American Idol 2025: Watch Platinum Ticket holder Filo wow the judges with “Try a Little Tenderness”
American Idol returns Sunday (March 16) with more auditions from Nashville, New York City and Los Angeles. Watch preview of Filo Ebid performing the classic song “Try a Little Tenderness” for judges Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan.
What fans DON’T see in this clip: Host Ryan Seacrest invited the young singer to appear on New Years’ Rockin’ Eve 2025 where he and scheduled performer Carrie awarded him with a special Platinum Ticket.
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The clip opens with Filo’s sturdy, soulful delivery of the song, covered by many artists including Three Dog Night and Otis Redding. But by also decades earlier by Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. He tends to oversing the runs (a little goes a long way!) But as his relatives wait outside the door with Ryan, Filo’s raspy voice impresses the judges inside.
“We’ve been waiting for you!” Lionel remarks, “What took you so long to get here.” Luke adds, “Born to sing.” Carrie says “Three notes in, in my brain, I just thought ‘Holy Shrek’,” adding, “Just wow, it was really fantastic.” Luke calls Filo a “definitely Top 20…maybe Top 10” contestant.
Ryan and Carrie presented Filo with a Platinum Ticket in New York City
Filo is a 2023 Music Performance graduate of the University of Pacific, and has since graduated with a masters from the Berklee School of Music where he completed his program at their Valencia, Spain campus. While at college, he played title roles in productions of The Threepenny Opera and Into The Woods.
The singer’s family is from Egypt, where he was born. According to the caption under the video, Carrie’s Shrek comment refers to him playing Shrek in a high school play. His family expected him to go to medical school and mom “still wants him to get that medical degree, even if he wins American Idol!”
Surprise! Ryan and Carrie invited Filo to appear on New Year’s Rockin Eve last December, where they presented him on camera with one of three Platinum Tickets.
Last week, the judges and Ryan presented a Platinum ticket to Kolbi Jordan at a Tennessee Titans football game.
American Idol airs Sunday nights on ABC at 8 pm ET/PT and streaming on Hulu.
