as of right now she believes her style is more like “neo-soul.” According to an educational site, neo-soul can be defined as “a musical genre that fuses contemporary RnB and 1970s-style soul with elements of hip-hop. It differs from contemporary RnB in that it’s obviously more soulful, and it also tends to have deeper messages and meanings than RnB” (thoughtco.com).

  “The support from my family has definitely helped me, because I tend to get in my head a lot. The whole American Idol process and music, in general, is tough. A lot of times, people that are trying to go for that type of career are told ‘you won’t really amount to anything really big,’ ‘it’ll be hard to make money,’ or ‘it’ll be hard to be successful,’” said Giaconi. She continued, “I’ve definitely gotten into my head about that, thinking ‘this isn’t the right path,’ or ‘let’s find something more realistic,’ but my family has always put me back on track [knowing this is what I love to do].”

  Make sure to tune in to the season premiere on ABC, March 3, at 8 pm to see how far our local star goes.