American idol: Nicolina Bozzo is Everything the Judges Want for Hollywood Week’s Genre Challenge
American Idol viewers first saw 18-year-old, Toronto native, Nicolina Bozzo at her Los Angeles audition singing She Used to Be Mine from the Broadway musical Waitress. ABC previewed the audition on Good Morning America prior to the premiere episode. Sara Bareilles, who wrote and performed in Waitress, was so impressed with this performance, that she shared it on her Instagram story.
After singing the song in front of the judges, Katy Perry noted how the performance told Nicolina’s “life story.” However, while viewers didn’t learn much about Nicolina during her audition, the show revealed more of her backstory when she took the stage for Monday night’s Hollywood Week Genre Challenge. (Read our Recap)
Nicolina shares her heartbreaking backstory
Nicolina closed the episode as the final contestant in the Pop genre lines. She shared that growing up her family was close. But then her parents divorced five years ago, at which point everything changed. Losing the close bond with her family was heartbreaking for her. She and her sisters now live with her grandparents. She’s competing on American Idol to show her siblings that dreams can come true.
For her Genre Challenge performance, Nicolina takes on Billie Eilish’s “Everything I Wanted” which won the Grammy for Record of the Year in 2021. The dynamics she puts into her performances show that she knows how to build a pop performance, and keep the listener engaged. That’s huge for a competition like American Idol. The small parts are just as pretty as the big belting parts, and she sings with emotional intelligence and great control. After Nicolina hits some impressive glory notes, her fellow contestants stand and applaud.
Then, as she brings the song down, she breaks into tears, yet keeps it together until the last line. Even if the ending wasn’t perfect vocally, it had so much emotional punch. This was possibly the best performance of the night. Katy and her fellow judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan seemed impressed with her as well.
Nicolina advances to the Duet Challenge
In the end, her entire line goes through, including Jacob Moran, Douglas Mills, and Danielle Clavell.
Although Nicolina may not display the range that some of Idol’s powerhouses have in past seasons, she is a powerhouse in her own right. She should be fierce competition for other pop heavyweights like platinum ticket holder Kenedi Anderson. Nicolina is such a vocal beast, other contestants should be afraid to duet with her in the next round.
Watch Nicolina perform her original “I Didn’t Love You Anyway”
Bonus clip: Nicolina recently posted an original, “I Didn’t Love You Anyway.” It’s a track off her EP titled Moving On which can be found on Spotify and other streaming platforms. She wrote the song, and it displays her current sound and great control with runs.
@nicolinabozzo stream my EP “Moving On” available on all platforms NOW!? #fyp #fyp? #trending #viral #originalsong #singer
