Hollywood is calling junior Malaya Tina Watson.

After successful American Idol auditions, the singer received the “golden ticket” and  is still in the running to be the next American Idol.

She is among the top 30 finalists after passing two individual auditions and the small group audition with her singing.

Watson is the long-haired hyperactive, bubbly Phillipino girl who is often singing tunes in the school hallways during passing time.  Or maybe you’ve seen her playing her tuba during halftime at football games with the Marching Blue Jays band.

“Malaya is a really gifted musician, and she never stops perfecting her skills,” said band director David Miller.

Choir teacher Alan Warmenen said, “Malaya has a wonderful voice with an excellent vocal range, excellent control, and her pitch is very centered.”

Besides singing and playing the tuba, the multi-talented Watson also plays the piano, guitar, and drums.

She says she isn’t the only one in her family with a knack for music. “Music flows through my family stronger than the blood does,” Watson says. Her father plays the guitar, her grandfather plays several instruments and sings, and she has cousins who play a range of instruments.

The day after her first American Ido audition aired, she said hundreds of people asked her questions and congratulated her on making it to Hollywood. She says she felt “like a celebrity.” She could not believe she made it on American Idol. “Actually seeing me on TV, knowing all of America was watching, that’s crazy.”

The auditions were relatively easy for her, she says. “I sing in front of people all the time, but singing in frontof famous people is what made me a little nervous.

She says life is pretty much the same now that her face has been plastered all over television andthe Internet. The only thingthat is different now is how people treat her.