“American Idol” winner Just Sam wrote Tuesday that they wanted to explain further but could not after outlets reported the performer had returned to singing in the subways to earn money. (Watch the videos below.)
“There’s so much that I want to say, but there’s not much that I am allowed to say,” the singer, whose offstage name is Samantha Diaz, wrote cryptically in an Instagram story. “But I promise that I will say more very soon.”
Diaz won the remote 2020 competition amid the pandemic, but fame and fortune failed to materialize, forcing them to busk in New York City’s subways as they had done before.
“Back in 2021, I was super embarrassed to be going back to the trains,” Diaz wrote earlier this month in a since-deleted caption that accompanied a subway performance of Ariana Grande’s “Almost Is Never Enough.”
“I didn’t want people to know that I legit needed the money & I didn’t want people to know that it wasn’t optional.”
The Sun tabloid in Britain reported on Just Sam’s plight weeks ago but many outlets stateside picked up on the “Idol” alum’s status on Tuesday.
“I was disappointed in myself for allowing myself to fall so low after winning ‘Idol,’ but then I had to take it easy on me and remember that I started my journey with ‘Idol’ at 20 years old,” Diaz wrote, per The Sun. “Not even knowing anything about Hollywood or the music industry.”
Diaz, who won a recording contract, previously split from Hollywood Records without finishing an album.
“I am making music,” the singer said, per Just Jared. “I just cannot afford to release music, because mixing and mastering music costs a lot of money. And I invested in myself and ended up broke. That’s the truth. Not broke, broke ― like I’m living. I have my own place.”
HuffPost has reached out to “American Idol” for comment.
In August 2022, Diaz reported being hospitalized while seemingly noting dangerous weight loss. “I seriously need help,” Diaz wrote.
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