Fresh off Americas Got Talent, Lily Meolas next act is Maui Songwriters Festival | News,

May 2024 · 5 minute read

For Maui’s Lily Meola, there’s life before and life after “America’s Got Talent.” She was a rising young star supported by legendary friends like Willie Nelson, and then came her Golden Buzzer performance of “Daydream,” which has so far earned 8.9 million YouTube views, with fans continuing to post comments like “I can’t stop playing it. I’ve never felt more moved by anything.”

“It was a whirlwind,” Meola explained about the impact of auditioning for “America’s Got Talent.” “It was a very beautiful experience, but also it was emotional.”

Meola will perform at a free show at 8 p.m. on Sunday as part of the 2023 Maui Songwriters Festival presented Sunday to Tuesday at the Grand Wailea Resort.

With her national visibility rocketing, the experience continues to ripple through her career.

“It’s actually been really beautiful to see the response that people are having to the music,” she continued. “It’s a feeling like no other. My whole drive right now as an artist is to connect with people and hopefully make people feel something, and whether that’s being less alone, or they really are connected to the song. I just can’t even believe it.”

So many folks have responded to her music, including one man who was so inspired by her song “Daydream” that “he said he watched the audition, immediately called his Realtor, put his house up for sale, and he said he’s about to go buy his dream boat and sail around the world and chase his dreams.”

“These messages that I’m getting are insane,” Meola said. “I’ve seen the effect it can have on people. It’s wild. It is rewarding in a sense, but also I’m like, oh my gosh, maybe I’m not qualified to be giving this type of advice.”

With America falling in love with “Daydream,” she chose another original, “Butterfly,” for her second “AGT” appearance. An emotional tribute to her mother, it was the first song she composed after her mom passed.

“I’ll sit at the piano and write to myself, but after doing the first audition and seeing how well that went and receiving so much love from everyone hearing it, it reinspired me to get back in the studio and start writing again. And ‘Butterfly’ was my first song back, and that’s so special to me.”

While some people suggested she sing covers on the show, Meola said, “I had no interest in doing that. I spent so much of my life doing covers and when I realized that I love to write songs, it completely changed everything for me. Going into the show I didn’t choose a song that I thought my voice sounded good on or anything like that. ‘Daydream’ isn’t something I would showcase my voice with, but I figured the message was really important and the songwriting, and it’s a talent show. So I guess that was the kind of the talent I was going for.

“Honestly, winning the show was never really something I even envisioned,” she added. “I just wanted to share that message with the world and hopefully it would impact at least one person, and I have far exceeded my expectations.”

Songwriting became cathartic for Meola, a way to express emotions and ease discomfort.

“I honestly think it saved my life,” she said. “I really struggled growing up when it comes to school and trying to find outlets for my energy and my thoughts. When I started singing it, it helped a lot, but when I started to be able to write what I was thinking and feeling, it was a game changer. It was like the floodgates opened, and then at the end of the day you have this song, and it’s almost like it was a therapy session writing it. Then anytime you start to feel those emotions, you can go back and listen to it, be like, okay, yeah, I went through that, I survived it. Or if you want to tap into those emotions again and feel sad or feel close to them, you have it and it’s really cool.”

Released in March, her EP “Daydream” featured five new songs, including the stunning “Got Your Way,” which sounded like she had morphed into Adele. A true tale of heartbreak and betrayal, it involved a barista who stole her boyfriend.

“With everything I write these days, it’s going to be very real and honest about everything I go through, whether it be grief, heartbreak or something inspiring,” she said. “I am going to try and be as real as I can with everyone.”

The EP showcased a dramatic evolution from her “They Say” debut recording in terms of production, songwriting and artistic maturity.

“With ‘They Say,’ I hadn’t really started writing at all,” she noted. “This woman, Leslie Dipiero, who I thank every day of my life, she reached out to me and invited me to come to Nashville and write. At first I was like, I can’t write a paragraph or an email, there’s no way I’m going to be able to write a song. I was just about to put out ‘They Say,’ and most of the stuff on that record just wasn’t quite who I was. Now I figured out that I could say what I wanted to say and have my own voice as an artist.”

Looking forward to more career highs and releasing new music in early 2023, this gifted singer-songwriter realized early on that her destiny lay in music.

“I was 11 years old when I started taking vocal lessons and my mom was like, why don’t we start getting you some gigs around the island?” Meola recalled. “We started doing that, and that’s when I realized I’m going to try and do this. This is what makes me happy and fills up my soul.”

The 2023 Maui Songwriters Festival is presented at the Grand Wailea Resort, with performing musicians including Chris Young, Mitchell Tenpenny, Madeline Edwards, Natalie Grant, Randy Houser, Kameron Marlowe and Lukas Nelson. Tickets are $125 and $175 for the “Chris Young & Famous Friends” show at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Maui’s Derick Sebastian will open at 6:30 p.m. A portion of proceeds will benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Maui. More information and tickets are available at www.mauisongwritersfestival.com.

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