40 Years, 40 Songs

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40 Years, 40 Songs
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EP by Ava Zinn
Released	2023
Recorded	March 6, 2020
Label	* independent
Producer	* Ava Zinn
Singles from 40 Years 40 Songs
"If Ever You're In My Arms Again 2020" Released: Summer 2020 "Right Here Waiting 2024 (feat. Riyandi Kusuma)" Released: 2020

40 Years, 40 Songs is the debut extended play album by American singer, voice actress, and YouTube personality Ava Zinn. It is slated to be released in 2023 independently via Aeverine Zinn Digital Media Group. Nine years after her failed American Idol bid in 2011as well as two years after moving from Marion to Fort Wayne in 2018, Zinn began to work on a new album, and revealed the album's title through her web site.

Background and production

Zinn auditions for American Idol

On April 7, 2011, during American Idol's 10th season, and Zinn's site Vote for the Girls gained its first bit of notoriety with the VFTG's first painful bankrupt with the elimination of Pia Toscano. Following Toscano's elimination, the second season became a turning point for the web site due to its support of Lauren Alaina and Haley Reinhart. Zinn posted on her YouTube channel of the "VOTE FOR LAUREN AND HALEY" campaign after Toscano was voted off. Alaina and Reihart went on to last 6 more weeks in the competition, but it was largely unknown to the general public at this time, and slammed Vote for the Worst on Zinn's web site, which at the time had a section called Vote for the Girls. Lauren Alaina became Vote for the Girls' longest-running American Idol pick, which remained intact until being tied with Jessica Meuse on the 13th season of American Idol and surpassed by Jena Irene. She remained VFTG pick for 12 weeks, from top 24 to the finale. Lauren Alaina was the runner-up, as was Crystal Bowersox in the previous season.

On April 18, 2011, following the elimination of Paul McDonald four days earlier, Ava Zinn announced on her YouTube channel (which at the time hosted the VFTG episodes until Zinn created the official VFTG YouTube Channel) that she would be auditioning for the following season of Idol herself. Due to Zinn's age (28) in 2011, it was the first and only opportunity that Zinn would ever try out.

Even before season 11 of American Idol's premiere, Queen of the Willis and Vote for the Girls creator Ava Zinn auditioned as a contestant on American Idol, and went undercover as a journalist reportedly exposing the previous American Idol season's gender voting bias and eventually would end the trend that Idol pundits call the "white guy with guitar" or "WGWG" factor the following season. During American Idol 11, VFTG picked Hallie Day and Erika Van Pelt in the semi-finals because they also auditioned at the same Pittsburgh audition venues as Zinn.

Zinn's American Idol audition eventually lead Vote for the Girls to see a significant ratings boost in 2012. The web site surged past competing web site Vote for the Worst in several key weeks, with four female contestants and only two male contestants in the American Idol 11 Top 6 for the first time in web site's history. The web site eventually would long leave its ratings-challenged past behind, and is the web site would have more victories in the years to come as well as becoming one of the strongest entertainment web sites in the nation--more particularly American Idol and were consistently two of the web site's strongest moderators due to not only Zinn's audition in Pittsburgh, but also Indianapolis resident Alisha Bernhardt who auditioned in St. Louis.

While the national Nielsen ratings for the Pittsburgh auditions were 10.3 with a 16% share of overall households tuning in and the St. Louis auditions were 10.2 with a 16% share, Zinn registered a 21.7 rating and a 31% share in Fort Wayne while Everman registered a 19.6 rating a 28% share in the Indianapolis market. Zinn and Everman's numbers are roughly 20% higher than the national average. Part of the success is due to Indiana's status as a reality-based show contestant hotbed following Zinn's American Idol auditon in Pittsburgh and Bernhardt's audition in St. Louis, and the the web site's support eventually became among the highest-rated YouTube views in Indiana and Pennsylvania during the competition.

Composition and music

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Singles

"If Ever You're in My Arms Again", Zinn’s cover of Peabo Bryson’s 1984 top 10 hit, is the first track and was the album's lead single. Zinn premiered the single on Vote for the Girls with Ava Zinn & Alexandra Moffitt on March 29, 2020 and first aired during the season 8 Queen of the Willis episode “Valentine's Day in Quillsville, Indiana” February 14, 2020. It is slated to be released for digital download on April 28, 2020.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Composer(s)	Original Artist(s)	Length	Note(s)
01	If Ever You're In My Arms Again 2020	Cynthia Weil Michael Masser Tom Snow	Finger 81	Peabo Bryson	4:35
02	Suddenly	Keith Diamond Billy Ocean	TBD TBD	Billy Ocean	3:53
03
04
05
06	Right Here Waiting (feat. Riyandi Kusuma)	Richard Marx	Riyandi Kusuma	Richard Marx
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40

Release history

Country	Date	Format	Label	Catalogue
United States	2023	Standard edition (CD, digital)	Aeverine Zinn Digital Media Group

External links

• AvaZinn.com – Ava Zinn's official website