American Idol Picks SHS Junior for Top 13

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Katherine Nealy

American Dream: Junior Malaya Watson plays the piano in Southfield High School’s band room. She has made it through four cuts so far on American Idol with her singing voice.

American Idol TV show has named Southfield High junior Malaya Tina Watson to its top 13 finalists.

Some 75,000 contestants tried out for the coveted spots, but it has come down to 13.

Voters across America helped make the final decisions, said the show’s judges.

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 Idol 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.

“I get so much support from the students at Southfield High, even from the kids that didn’t really talk to me before.”

— Malaya Watson

The pint-sized singer says she’s ready to go back for her next Hollywood audition and show America what she is all about.