By Abi Falin Horspool
Liahona Olayan’s music journey began in a tent in Hawaiʻi.
Now, she’s preparing to release her first solo album, Just Me, Liahona, on October 10. Preparing for this moment has included everything from singing on American Idol to writing songs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Growing up in Utah, surrounded by her family’s Polynesian culture, music was always part of Liahona’s life. “My mom takes all the credit,” Liahona jokes. “She said that when I was in her womb, she would sing to me all the time. So now, she always brags like, ‘that’s the reason you can sing, because of me.’”
Life was busy for the Olayans. At the time, there were six (of the eventual nine) kids, and everyone was in private school. After school, Liahona came home to hours of piano practice and soccer stacked on top of it all. “I feel like I didn’t even see my siblings at all,” Liahona remembers. Family dinners, when they happened, often dissolved into contention.
“I remember that there was one day my mom had a breakdown,” Liahona says. “She just started crying and she told us that she felt like a failure as a mother.” That night, her mom prayed to know how she could teach her children humility and gratitude. The answer was simple but startling. “Leave it all behind.”
So they did. The family packed two suitcases each, sold everything, and moved back to Hawaiʻi. “For a year and a half,” Liahona says, “we lived in a tent.” At first, it felt like a long vacation, but soon reality sank in. After three weeks, the kids expressed their desire to go home. Then their mother gave them the news: “There is no home, this is our home.” Liahona was shocked. “I was like, what do you mean? This isn’t a home. That’s a tent. We’re homeless. She’s like, ‘Yes, you are.’”
Despite the challenges that come with living in a tent, the experience brought unexpected gifts. “I got to know my family for the first time,” Liahona says. “And I got to get close to my heritage once again.” Living off the land looked like raising chickens, milking goats, washing dishes in totes, but it also brought a discovery of humility and gratitude, just like Liahona’s mother hoped.
It also gave Liahona the space to discover something deeper. One Sunday, she and her older brother, Ammon, were bored and being lazy. Their father told them to go find something to do. He made suggestions saying, “write in your journal or go write a song!” Liahona says she didn’t think much of it and decided to go to sleep, but her brother went and actually wrote a song. A couple hours later, he came to show it to her. “When I heard that song as an 11-year-old girl,” Liahona says, “Something just snapped, and I knew that music is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Ever since, Liahona has been singing and writing her own songs.
Years later, after the family had moved back to Utah, her mother suggested that she and her brother audition for American Idol. Liahona and Ammon agreed, not fully grasping what they were signing up for. This was in 2020, so auditions were online. “I genuinely thought it was a local competition,” Liahona laughs. “I was like, yeah, better to start off small since you know, I’ve never been on a stage in my entire life.” She and Ammon submitted an original song, and two weeks later, got a call from the director.
He said, “We want you down here in Hollywood this week in front of the celebrity judges.” Even on the plane ride to California, Liahona and Ammon couldn’t fully process what was going on. It didn’t quite hit until they were actually on the stage, performing for Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, and Katy Perry.
Thrown into the whirlwind, she and Ammon auditioned together with an original song and walked away with a golden ticket. Katy Perry gushed over Liahona’s audition, comparing her to artists like Alessia Cara and Lorde, telling her, “You are talented beyond belief, incredible songwriter—like, should be signed right now.” Lionel Richie called her music “so fresh,” and Luke Bryan said, “Liahona, you have a voice that is radio ready!”
“My confusion was all over the place,” she says. “But as I went through the competition, it kind of started to make sense. It was a really cool process.” After the show split the duo up for the drama, Liahona ultimately advanced to the Top 24, one of the youngest contestants that season.
The journey wasn’t without its struggles. It was isolating at times, since the show was filmed during the pandemic, especially after Liahona continued when her brother did not. The waits before performing were often long and exhausting, and the pressure of everything took a mental toll on her. Despite this, Liahona looks back on the experience with gratitude. “It was such a huge growth journey for me as an artist,” she says. “I was able to perform on stage for the first time, work with a band… and I was able to create a personal relationship with Katy Perry.”
During American Idol, she and Ammon also worked with Nik Day and the LDS Church to record popular songs “Good Day” and “What Does He Think.” After the show, they went on tour together and released their first album, Gotta Move On.
Then, Liahona served an 18-month mission in Puebla, Mexico. Even though she wasn’t on a stage, the experience still fueled her music. “I fell in love with the food, the culture, and most of all the language and the music,” she says. “Now I incorporate Latin pop into my sound, and I think Spanish is such a celestial language, and I never want to forget that.”
Now, with her brother pursuing his own path, Liahona is stepping into her own spotlight. On October 10, she’ll release her first solo album, Just Me, Liahona. Liahona refuses to confine the project to one style. “Feelings cannot be portrayed in one genre,” she says. “You need a lot of them… In my album, you’ll find Latin pop, hip hop, rap, ballads, R&B, and funk.” She calls back to her LDS mission with her songs in Spanish, including “QUE RICO SOLA” and “Cállate La Boca.”
The project is deeply personal. “When words fail, music speaks,” Liahona says, repeating the phrase her mother always told her. “Every single one of those songs is like I’m giving my heart to anyone that listens to it. You get to hear the good things, the bad things, the happy moments, the frustrations, the tears. You get to hear all of it. Every song portrays a little bit of me.”
One example of this is her track, “These Lips.” “I’m 21 years old, I have never had a boyfriend, and I haven’t had my first kiss,” she says. “To many people, that’s absolutely insane. But I believe that the kiss I will give someday is the one to the person I will marry.” She says she hopes the song will help people. “I want people, when they listen to my music, to know it’s okay to live by your standards. Who cares what other people say? Your life is your life.”
Just Me, Liahona, has something for everyone. Whether you love Latin pop, funk, hip hop, or something in between, Liahona’s overarching goal is one that’s sure to be appreciated by any listener. “Music doesn’t speak to the ears,” she says, “it speaks to the heart. I want people to listen to my music and feel that they’re heard, that they’re understood. If they feel all kinds of ways, well, honey, guess what? So do I.”
To celebrate the release of her first solo album, Just Me, Liahona, Liahona will be performing this Friday, October 10, at 7 PM at the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center in Taylorsville. Doors open at 6 PM. Get tickets here. You can list to her full album before it comes out, Just Me, Liahona, with a private streaming link here.