There's no shortage of runner-ups who have vanished after being on American Idol. Although to be fair, there's also no shortage of winners who have seemingly disappeared into oblivion or have been deemed wholly unsuccessful. Still, American Idol is one of the few music competition shows that has actually turned out a few A-list stars. There have also been a couple of runners-up who have built great careers, such as Season 10's Haley Reinhart.

Just like Haley Reinhart, Angie Miller came in third place on American Idol, losing to Kree Harrison and the eventual Season 12 winner, Candace Glover. While the three talented singer have yet to make the type of impact they likely thought they'd make, there's no doubt they have their fans. Angie Miller, in particular, built a very dedicated fanbase after she performed her self-penned song, "You Set Me Free", during the final Hollywood round. But nine years later, fans are wondering what happened to her...

Who Is American Idol Star Angie Miller?

Angie (born Angela) Miller was born in Beverly, Massachusetts just outside of Boston. Her love of music developed early in the church where both of her parents worked. Her older brother, Jonathan, was also an influence as he got into a band when he was a teen.

  • Angie Miller's parents, Guy and Tana, were co-pastors at Remix Church of the Assemblies of God protestant denomination in Salem, Massachusetts.

Prior to competing on American Idol in 2012, Angie was diagnosed with a 40% hearing loss problem in her left ear and 20% in her right. She had ear tubes placed and had to be fitted for silicon spray ear plugs in order to hear herself sing. None of this deterred her love of music nor her pursuit of a career in the industry.

  • Angie Miller wrote her first song, "Little Sparkle Dress", at the age of six.
  • Angie Miller was an avid musical theater student in high school.

Leading music during church services prepared her for auditioning in front of the judges of American Idol in its twelfth season. Angie proved herself a consistent talent on American Idol, tackling a wide-variety of artists and showing off her songwriting skills with "You Set Me Free". In fact, she was such a favorite that the press was genuinely perplexed that America voted her off of the show. Still, Angie made it to the top three and immediately pursued a career after her elimination.

Related: How 'American Idol' Winner, Scotty McCreery's Life And Net Worth Changed After The Show

After touring with her American Idol colleagues, Angie released a Christmas song and toured her music in South East Asia. She then started a PledgeMusic campaign for her EP, "Weathered" which featured the song "Lost In The Sound". By 2015, Angie released her first music video for her song "Simple". While she made a bit of a name for herself in India and Vietnam, her music didn't find a home in America. So, she decided to rebrand...

Why Did Angie Miller Change To Zealyn?

According to an interview with Salem News, Angie soon realized that she wasn't really being authentic as an artist.

"I realized how much American Idol created me," Angie said to Salem News in 2019. "They chose my branding. They chose my look. They chose my sound. I had some sort of say, but I was young. I was easily moldable. I realized I wanted to start over. I wanted to re-brand myself and be 100 percent myself."

While it almost feels less authentic for a singer to adopt a stage name, Angie feels far more herself as Zealyn; an homage to the country New Zealand.

"Once I had a stage name, I felt more myself and it sparked so much creativity. I think my choices were, go with this label and have instant money and probably have instant success, but be something you don't want to be — instant gratification but not happy with it. Or go for the long run. I am very happy that I went for this long process."

Related: What Happened To Katie Stevens After She Lost American Idol?

"A lot of people were saying, 'We want Angie back,'" Angie continued. "But it's still me. It's still the same voice. I love to sing and I love to show off my voice. I think the music has gotten more creative. It's not so cookie-cutter what everyone else is doing. It's a better expression of my creativity."

Related: Twitter Slams Carrie Underwood, Claiming Kelly Clarkson As The Elite ‘American Idol’ Winner

Angie debuted her pseudonym is 2016 with a bunch of new music, including "Tides To The Moon" which was included in a trailer for "Little Mermaid". She also started to find a musical voice for herself which blended the genres of rock and electropop.

Angie, who married David James Williams in 2016, released an EP called "Limbic System". She followed this up with a re-release of the same EP and a third one, "A Weekend In Maine" in 2019. Even though Angie has been fairly quiet since 2019, she continues to tour her music around America. While she hasn't yet hit it big, she's almost certainly paving a pathway for a career that she wants and deeply cares about.

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