American Idol judges tagged Filipino-American talent Francisco Martin of San Francisco as a winner during his audition.
Martin’s audition, shown during American Idol’s premiere episode of their 18th season aired on February 17 (Philippine Time), had judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan exclaiming their amazement with the Fil-Am’s captivating rendition of the song “Alaska” by Maggie Rogers.
“Would you faint if I told you that you are ‘Top 10’ material?” asked Katy Perry of the 18-year-old from San Francisco, California.
Bryan and Richie, one after another, quickly said, “I think you’re Top 5.”
Lionel Richie even told the pre-law student to just make law his back up career.
Luke Bryan, after being egged on by Perry to reveal what he wrote during the audition, held up a piece of paper with the word “winner” written on it.
In his audition interview, Martin briefly shared how he struggles with self-confidence. He said that he wanted “music to be [my] career and I love music, but I’ve always struggled with self-confidence.”
Prior to Martin’s audition, the judges observed how nervous Martin was and both Richie and Bryan hugged the contestant in order to calm him down.
Richie aftewards said, “I’m so happy to see you, sweat, hypertension, I don’t know what you got, whatever it is, it’s talent.”
During his audition, all the judges were seen already displaying their approval of Martin and at the end had Katy Perry saying, “You have an incredible voice!” and went on to ask if he wrote his own songs.
Martin said yes, and he was asked to sing a few lines of his own composition – which again was met with approval from the judging panel.
At the end of the audition, all the judges stood up and instead of individually voting on whether Martin passed the audition or not – simultaneously declared, “You’re going to Hollywood!”, and gave him the golden ticket pass to the show.
Singer Maggie Rogers expressed her appreciation for Francisco Martin’s cover of her song, retweeting the American Idol teaser of his audition and posting, “I CANT HANDLE THIS”.
I CANT HANDLE THIS https://t.co/q72xqQ8xDP
— Maggie Rogers (@maggierogers) February 14, 2020
American Idol is a reality television series hosted by Ryan Seacrest with a panel of judges who critique the contestants’ performances as they compete for a recording contract. It debuted in 2002 on Fox Network and became one of the most-watched shows in the United States with several country adaptations across the world.
WATCH Francisco Martin’s audition here and SEND HIM CONGRATULATIONS in the comments below for receiving overwhelming approval at the American Idol auditions!
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