Liliana Tovar Dalton reveals she dropped out of American Idol before the Hollywood Round
American Idol 2024 hopeful Liliana Tovar Dalton revealed on social media on Tuesday (March 26) that she dropped out of the competition before Hollywood Week.
The show leaked Liliana’s audition before last Sunday’s (March 24) Auditions 5 episode. It’s interesting that Idol would frame Liliana as if she were a contender after she dropped out months ago. American Idol filmed the Hollywood Round in December.
Liliana’s full audition is no longer on YouTube or Facebook
Also rather curious–the show has since deleted her full audition from YouTube and Facebook, although shorter versions can be found on Instagram and TikToK. So we went ahead and cut a new clip, which the show doesn’t seem to mind! You are welcome.
Liliana captioned a gallery of photos of herself, of what appears to be a photo or video shoot. She wrote, “Thank you all so so much for following my idol journey! Nonetheless, I feel i should share that I withdrew from the competition before Hollywood Week,” She continued, “I am eternally grateful for the experience and the advice given to me by artists i so look up to. Lots of exciting news coming up for those who continue to follow my journey!!!!? i love you all.”
Why did American Idol take down Liliana’s audition?
Speculating here–but maybe Idol took down her audition video after she revealed she quit. Maybe she was supposed to keep quiet about her exit until a later date. When rumors swirled that Benson Boone left the show after making the Top 24 in 2021, but before filming the round, he finally addressed his exit in mid-April. American Idol aired his audition as well. However, the singer and social media star kept details to a minimum. He finally gave reasons for quitting after the show was over and he was promoting his new music released on Warner Bros. Records. Maybe the show contracted Liliana to wait until later in the competition–say after Hollywood or The Top 24, but spilled the beans too early.
For her American Idol audition, Liliana performed an original song titled “Five Percent,” which the judges–Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan–critiqued, but felt showed promise. She got 3 yeses and a Golden Ticket to Hollywood. The 17 year old high school student from Texas shared that she wrote a lot about boys, and that she was living in her “Taylor Swift Era” specifically Taylor’s “Reputation” era–which refers to one of the pop star’s hit albums.
The American Idol 2024 Hollywood Round and Showcase/Final Judgement episodes air Sunday March 31 and Monday April 1 at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC.
