Jessica Sanchez talks new album, \u2018Glee\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\u201cBack then, music felt like a job. Now, I\u2019m at a place where music feels like something I\u2019m blessed to be able to do,\u201d said Sanchez, whose Tuesday night return performance on \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent\u201d comes 20 years after her debut on the ABC TV show. \u201cIt\u2019s not like: \u2018I have to do this.\u2019 It\u2019s: \u2018I get to do this\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
That realization did not come quickly or easily.<\/p>\n
Neither did being signed to a major label recording contract when she was still a high school junior being home-schooled four hours a day. At just 16, Sanchez had yet to develop a strong identity, musically or personally. She soon learned exactly how difficult it can be to meet the expectations and demands of a music industry that quickly discards young singers who fail to click commercially in the image-driven, flavor-of-the-month world of pop music.<\/p>\n
![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SUT-L-MUSIC-JESSICA-0713-01_bec15c.jpg\")
Jessica Sanchez is shown here on the episode of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent\u201d that will air on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (Trae Patton\/NBC.)
\nWhite House debut<\/p>\n
The fact that Sanchez sang for President Obama at the White House, on a PBS National Memorial Day Concert telecast and at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 and 2016 was impressive. So were her guest appearances on the hit TV series \u201cGlee\u201d and her being represented by the same Creative Artists Agency booking agent who had overseen lucrative concert tours by Hannah Montana and helped the young Kanye West achieve stardom.<\/p>\n
But by 2014, barely a year after her debut album was released, Sanchez had parted ways with her label, Interscope Records. Her relationship with CAA didn\u2019t last either. And while Sanchez subsequently recorded and released a number of solo singles and vocal duets with other artists, only one of her songs, 2016\u2019s \u201cStronger Together,\u201d made any impact on the national sales charts.<\/p>\n
Like other vocally gifted but unshaped young singers before her, the more Sanchez tried to gain a foothold and establish an artistic niche for herself, the more she became frustrated and demoralized.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing so young, I sort of got lost in the business a little and I kind of fell out of love with music for a while,\u201d she said, speaking from Houston, where she now lives with her husband of four years, Rickie Gallardo. \u201cI felt like music became a job where there were requirements I had to meet as a woman in the industry \u2014 and as a Filipino woman in the industry \u2014 and that there were standards I had to meet. You go through a lot of rejection. And being a woman, I feel it is a little bit harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was falling into insecurity and I had to take a step back and figure out who I was. I didn\u2019t want to sell out and put a mask on. So, I immersed myself in family and faith. I moved back to San Diego from Los Angeles, and then to Irvine, which has a large Asian population. I may not be exactly what the labels want or what the industry wants. I\u2019m not a super bubbly person or an in-your-face person. I\u2019m more quiet and timid, and I feel like that\u2019s okay \u2026 I don\u2019t have to win the approval of everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SUT-L-MUSIC-JESSICA-0713-01_d9e390.jpg\")
Jessica Sanchez is shown making her debut on \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent on June 21, 2006. (Chris Haston\/NBCU)
\n\u2018America\u2019s Got Talent\u2019 debut<\/p>\n
Gaining broad approval was precisely Sanchez\u2019s goal when she competed on \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent\u201d in 2006. She was just 10 at the time and had big, big ambitions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had done a lot of (singing) competitions in San Diego before I got on \u2018AGT\u2019,\u201d she said, referring to \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent\u2019s\u201d acronym. \u201cThere were so many amazing talents on the show and it just lit a fire in me. I was like: \u2018Oh, wow. I really want to win this!\u2019 It\u2019s when I became really competitive, in a good way not a bad way. I thought: \u2018I have this drive and passion, and I really want this and will do whatever I can to make it. I\u2019ll give them all I can\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanchez giggled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was an over-confident little girl and I was ready to show them. I was also a little nervous because it was the biggest stage I\u2019d sung on. I feel like it opened up my dreams to a bigger perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those dream grew even larger in 2012 when she nearly made it to the top during the 11th season of \u201cAmerican Idol.\u201d She wowed the judges and the audience with her vocal power, versatility and pinpoint phrasing, but ultimately came in second to Phillip Phillips.<\/p>\n
![\""American](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SUT-L-MUSIC-JESSICA-0713-01_31c189.jpg\")
\u201cAmerican Idol\u201d host Ryan Seacrest, right, introduces 2012 finalists Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. (Michael Becker\/FOX)
\n\u2018It\u2019s still unreal\u2019<\/p>\n
Now, 13 years later, Sanchez feels grounded in a way that no teenager could \u2014 especially after being thrust into the national limelight on \u201cIdol.\u201d Her go-to music now reflects her increased focus on her Christian faith.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I\u2019m driving somewhere or cleaning at home, I mostly listen to worship music,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cSo, that\u2019s on my playlist, 24\/7, and I\u2019m singing along and praising the Lord in my kitchen and the car.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her return to \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent\u201d two decades after her debut on the show, is a full-circle moment for the diminutive vocal dynamo, whose performance on Tuesday\u2019s show demonstrates her impressive growth as a singer. (The Union-Tribune was allowed to preview footage of her upcoming appearance but was asked not to disclose what song she is doing \u2014 or if she won the judges\u2019 votes to move on to the next round.)<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m completely different now,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cI\u2019ve grown, I\u2019ve matured and know who I am as an artist and young woman. With the years of experience I now have, it\u2019s easier for me to figure out where I\u2019m going in a song and my voice and tone have matured. So, I\u2019m excited to do this familiar thing in such a different way. I\u2019ve done it before, but it feels brand new.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being on \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d in 2012 was also a new experience for Sanchez. In one episode, she was filmed landing in a helicopter in an empty Petco Park. In another, she was greeted by cheering crowds aboard the USS Midway and at Eastlake High, where she had attended middle school.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, it\u2019s still unreal,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cI look back on the footage of all those things, and I was so young then that I didn\u2019t fully digest it \u2026 Now, it doesn\u2019t feel like my identity will be shaken. I know who I am and music is just part of my journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent,\u201d featuring Jessica Sanchez<\/p>\n
8 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, NBC Channel 7\/39<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jessica Sanchez is all grown up. Only 10 when she competed on the first season of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":62315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,16214,171,1370,5424,3549,3550,7264,34159,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-62314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-chula-vista","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-music-and-concerts","15":"tag-san-diego","16":"tag-san-diego-county","17":"tag-sandiego","18":"tag-south-county","19":"tag-things-to-do","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114846141256838908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}