On the episode of American Idol that aired Sunday, February 21, Lynn high school student Amanda Mena won a golden ticket to Hollywood, meaning her audition advanced her to the next round of the show.
Although it aired this week, the audition episode was filmed back in the fall and shows Mena singing Jennifer Hudson’s rendition of “Golden Slumbers” by the Beatles. This isn’t Mena’s first experience with reality TV—when she was fifteen, she made it to the semifinals of America’s Got Talent.
Mena is currently a senior at St. Mary’s High School in Lynn, and will be attending Berklee School of Music in the fall. And she’s had plenty of music experience in her career already. In 2019 she performed with Queen Latifah at the Boston Pop’s annual Fourth of July concert, and she performed at the 2019 Women’s Hall of Fame induction, singing for inductees like Jane Fonda and Sonya Sotomayor.
Mena, who was born in Salem, also sung the national anthem for the Patriots’ most recent season opener. To learn more about Mena, check out this profile about her from last fall.
American Idol‘s ‘Hollywood week’ episodes will air next month—stay tuned to spot this North Shore singer.