Ava Valianti is ready for big things. The teenager was recently selected as one of the three finalists in American Songwriter’s 2025 Road Ready Talent Contest, which is designed to spotlight unsigned performers who are already built for live performance, going beyond songwriting alone.
That certainly applies to Valianti, who’s been writing songs since she was 9 and gigging since she was 14. All of that experience led the high school junior to develop her “confessional indie pop” vibe, which prioritizes “a fun sound and authentic emotions.” That’s on full display in “Distant,” the song Valianti submitted to the contest.
On March 31, Valianti and the other two Road Ready finalists will perform at the contest’s finale at The Basement East in Nashville, Tennessee. After the performance, one artist will win the Grand Prize package that includes $20,000 in cash and additional prizes.
Ahead of the big performance, fans can cast their vote for their favorite artist. Online voting will remain open until March 31.
Read the Q&A below to learn more about Valianti before the big night.
Ava Valianti Road Ready Q&A
Why did you enter this contest?
I really, really love songwriting. It’s my favorite part about making music. It’s the first thing that I do. I write the lyrics and then I write the melody. It really is my point of inspiration. I was so excited to enter a contest that was all about live performance and songwriting, because those are two things that are so, so important to me as an artist. I really want to put those at the forefront of my image as an artist.
How did you feel when you found out you were a Road Ready finalist?
Oh my gosh, I was absolutely in shock. I was so excited, but I really just couldn’t believe it. To even just be in the conversation is incredible. There are thousands of songs, but the fact that I was chosen to be a finalist—and also the fact that I am in the conversation this young, this early in my career—it’s an absolute dream come true. I was just so excited and I was so grateful. I’ve never been to Nashville, so I’m just so excited to go and to perform there and to meet as many people as possible.
What is the origin story behind the song that you entered?
I wrote this song in my bedroom, like I do most songs, about this friendship that I’d had since I was a kid that had been kind of fading and kind of falling out of my grasp. I didn’t even realize that it was going until it was kind of gone. It was kind of a painful ballad for me to write. [It’s] exploring these feelings of nostalgia and loss and love, still feeling this love for this person who doesn’t wanna be a part of your life anymore.
I brought it to my producer… and I was like, “I have this tragic song about my friend. It’s so sad.” He listened to it and he is like, “We’re gonna add a bunch of synth and we’re gonna make this really fun.” I’m so glad he said that, because he made one of my least fun [and] most painful songs so fun to create. And then I brought what we had created to my producers in New York. We worked on it and we just had the best time making it.
Every single experience of this song has just been so joyful. It’s turned an experience that was so painful for me into joy and into creative passion. It’s been absolutely the most incredible experience.
How are you preparing for the performance?
I’m so excited. I have been prepping and I’m going to keep prepping. I’m going to keep working on my set list. I’m always gonna keep protecting my voice and making sure it’s healthy. I’ve booked some session musicians for the gig, but we’re only actually gonna meet for the first time two days before. [We’ll] play a few times together and then go for it, which is kind of my favorite way to do it, because I think it’s so raw and fun. It’s also very stressful, but very fun. I’m sure they’re so, so talented.
I can’t wait. My brain is kind of gonna be in a crazy place, because I’ll be doing SAT prep and college touring and all these things about regular junior and high school life… It’s gonna be kind of wild, but I’m also so grateful to be able to do both and to have this incredible experience in the middle of my junior year. It’s definitely gonna be hectic, but I’m really excited more than anything.
Ava Valianti Musical Journey Q&A
Tell us about your musical journey.
Music has always been a part of my life. My family was always really encouraging of having a broad musical taste and experiencing live music, experiencing all different types of music. I’m so grateful because I was exposed to so much so young, and that really kind of informed my sound. It also just really informed what I wanted to do in my career.
I stumbled upon [music] as a school project in middle school, connected with a local producer, and then absolutely just fell in love with it. I really do have my parents to thank, because they were the people who really encouraged me to do these things, to take up space, to be a performer, to be an artist, and to really believe in myself enough to wanna pursue it so young, and pursue it so seriously and passionately with everything. We always say in my family, there is no plan B, there’s just the plan. This is what I wanna do with my life, and I’m really focused on doing something I love for as long as I can.
It’s been a crazy journey and there’s so much to balance. I’m going from schoolwork to my school play to a gig after school, and then we’re doing these music trips and we’re releasing these songs. It’s so exciting, but it’s also a lot. But… I love that I get to do it all. My musical journey has been absolutely one of the craziest ones. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, because I love going on this journey. This is something that I never even knew for so long that was missing from my life, and it has completely changed everything for me. Music is kind of my lifeblood, so I’m just so glad to be pursuing it and to be pursuing it now.
How has your family helped to shape your musical journey?
The first good music I ever remember hearing was in the car on the trip to the beach with my family. My brother was the type of person to put a song on and tell me who sings it. I always felt like I was inspired to know more, to learn more, to listen more because of them. When I kind of pitched all these ideas to them that I had about music, I didn’t know what their reaction would be. They’ve always been so supportive. The first thing that they always would do is to say that they would support me no matter what and that they would make anything happen for me that I wanted.
My mom, she’s just the most incredible human. She is my manager as well as my mom right now, which is fantastic. It’s kind of crazy because we have to balance mom life and manager life. We just have the most fun we could ever have. She’s just so incredibly supportive, so incredibly dedicated and hardworking. She always says it’s like her second job. My dad is like my roadie. My brother, I go through every single decision I have to make creatively and I ask him. I play my songs for my parents before anyone else. They just really are my sounding board. They’re the people that I can really go to. I can always trust them. I can always expect that they’ll support me and surround me with love. It’s so beautiful.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced on your journey to becoming an artist?
It’s definitely balancing my life. Music can be so fun and it can be super, super challenging, especially when you have to choose between things you love. Combating my stage fright. Getting over the fear of not being the best in order to find success in being joyful and happy on stage. Finding my sound was really tough for me. That was always something I tried to explore through my earlier music. A lot of my earlier music, I didn’t feel like [it] really quite fit me as an artist.
I feel like I’m really trying to come into my own in terms of my sound right now, which is so exciting. I really feel the music I’m putting out right now is the most authentically me. It represents the values I wanna put out in the world, as well as the songwriting style and also the musical style. I’m just so excited for everyone to hear it, because it’s been a long journey to kind of find this part of my music.
Ava Valianti Future Plans Q&A
Do you have new music in the works?
My new EP is coming out May 22nd, 2026. It’s called Sophomore Slump… I think this EP is probably my favorite body of work I’ve made… I’m very, very proud of it. I’m so excited people to hear it. I’ve been sitting on some of these songs for so long and they’re just so special to me. I think just having that out in the world is really the thing that I’m most looking forward to.
It’s so exciting. I’m just so grateful. My goal is to have two EPs out by the end of the year, so it’s crazy time.
What are your goals during this process?
I always [want] to improve. There is no best, but there’s always more of what you love and [getting] more educated in your craft. I feel like that’s something that I always love to do. I’m just so looking forward to improving even more, and to learning from every single person I meet, and to making music that I love, and to have so much fun doing it. That’s kind of my goal leading up to it. In the performance, I just want to make people in the audience feel deeply and to think about something.
What are your long-term goals and plans?
To put out my EP and hopefully to have a good reaction from that. And then to keep working on music. If there’s one thing I love, it’s being in the studio and creating a song. It’s just so fantastic. I’d love to keep exploring collaborations. That’s a huge goal of mine. A goal down the line that I would love is someday I wanna film a music video. That’s a dream. I also want to do more gigs, more touring, more festivals.
College seems so exciting to me, [but] I also really, really want to pursue music as much as I can. Whatever the path will be, it’ll. I’m so excited for it to reveal itself to me and I’m going to work so hard to find out what that next step is for me. Whether it’s a gap year, whether it’s a conservatory, whether it’s a liberal arts college, who knows? I’m just, I’m so excited, and I really can’t wait.
What advice would you give to other people pursuing a career in music?
Just don’t get discouraged. You can let yourself feel discouraged at times, but don’t let it drive your life. Inspiration comes in bursts. I feel like whenever I’m in a rut, or I’m stuck, or I’ve received negative feedback, I can feel so discouraged. I would say learn from that and feel that deeply, but also don’t let it take away from your life, take away from your path. You can still find that creativity and that passion. It’s still in there. Just keep on keeping on and never lose that faith and that hope.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photo by Ashley Plante
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