“My family says I started singing [at] two years old. It’s something that’s always been a huge component of who I am and how I present myself.”
Noёl Tsoukalas (25) has known about her calling toward music all her life. Perhaps it was inspired in part by her father, who was a touring musician for 25 years, 50 weeks out of the year. He played clubs and venues along the east coast, covering crooner classics from Frank Sinantra and Tony Bennet, to blues and country tunes written by the likes of Willie Nelson, Elvis, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Tsoukalas would sometimes join him on stage.
“He’d be singing a show and I was a little baby on his hip, singing along with him,” Tsoukalas remembered. “It was always a part of who I was.”
Growing up, she sang in choirs and performed on stage often. But becoming a recording artist was never a given. Her family moved around a lot, living in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Illinois. The idea of breaking into the music scene from those places seemed distant.
“Being from the Midwest and the South, music isn’t really as attainable as living somewhere like California and having Los Angeles two hours away,” she said. “And then we moved to California, my freshman year of high school, and I feel like that just opened a lot of doors for me.”
“Being from the Midwest and the South, music isn’t really as attainable as living somewhere like California and having Los Angeles two hours away. And then we moved to California, my freshman year of high school, and I feel like that just opened a lot of doors for me.”
She began taking vocal lessons in high school when she was getting more serious about it. As she started experimenting with songwriting, her teacher told her, “you could think about taking this full time.”
“It had always been a dream of mine to record my own music,” she said.
After some initial uneasiness about pursuing music in college, she decided to face the variable challenges of the music industry — especially because of her parents’ support. She ended up choosing a B.A. in Commercial Music Production and a minor in business marketing.
“It’s been a long journey to get to where I am now — fully pursuing it. I just feel like God opened so many doors my freshman year of college.”
PLNU’s Department of Music has a new recording studio, complete with a control/mix room and remote recording rooms that allow students to gain experience with professional-level recording and engineering. These facilities helped Tsoukalas create with confidence.
“Our studio is incredible,” she said. “I love to experiment… I’d never done anything like that before.”
She explained that she felt a huge amount of personal support at PLNU — in and out of the studio — that she may not have gotten elsewhere.
“A huge moment for me [was] deciding to come to a smaller Christian school as opposed to a big music school,” she said. “I feel like I’ve learned so much at the smaller, more intimate, personalized school.
“I loved being in the studio, I loved the collaborative aspect…I just felt so at home.”
During her sophomore year, Tsoukalas had the opportunity to compete on American Idol Season 21 during her sophomore year. Her vocal teacher’s friend was a casting producer on the show, and was able to arrange an audition.
“[It was] one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life ,” she said. “it had always been a dream of mine — growing up watching The Voice and American Idol. I had always wanted to be on one of those shows.”
The season started with preliminary rounds of over 400,000 applicants. Then came a zoom meeting with over 500 of the best contenders. Tsoukalas was then asked to come to New Orleans to audition with celebrity judges Katy Perry, Lionel Ritchie, and Luke Bryan. She described it as one of the most nerve-wracking moments of her life.
“I sang my original on the piano,” She said. “I thought I did a horrible job and completely flopped.”
After presenting her own song, the judges asked her to sing other songs, such as Sarah Bareillis’ “Gravity,” which is one of Noel’s favorites.
“Katie Perry said, ‘can you play it on piano and sing it for me?’” she said. “I was like, ‘I’ll try!’”
Tsoukalas remembers the judges saying there’s work to be done, but all three judges gave her a yes.
“Katy Perry said, ‘you got the whole package. It’s yes from me,’” Tsoukalas said. “And Lionel Richie said a quote that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. It was the coolest thing ever.
“After I finished my song, he [said], ‘Girl, you got to keep writing songs till the day you die. You’re a born songwriter.’ It was an incredible, just joyful, awesome, validating moment.”
After the initial 150 contestants competed in Hollywood. It was during Tsoukalas’ finals week. She called it a “cutthroat” competition.
“It was emotionally draining, physically draining. We each had like 30 seconds to sing a song.”
Unfortunately, she was eliminated during that first Hollywood round. She was also disappointed that she wasn’t chosen to be featured on the TV show, since not everyone’s auditions would make it to air.
“They would eliminate people on stage, people are crying and [the producers] send you into interviews with cameras and ask you these pointed questions,” she remembered. “I remember the producers [asking], ‘Do you think you’re ever going to have a music career?’
“So I held it together and then I totally just broke down when I got back to my room.
It took me a long time to recover from that — it was something that I had wanted for so long and I felt like that was my only moment.”
When Tsoukalas looked back, she was thankful that she composed herself, because the people who did make it to air were the contestants who had “meltdowns.”
“I’m [thinking], honestly, thank goodness I didn’t give that to them,” she said. “Because a lot of my friends actually did react like that and they shared their heartbreaking stories and that’s what aired on television.
“I feel like that’s when God really revealed to me, it’s not all going to work exactly how you think it’s going to work. This isn’t going to be an easy road… and I’m just going to trust in Jesus that there’s going to be other opportunities.”
“I feel like that’s when God really revealed to me, it’s not all going to work exactly how you think it’s going to work. This isn’t going to be an easy road… and I’m just going to trust in Jesus that there’s going to be other opportunities.”
During her time at PLNU, Tsoukalas released several singles, including “The Girl in Your Story” — the first song she ever wrote — “middle of may,” “Empty Lies,” and “Hobby.” In 2025 she released several singles, “Pull the Plug,” Adeline,” and “What are Friends For,” each of which appear on her first full-length album, “I Still Hear You,” which she released in spring 2025.
Each of Tsoukalas’ songs feature a indie-pop flavor, but range from acoustic-driven ballads to more upbeat rock tracks with a 2000s flare. Across the range of moods, each song’s lyrics come straight from her heart.
Whatever happened to keeping it honest / Burning the bridge while we’re still walking on it / You want me around when it seems like I’m useful / Turning my back but I still hear you.
These lyrics appear in “What Are Friends For,” a song that, like her other releases, draws from her personal experiences — both good and bad — and examines the meaningful connections, friendships, and relationships in her life.
“I love getting to watch each component build on top of each other and making something that started on your piano and your living room come to life,” she said.
Her impressive soprano vocals are supported by experienced instrumentalists and audio engineers who help bring the song to life. She was grateful to her friend Daniel DeVore, who had been there for the studio recording process; and Grayson Kirkman, who helped mix and master her album.
“I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with lots of great people, whether it be from school or whether it be from random connections on Instagram, or Zoom co-writes,” she said. “It’s just this whole collaborative process… then you have your song and you’re happy with it and you upload it to a distribution service and then you start marketing.”
Her single, “Hobby,” was very popular on tiktok, gathering over 100,000 views. It also found success on other music streaming platforms. That track, along with “middle of may” and “Empty Lies” have been played on radio stations across the country, including local San Diego stations like KXSF FM 102.5 and The SoCal Sound 88.5 FM.
“It’s a lot of pressure to get those numbers up,” she said. “So it was really cool when Hobby organically did that.”
Being a musician in the internet age often involves bolstering your followers, “likes” and listeners on music apps to reach a broader audience. However, Tsoukalas explained that it can be a lot of pressure to focus on the numbers, especially when social media apps’ algorithms are impossible to control.
“The social media aspect of being a musician is huge and important,” she said. “But that aspect is really challenging because you’re an artist, but you’re also a social media manager and a content creator.”
But amidst those concerns, Tsoukalas has brought in wisdom from one of her favorite books of the Bible to keep herself centered on what really matters. One song on her new album, “Happy Where I Am,” explores that perspective, and sets a tone for how she hopes to approach her growing career, especially after graduating in May 2025.
“I’ve always grown up with a lot of anxiety and insecurities,” she said. “That’s gotten so much better over the years and I’ve found that confidence, but it still eats away at me all the time.”
“There’s a book in the Bible called Ecclesiastes and it’s all about what success looks like. Because you feel like you reach it, and then you feel like you’re not [quite] there. You’re just left at the top of this mountain where you think you have finally reached what you have been working for and you still don’t feel fulfilled.
“And the hook of that song [asks], ‘why can’t I be happy where I am?’ Because once you root your purpose in something that’s not numbers or whatever, that’s for you. For me, it’s my faith.”
