'American Idol' gives golden tickets to two UAA students

 

Amalia "Malie" Delgado and Monica Repuya have lived lives that occasionally are almost eerily in sync.

Both met years ago, when they began taking voice lessons from the same highly respected coach in Anchorage. Both went on to attend classes at UAA, and sing for the university's renowned Glee Club.

And last week, Malie and Monica both clutched golden tickets on their way out of their auditions for the 15th season of the star-making American Idol TV show. Malie's audition aired Thursday; Monica's is expected to air during an upcoming episode-"Hopefully they show my audition on the Part 2 for Denver this coming Thursday," Monica said. (Until her audition airs, you may go here to hear Monica's cover of Justin Bieber's Love Yourself).

Those coveted slips of paper invite Monica and Malie to compete in American Idol's upcoming Hollywood auditions-part of a group of 200 contestants that will be winnowed down to 50. Those 50 entertainers advance to the Showcase Round and from there an elite 24-12 men, 12 women-will vie on live shows to win over the public's votes and become the final American Idol.

'Everything became a blur'

Malie says she's been singing "since before I could talk."

She belted out tunes publicly when she was 7 years old, in church, and Anchorage's "Big Mitch" Tubman began giving her voice lessons when she was 9.

"Every time I'd perform where Big Mitch's students performed," Malie said. "I'd love hearing everyone applaud for me and I knew I had to keep singing to make myself and those around me happy. Singing is just something that brings me joy. It's hard to describe why I love it; I just do!"

Malie enrolled at UAA after graduating from South Anchorage High School. "I was first a Theatre major but have since then changed my degree to a Bachelor of Arts in languages-Spanish," she said.

She found out about UAA's Glee Club in her first year, through the Theatre program. "I had been in Swing Choir-advanced choir-at South for three years and wanted to continue singing in a group and performing with my peers," she said.

Malie-who reigned as Miss Alaska 2014, competed in the Miss America 2015 pageant and now co-hosts KGOT's "The Breakfast Club" show-has wanted to audition for American Idol since its first season.

"But being in Alaska can have its disadvantages because it's so far away from any of the cities that they held auditions in," she said. "Since it's the farewell season, I decided I would audition and see what happened."

American Idol convenes large "cattle call" public auditions with the show's executive producers before Idol hopefuls actually audition in front of the American Idol judges.

"They suggested I do a Skype audition with the executive producers so I didn't have to travel all the way to the audition city," Malie said. "A few months later, I got a phone call saying they would love for me to audition in front of the judges. I was so excited and relieved to hear I would be auditioning for Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban! I couldn't believe I'd be going to sing in front of three superstars."

Delgado traveled to San Francisco for her audition.

"I had some friends and family with me, so I wasn't too nervous," she said. "I did, however, feel a bit intimidated by all of the amazingly talented people around me! I couldn't believe everyone was so good! I was auditioned at a ritzy hotel in Union Square, and it was overwhelming being surrounded by all of the American Idol lights and banners. I almost couldn't believe I was there!"

Malie says she sings all types of music, but settled on country music for her audition. She studies voice with Megan Killoran, a former student of and teacher for Big Mitch.

"I practically grew up on country, so I thought it would be best to do something I was familiar with most," she said. "I sang Chariot, by Gretchen Wilson, which is a strong mix of rock, soul and country, with even a little bit of rap in it. [Megan Killoran and Malie] worked on Chariot a lot to make sure I was ready, and I felt great about my performance. I wanted to make sure I stood out to the judges, and I guess it paid off!"

She felt nervous walking into the audition room, "but once I started singing, everything became a blur. I was so excited when I got the golden ticket!"

'I just want to sing'

Singing entered Monica's life when she was just 2 years old.

"My interest in singing began with my family's background of music," she said. "Growing up, I always heard music everywhere. Every party we went to, they had their karaoke set up and somehow I would get ahold of the mic. Once I had that mic, no one could take it away from me-I'd just sing song after song until I had to leave."

Monica studied voice with Big Mitch, the same coach who honed Malie's singing, and the two future American Idol hopefuls, according to one account, "grew up together."

Interested in nursing, Monica enrolled at UAA in the fall of 2012. "I chose UAA because I knew that we had a really good program for nursing," she said. "I wasn't ready to leave Alaska, so I decided to stay. I found out about Glee Club after a semester of college."

A friend told her about the club's auditions, so she decided to try out with him. "I'm really glad I did, because I've made so many new friends."

Monica says she's known about American Idol since its first season. "Ever since I watched Kelly Clarkson win, I told myself that that will be me one day singing on that stage," she said. "I finally decided to audition after my friend A.J. told me about the auditions and urged me to go and try out since it was the last season for American Idol."

The path to her first American Idol audition was a long and winding one. Monica said she decided to audition in Denver because it was the first place to hold the auditions for American Idol.

"I actually didn't have to submit anything to audition beforehand, so it was all in-person and live," she said. "Everything for American Idol happened in Denver. To pick my song, I have a process of looking at the list and deciding what songs would be able to showcase my talent the most. After I narrowed that list down, I would perform those songs in front of my parents and they would tell me which ones sounded the best."

Monica sang, Who's Loving You, by Jackson 5, at her long-dreamed-of audition. "As I was singing in front of the judges, all I could think was, 'Don't mess up, Monica. You've waited so long for this moment and now you're here.' It was very relieving and amazing to finally get the three yeses that I'd be going to Hollywood."

Written by Tracy Kalytiak, UAA Office of University Advancement

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