See the 'American Idol' Contestant Who Takes a Page from Taylor Swift
Liliana Tovar Dalton
Taylor Swift is famous for writing songs about the things that happen in her life, especially when it comes to dating and the men she has discarded. She is an example for a lot of upcoming songwriters, 17-year-old Liliana Tovar Dalton among them.
The high school student from San Antonio, Texas auditions for American Idol judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan with an original song she wrote entitled, “5%,” because that’s the amount of effort she says this teenage boy gave her.
“I’m a teenage girl and I have a lot of feelings, about boys especially,” Liliana told host Ryan Seacrest.
Liliana goes on to say there isn’t much to do in San Antonio, so she obsesses over boys, and fills her time at home writing original songs about them.
“Boys really do stir up those feelings. Especially teenage ones! I just write those down.”
She adds, ““I am in my Taylor Swift era, probably ‘Reputation.’ Do with that what you will.”
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Then Liliana sits down at the piano to perform her original song. When she’s done, Katy tells her, “That sounded like one long text message.” Then she adds, “Even though that lacked some fundamental structure, I loved it. It was raw, it was honest, it was vulnerable. You were taking your inner thoughts and displaying them to the world. But I do wonder if you have range.”
Then Lionel weighs in, “I want you to understand there’s potential there, but you can’t just nonchalantly go out there and say ‘la la la.’ I want to toughen you up. You’ve got to get into the guts of you. You mentioned Taylor, she has guts. She dives in it. You’re going to have competition that’s swinging at you, so I want to prepare you for the next level of you. I think you should go through. It’s a yes for me.”
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Meanwhile, Katy has a thought about the guy who is the subject of “5%.” She says, “When she’s on TV, he’s totally going to text her back.” And then to Liliana, “You are going to leave them unread.”
Liliana volunteers, “Then I’ll write a song about that.”
Katy says no, “You’re not going to write about that. You’re going to meet some cuties. Listen, it’s time to be BOLD, because you’re going to Hollywood.”
Luke, who hasn’t been able to get in two words, gives Liliana her third yes -- not that she needed it, but he had been feeling ignored.
The final night of American Idol auditions airs on Sunday at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC.
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