The 18-year-old college student grew up watching American Idol, so it wasn’t surprising that the song she chose to sing for her audition was made famous by another Idol contestant: Jennifer Hudson’s “I Am Changing” from Dreamgirls. She was barely into her performance when judge Lionel Richie became so excited, he couldn’t stay seated, so he jumped up, and he was soon followed by Katy Perry and Luke Bryan. “I’m so happy,” Lionel said when Alyssa finished. “I am so happy. Did you just hear what I heard?" “The most challenging thing in entertainment is to have a presence, that means, door opens, crowded room, and you walk in and people go, who is that? Where’s she from? Who’s her publicist? Who’s her manager?” Luke said. Then asked, “Lionel, how hard is that to find?” To which Lionel responded, “Once in a generation.” Before Katy spoke to Alyssa, she touched up her lipstick because she said when this moment goes down in history, she wants to be looking her best. “I think you had dreams,” Katy said. “Growing up with 800 people in your town, and you’re, ‘Oh, my God, I’m different.’ I feel like I just came off of a spaceship, I don’t belong here. But everybody belongs, you’ve just got to find where you belong and be open to what the world wants to give you, which is pretty much everything you ever dreamed of. Take it, accept it, and it’s yours.” Lionel jumped back in, adding, “How lucky are we to say, we knew you when, and we had something to do with it.” After getting three yeses, and her golden ticket to Hollywood, Alyssa said, “It feels as if I have the key to the world and I am about to open a door and walk right through it.” With Luke adding in closing, “How cool was it to be in the room for that? You just saw Beyoncé get born.” American Idol airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
