Hollywood Week at “American Idol” has officially started!
During Sunday’s episode, singers were divided into groups based on one of six genres: pop, rock, indie folk, R&B, soul and country. After each group member performed solo, judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan decided who would move out of group one and who the action was.
Among the pop category contestants was Claudia Conway, who stepped on stage with a new black hairstyle. Before the 16-year-old performed for the judges, she admitted that her first audition was ‘not my best’.
“I was really, really nervous, and I had this doubt in my head and said, ‘You’re not ready. “You’re not good enough,” she admitted to the cameras. In my life, I have been so focused on all the noise of people hating me or my family online and on social media. ‘
To sum up: Conway, who has more than 1.7 million TikTok fans, auditioned for Rihanna’s “Love on the Brain,” but Judge Katy Perry interrupted her after a rocky start. Following a pep talk from Perry, in which the pop star told the teenager to calm the storm “around her”, the high school student rescued her with Adele’s “When We Were Young”, which deserves a golden ticket to Hollywood has.
“(Perry) believed in me, and I could not be more grateful for it,” Conway said during Sunday’s episode. “Now I just drown everything and tell myself I can do it.”
Although Conway’s father, lawyer and fierce Donald Trump critic George Conway accompanied her to the audition, her mother, former White House board member Kellyanne Conway, came with her to Hollywood Week.
Conway and her mother did not always see eye-to-eye. The teenager described their erratic relationship at home on her social media channels and tweeted in August 2020 that she was seeking legal emancipation from her parents. The next day, Kellyanne announced her resignation from the Trump administration, citing the need to focus on her children.
“It’s OK for you to have different views than the people you love,” the teenager said. It has made national headlines for posting TikTok videos that are critical of former President Trump.
Conway added that she sees ‘Idol’ as an opportunity to distinguish her from her high parents.
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“I tried for a while to establish my own identity,” she told host Ryan Seacrest. “Most people do not know that I like music. Most people do not know that I am a singer, and that is very, very important to me.”
Although music is Conway’s passion, she acknowledged that her nerves were present for Hollywood Week. Nonetheless, she drove a performance of Bishop Briggs’ “River,” which earned a standing ovation from Kellyanne, who watched her daughter excitedly from the audience.
“I’ve never performed on a big stage before,” Conway said after her performance. “It was crazy.”
But was it good enough to carry her through to the next round?
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“Hello, ladies and gentlemen,” Perry told Conway’s group, which included rival auditors Mary Jo Young and Colin Jamieson. “Sometimes you do not know why you are moving forward, or you are staying back. But I hope with this news you find some form of confidence. It will happen when it is meant to. Congratulations, you are all in the next round!”
Kellyanne whipped up her daughter in a big hug following the news and sang for Alicia Keys’ ‘Girl on Fire’ to celebrate.
“Stay in politics,” Conway joked with her mother earlier in the episode. “I’ll do the music.”
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Another notable performance comes from Grace Kinstler, whose first “Idol” audition, in which she sang Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia” and Aretha Franklin “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” . more than 3.4 million views on YouTube.
“I struggled a little bit with confidence,” Kinstler said. “I do not fit the shape. I am not very thin, but that does not mean I am not capable.”
The 20-year-old college student sang in the soul category and advanced to the next round, after wearing ’10 Seconds’ by Jazmine Sullivan.
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Other singers going forward included Casey Bishop, Chayce Beckham, Alyssa Ray, Ronda Felton, Wyatt Pike, Anilee List, Xavier Washington, Althea Grace and Willie Spence.
Round two of Hollywood Week will be broadcast on Monday (8 EST / PST), where participants will be paired by the judges to perform duets.
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Contributing: Jeanine Santucci
This article originally appeared on TODAY USA: ‘American Idol’: Did Claudia Conway survive the first week of Hollywood Week?