Malaya Tina Bandico Watson (born September 24, 1997) is an American singer from

Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the city had a population of 76,618. As a northern suburb of Detroit, Southfield shares part of its ...

, who finished in eighth place on the thirteenth season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

.''

Early life

Watson is of half-

Filipino American Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New S ...

and half-

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

descent, the daughter of Ronald Watson, a professional guitar player, and Marian Bandico Watson, a nurse who hails from

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. In high school, she played the tuba in Southfield High School marching band. She is an alumna of the Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit, where she sang in ''Singsation'' and ''Hasting Street.'' She is also an alumna of the Michigan Opera Theatre Children's Chorus., where she starred in ''Carmen,'' ''Tosca,'' ''Pied Piper of Hamlin,'' ''The Very Last Green Thing'' and ''The Nut Cracker''.

Musical influences

She cites her two grandfathers and her father as her personal musical influences. She described her style in singing from

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the ...

and

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

Career

2014: ''American Idol''

At 15, Watson auditioned in Detroit with

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

's "

Ain't No Way "Ain't No Way" is a song written by singer-songwriter Carolyn Franklin and sung by her elder sister Aretha Franklin as the B-side to her 1968 hit, "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone". This song should not be confused with a different song ...

." She is the third youngest contestant in American Idol's history to reach the live finals after

Lauren Alaina Lauren Alaina Kristine Suddeth (born November 8, 1994) is an American singer and songwriter from Rossville, Georgia. She was the runner-up on the tenth season of ''American Idol.'' Her debut studio album, ''Wildflower,'' was released on Octobe ...

and Daniel Seavey. After being deemed as a front-runner to win by judge Jennifer Lopez and fans, Watson was announced as the act with lowest number of votes for Top 8 reveal night. With the Judges save gone, Malaya was eliminated from the competition. She sang "

I Am Changing "I Am Changing" is a song from the second act of the long-running Broadway musical ''Dreamgirls''. Written by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen, the song was performed by the character Effie White, originally portrayed on Broadway by Jennifer Holliday ...

" as her farewell song. After her final performance Watson received a final standing ovation from all three judges.

Performances on American Idol

Post ''Idol''

Watson took part in the

American Idols Live! Tour 2014 The American Idols Live! Tour 2014 was a concert tour that featured the Top 10 finalists of the 13th season of ''American Idol''. The tour started on June 24, 2014, in Binghamton, New York and ended on August 23, 2014, in Redmond, Washington. ...

from June 24 through August 24, 2014. Throughout the duration of tour and to date, she worked on her debut EP, ''My Diary,'' and her unnamed album. Watson sang the U.S. national anthem at the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

versus

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

game at

Ford Field Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), as well as the annual Quick Lane Bowl college football bowl game, state champ ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

on October 19, 2014. In 2018, Watson released her debut single, "Time.", and released her second single "Worry About Myself" two years later in 2020. Later in the year, she appeared on

Terrace Martin Terrace Jamahl Martin (born December 28, 1978) is an American musician, rapper, singer, and record producer. He is perhaps best known for producing records for several prominent artists in the music industry, including Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dog ...

Robert Glasper Robert Andre Glasper (born April 6, 1978) is an American pianist, record producer, songwriter, and musical arranger with a career that bridges several different musical and artistic genres, mostly centered on jazz. To date, Glasper has won fou ...

9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a Kamasi Washington Kamasi Washington (born February 18, 1981) is an American jazz saxophonist, usually playing tenor saxophone. Archived July 9, 2015. Career Washington was born in 1981 and raised in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of the Academy of ...

's collaborative EP Dinner Party: Dessert, contributing guest vocals to the song "Love You Bad" with Phoelix. On December 4, 2020, Watson released her debut EP, ''My Diary: The Prelude.''. This was followed by her sophomore EP ''Father's Law'', which was released the following year. Later that same year, Malaya would appear on the

album ''Drones'', contributing vocals to "Evil Eye" with rapper YG. She also appeared on 2 tracks from

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

's compilation ''

Algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specificat ...

''.

Discography

EPs

*''My Diary: The Prelude'' (2020) *''Father's Law'' (2021)

Digital singles (''American Idol'')

Singles

Guest appearances

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Malaya 1997 births 21st-century American singers American Idol participants Living people 21st-century African-American women singers American musicians of Filipino descent People from Southfield, Michigan Singers from Michigan 21st-century American women singers