Shayla Winn performing on “American Idol” (Photo courtesy Sandra Winn)
Shayla Winn knows, even as a senior at Thomas Dale High School, that singing is what she wants to do with the rest of her life. In 2017, when an epidermoid cyst left her legally blind, she took it in stride and performed the lead role in Thomas Dale’s production of “Aida.” Since then, she’s kept singing, and appeared on the 2019 season of “American Idol,” advancing to the top 20 performers before her run on the show ended in April. We talked with Winn about her past and future on the stage.
Richmond magazine: How did you get started singing?
Shayla Winn: It all started with me seeing Anita Baker on “[Showtime at] the Apollo” and then falling in love with singing and knowing that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It started from there, and then being surrounded with music playing in the house all the time helped.
RM: How did you get involved in “American Idol?”
Winn: I auditioned [in Richmond] for one of their producers, and then I had to do a call-back. Once I got that phone call that I had made the call-back, I went to Atlanta and I performed for the producers, and then I was off to Louisville to do my celebrity judge audition.
RM: What has it been like singing in front of celebrities and professional singers?
Winn: It’s been surreal. It’s been a great experience, to be around them and learn from them.
RM: Do you think as a singer you’ve progressed a lot from being on the show?
Winn: I would say I have. I would say I’ve progressed a lot.
RM: Could you talk to me a little bit about your experience in the theater program at Thomas Dale?
Winn: At the end of my sophomore year, I had gotten the lead role in our school’s musical of “Aida,” and I got picked to be Aida. I started going to rehearsals for the first two weeks, and that’s when I noticed something was wrong with my vision. Then I missed rehearsals for a month, and I ended up coming back three weeks before the premiere of the show, and coming back as Aida.
RM: What was it like having so little time to rehearse?
Winn: It was actually pretty easy because, luckily, all of my friends were still at rehearsals, and all of them were in the play with me. And one of my friends was actually my understudy. So, she knew exactly what I was supposed to do and when I was supposed to do it and things like that. I remember coming back and I had the staples in my head, and then we just made a few adjustments to a few scenes — they were really great with working with the fact that I was coming back with this new disability.
RM: What do you get out of singing?
Winn: Singing for me is an escape from reality. You kind of, as a singer, when you get into a song, it’s almost as if you zone out in your own world, and I like that feeling sometimes, because sometimes reality can be a little too much, so I like having the fact that you can escape to this other realm and being yourself. I also like to make people feel what I’m talking about, and I realized with singing that it helped people feel exactly what I’m talking about. You can become very vulnerable in a song, and it’s a release of emotion that helps.
RM: Anything else to add?
Winn: For people out there that are going through something, though it’s easier said than done, the rain does not last forever. The storm does not last forever. The rainbow is coming.
