Francisco Martin has earned his ticket into the top 7 of “American Idol.”
Host Ryan Seacrest revealed the results of the nationwide votes in America on Sunday (Monday in Manila).
Aside from the Filipino-American singer, also advancing to the next round are Arthur Gunn, Dillon James, Jonny West, Julia Gargano, Louis Knight and Just Sam.
After learning the good news, all seven had to perform two more songs while at home: a Disney song, and another one dedicated to their mothers.
For Martin’s first performance, he did his own version of “You’ll Be in My Heart” from the movie “Tarzan,” and admitted to judges Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan and Katy Perry that he enjoyed himself while filming it.
Dubbing it as the “transformation of Francisco,” Richie noted how he saw the 19-year-old singer actually smiling at himself while performing.
“In other words, when you’re doing that, that was just giving us the confidence and the enjoyment. And by the way, we as an audience, we love to see that kind of emotion,” he said.
Perry, for her part, could not help but favorably compare Martin to a fellow contestant, saying what he did was “really amazing.”
“I agree with Lionel, you looked relaxed. All that self-doubt has been really stripped away. What you gave us at the end is kind of what I wanted from Louis Knight. This is a competition. Let’s get real. There’s only one Idol and you were spot-on with your performance and then at the end, you let us have it with the talent of your voice. Good for you. You are a good bet,” she said.
Meanwhile, Bryan said Martin’s first performance showed that he’s not just "the king of the jungle but you felt like king of ‘American Idol’ in my opinion.”
For his second song, Martin chose to dedicate a heartfelt performance of Leon Bridges’ “River” to his mom.
Perry thought Martin was already incredible with the Disney song, but he grew even more when he did his second performance.
“This set of Mother’s Day songs is really separating the pack. It’s showing who deserves that top position and you are making it difficult for all these other contestants because that performance was so, so full and beautiful and real. It was so heartfelt what you just did,” she said.
For Bryan, Martin’s version was actually better than the original and he wouldn’t think twice of spending his money on it the moment he heard the young singer’s first note.
Meanwhile, Richie reiterated how he loves that Martin’s confidence is now front and center.
“You’re no longer in your head. It’s all about your delivery now. We were checking your pulse [during auditions], remember that? Congratulations because you have a career and that is what’s most important and we saw it happen here on ‘American Idol,’” he said.
Voting for the next round began midway through Sunday’s episode and it will end on Monday (Tuesday in Manila).
For those in America, there are three ways to vote for Martin and that’s through the American Idol app, or by dropping by the American Idol website, or through texting “12” to “21523.”
The top 5 vote-getters will be revealed next week and will advance to the next round.
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