As Filipino health workers do the country proud in battling Covid-19 in hospitals across the world, here’s more Filipino pride to enjoy in the realm of entertainment.

Filipino-American singer Francisco Martin made it to the Top 7 of “American Idol” Monday morning (Sunday night in the US), taking him another step closer to the grand finals.

For this cut, he and his fellow contestants were asked to perform two songs from their home—a Disney song, and another chosen song as a tribute to their moms—as the world’s original reality singing competition continues to air amid the global health crisis.

 

 

 

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The 19-year-old singer, who hails from San Francisco, California, went with Phil Collins’ “You’ll Be In My Heart” from the animated feature “Tarzan” for his first song of the night.

Impressing the trio of judges—pop star Katy Perry, country singer Luke Bryan and music icon Lionel Richie—it was the most veteran of the panel who noted a new confidence in the Fil-American.

“We’re witnessing here the transformation of Francisco,” said Richie. “I saw several times during that performance, you were actually smiling at yourself while you were performing. In other words, what you’re doing now is giving us the confidence and the enjoyment. And by the way we as an audience we love to see that kind of emotion.”

“I did have fun shooting that, so yeah,” Martin humbly replied, as Richie rejoined with, “I could tell.”

 

 

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Meanwhile, Perry said Francisco’s performance was “brilliant and amazing.”

“I agree with Lionel, you looked relaxed,” she added. “All that self-doubt has been really stripped away. What you gave us at the end is kind of what I wanted from [fellow contestant] 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.”

Bryan was all the more forthright when he told Martin he was the contest’s “king.”

“My man! Great job,” he enthused. “Just in that performance, you were like the king of the jungle and you felt like the King of American Idol in my opinion,” Bryan enthused.

 

 

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Mother’s Day performance

For his second piece, Francsico sang Leon Bridges’ “River” while his mother Fatima, who is a frontliner nurse, sat beside him as he sang.

So moved by the performance, Perry told Martin he grew even more with the song following River.

 

 

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“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.

Bryan again effused that Martin did better than the original, while Ritchie reiterated how his confidence was “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,’” Ritchie added.

Competing with Martin in the Top 7 are Arthur Gunn, Dillon James, Jonny West, Julia Gargano, Louis Knight and Just Sam.

The season finale will be held on May 18 (Manila time), starting with the elimination of two contestants based on audience votes. The five remaining hopefuls will perform two songs each as real-time voting will determine who wins the “American Idol” title the same day.

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Evolved

A good-looking passionate singer and guitarist who also writes his own songs, Francisco Martin auditioned for “American Idol” in Sunriver, Oregon.

In his pre-audition interview, the pre-law college student said he had been struggling with his confidence. In fact, when he faced the judges for the audition proper, he was visibly nervous and was stammering when he spoke.

Nevertheless, he wowed the trio of international artists with the song “Alaska” by Maggie Rogers. The audition became viral and now has 1.7 million views on YouTube and counting.

“Would you faint if I told you that you are ‘Top 10’ material?” Perry told Martin then.

Bryan on the other hand scribbled the word “Winner” and held it up to the Fil-Am.

Wrapping up, Richie said, “I don’t know what you got, whatever it is, it’s talent.”

Come the Hollywood round, Martin was assigned to the “Singer-Songwriter” category of the Genre Challenge. He sang “Hold Back The River” by James Bay and advanced to the next level. Thereafter, he was made to duet with contestant Louis Knight singing “Break Even” by The Script. Both advanced to the Top 40.

Back to doing solo, Francisco sang “Falling” by Harry Styles for the Hawaii round, which clinched a spot for him in the Top 20 semifinals. Meanwhile, he was able to join the Top 11 finalists when he sang his rendition of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and “Falling Like the Stars” by James Arthur earning the Top 7 spot.

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Proudly Filipino

Francisco is proud of his Filipino heritage and often covers some of the most iconic OPM songs. He plays drums and sings for the San Franciso-based Filipino band The Aura, which is founded and managed by his father, Jon.

His last Filipino cover uploaded on social media is his rendition of Juan Karlos Labajo’s, “Buwan.”

Next week’s results will air on US network ABC. There is no local channel with rights to air the current season of “American Idol” in the Philippines.

For those in America, however, 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.”