Jessica Meuse

Early life and education

Meuse was born in Round Rock, Texas, on October 19, 1990, a daughter of Charles Edward and Sheila Arlene (Strobel) Meuse. She moved several times as a child, since her mother worked for the government. As a way to be more outgoing as a pre-teen, she recorded CDs and gave them to friends. While living in Zephyrhills, Florida in 2002, she attended St. Anthony Catholic School in nearby San Antonio, Florida. It was there, at the school's talent show, that she acknowledges performing publicly for the first time. When she was in the seventh grade, she moved to Slapout, Alabama, where she joined the Montgomery Youth Orchestra, eventually becoming principal second violin. She also played shows of her own at various festivals, fundraisers, schools, and public events. In addition to the violin, she plays both guitar and piano.

She attended Auburn University at Montgomery, where she majored in liberal arts.

Musical influences

Meuse states she is, "influenced by virtually every genre of music." More specifically though, she has called her style "a blend of southern rock with alternative and rock n’ roll." Mary Colurso of AL.com has described it as "rock...infused with country and metal." Meuse's musical influences include Coldplay, Miranda Lambert, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Stevie Nicks, Death Cab for Cutie, Bruno Mars, and Shinedown.

Music career

At age eighteen, she began writing music. Her first song was called "What's So Hard About Bein' a Man" and developed from feelings of anger. She went on to self-release an EP by the same name in 2011 and has written around sixty original songs. Most of them have focused on dark and serious subject matter.

In October 2010, Meuse won the Stars of Alabama Artist Showcase, a statewide music competition that was judged by professionals from Montgomery, Atlanta and Nashville. In October 2013, Meuse was featured by the Alabama Media Group in the Birmingham Sessions, an online showcase for musicians around the Birmingham, Alabama area. She auditioned for The Voice before her American Idol run, but did not pass the judging rounds of the mentors.

American Idol

Encouraged by her friends, Meuse auditioned for the thirteenth season of American Idol in Atlanta, Georgia. She performed an original song called "Blue-Eyed Lie" and was accepted by all three judges. Meuse initially joined Matthew Hamel and Clark King for the Hollywood group round, but the three of them struggled to work well together and chose to part ways. Meuse then joined a group with Nica Nashae, Cara Watson, and Stephanie Hanvey. They sang Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)".

For her final Hollywood week performance, Meuse chose another original song called "Done." The judges could not decide between putting Meuse or Jesse Roach through to the top 30 and had them do a sing-off. Meuse sung "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd and was sent through.

All of the contestants reprised their audition songs for top 8 week, giving Meuse the opportunity to sing "Blue Eyed Lie" again. This made her the first contestant in the history of American Idol to sing an original song during the finals. For top 4 week, Meuse was originally going to sing another original song, called "The Hell You Put Me Through" - all of the contestants were going to sing originals for one of their performances that week. However, the producers changed their minds late in the week and gave the contestants a short amount of time to choose a replacement from a very limited list of songs. Meuse chose Pinks's "So What."

Meuse's fan base is known as "The Meuse Mafia." She has jokingly referred to her experience on the show as being like the Hunger Games, and in one episode, she braided her hair in the same style as Katniss Everdeen. Several reviewers and journalists felt that Meuse was unfairly treated by the show, such as Michael Slezak of TVLine, who wrote that the judges were "just blatantly not rooting for her at all. Lyndsey Parker of Yahoo! Music concurred, writing that "it seemed like the judges and producers were doing their best" to get Meuse eliminated from the competition. Parker further wrote that Meuse received "harsh critique" for praise-worthy performances, even as the judges overlooked significant flaws in other contestants. BuddyTV writer Jeff Dodge also felt that Meuse was being held to an unfair "double standard." Writing for TV Guide, Liz Raftery assessed fan opinion as being "frustrat[ed]" with the judges, over their poor treatment of Meuse.

Meuse was never among the "Bottom 3", until top 7 week, when the "Bottom 2" was composed of her and the eliminated contestant, Dexter Roberts. The following week, Meuse was again in the "Bottom 2", but CJ Harris was eliminated. There was no bottom 2 for top 5 week. The contestants were offered a choice - if they agreed unanimously, that week's results would be discarded and all five of them would move on to perform again. Two of them would then be eliminated the following week. Although Meuse voted in favor of this idea, Alex Preston and Jena Irene opposed it, and Sam Woolf was eliminated. Meuse herself was eliminated the following week. She came in fourth place and reprised "Blue Eyed Lie" as her exit song.

2014-present

Meuse returned to the American Idol stage for the season 13 finale, where she performed with Jennifer Nettles. She then performed as a part of the American Idol summer tour, which began on June 24, 2014 and went through August 23. Since then, she has held several shows in Alabama and Georgia, as well as one in Los Angeles. She continues to reside in Slapout, Alabama. However, she has stated intentions of possibly moving to Los Angeles.

Her debut single, "Done," was released independently on April 21, 2015. On January 5, 2016, she released her second single, "Rio Grande."

Personal life

Meuse has called herself a "very spiritual person" and has said that she is driven by her faith. She has eight tattoos and designed seven of them herself. She has two on her right arm - one of a phoenix and one of a dove surrounded by three stars. She has said that these represent spiritual rebirth and the Holy Trinity. On her left arm, she has a tattoo of the word "Faith". She loves animals and has many pets that were rescued from shelters, as well as several that she found abandoned.