NEED TO KNOW
Noah Davis didn’t know that a simple word would change his life.
During season 16 of American Idol, Davis, 25, immediately caught the attention of judge Katy Perry after blurting out a popular pop-culture phrase before his audition — “Wig.”
Perry responded, “Wig? Did you just say wig?”
When Davis nodded in confirmation, Perry chimed in, “I know, wig. I feel that already,” much to the confusion of other judges Lionel Ritchie and Luke Bryan. With one word, a viral moment was born.
“I don’t remember saying that because those days are so long. It takes forever, and you’re so tired,” Davis tells PEOPLE. “I came out of the audition, and all I knew was I made it through. I saw the video for the first time before it aired, and I thought, ‘Oh, my God, that’s so funny.’ ”
Courtesy of Noah Davis
Davis made it through to Hollywood but was eliminated from the competition after they whittled it down from 50 to 24 contestants.
“I’m very different. I don’t think I was a fully-realized Noah Davis. I was 18 and had just come from nowhere in Arkansas. I had never done anything like that, and I hadn’t realized my full potential,” Davis shares.
“I was shy back then, and I’ve come out since then,” he adds. “It’s hard to believe I wasn’t out of the closet when I said ‘wig’ to Katy Perry, but I wasn’t.”
After American Idol, Davis packed everything into his car and moved to Los Angeles with “no money” and “not a lot of friends.” There, he began making music and sharing his journey on TikTok, where he amassed a following.
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Davis released his album F–k Flowers in 2021 and his EP, The A Side, in 2023. As a “young gay person” who is “plus size” and “femme presenting,” representation is extremely important to Davis, so he took matters into his own hands and began making music he didn’t see on the market.
“I want to feel sexy and hot, and I should have music that makes me feel good about myself. So I made it,” Davis says. “Then other people were coming to me saying, ‘I’ve been waiting for music that is sexy and queer.’ And I thought, ‘I didn’t realize that that was so important.’ ”
His newest album, set to come out this summer, is more of a breakup album. Davis tapped into a different side of himself to share his experiences going through heartbreak.
“We are real people. We go through real heartbreak, we experience real love and real loss,” Davis says. “This album is about heartbreak, loss and moving on. I knew I wanted to say something more real and vulnerable, which was a bit challenging for me, because I don’t want to let people know how I’m really feeling.”
Courtesy of Noah Davis
Fans of Davis can expect him to take things to “new levels” on his upcoming album.
“I’m doing what feels right at the moment. These past two years working on this project, I’ve been honing in on being an artist,” he says. “I’m doing this for real, I want people to expect the next level up, because that’s what I’m doing.”
He cites R&B artists like Kehlani, Lucky Daye, Victoria Monet, Usher, and Amelia Moore as his musical inspirations.
In terms of Perry, Davis shares that “she’s going to be an icon forever,” and would love to recreate the viral moment with her.
