Luis Martinez Wins SVU Idol
By Robyn Peterson
On February 9th, after two nights of singing with some of Southern Virginia’s musical talent, Luis Martinez, Undecided ’23, was voted SVU Idol of 2019. Thirteen students competed over two nights in this competition, showcasing their talents with a variety of vocal performances.
After auditioning for the event, the chosen contestants sang live at the Knight Arena on Friday, February 8. During the show, contestants were introduced by a brief video clip. Then, each contestant chose a different song to perform and brought their own personality to the performance.
Contestant Emarie Majors performed with a live band, including a guitarist, pianist, and drummer. Cousins Grace De Gruccio and Corinna Spicer sang a duet accompanied by De Gruccio on the guitar. Martinez emerged as an audience favorite from the first night of competition, receiving a standing ovation after singing “Dive” by Ed Sheeran.
“At first I was nervous,” said Martinez of his first performance, “but then, once it starts going, the energy of the audience makes it so much more fun, and you just get really excited to be able to give them a show. You want to give them your best because, ultimately, you want the audience to have a good time. I guess that energy lowers your nervousness.”
After singing, contestants received feedback from the judges: Mikayla Skouson, Admissions Director; Samuel Hirt, professor of Biology; and Jeff Batis, professor of Psychology. After the first round of competition, the judges selected eight performers to continue on to the second night, Saturday, February 9.
After the second round of performances, audience members texted in their votes to select three finalists. For his second song, Martinez performed “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Valli. The finalists, Martinez, Pita Moala, and Christian Leishman, then sang one final piece, with Martinez performing“Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley. Finally, the audience voted Martinez as the winner of this year’s competition.
Of the win, Martinez said, “I was, like, really? I wasn’t expecting to win at all, I just wanted to perform at least one song and, you know, just be done with it. But I’m happy that I was able to perform all of them, that was a lot of fun.”
