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'American Idol' contestant was so nervous his heart rate hit 148 — then he started singing (and wow)

'American Idol' judges predicted this nervous singer would make the Top 10, guess what? He didn’t prove them wrong

'American Idol' is known to unearth some of the finest hidden talents from all over America. One such talent that appeared on the 18th season of the prestigious show was Francisco Martin. During the audition, the teenage singer walked onto the stage with his guitar, full of nerves. When judge Lionel Richie asked him, "Are you nervous?" The boy replied, "A little bit," prompting Luke Bryan to say, "Little bit my ass." Even Richie advised him to "calm down. But nothing worked. As the judges noticed him visibly shaking on the stage, both Bryan and Richie immediately went up to the young boy, offering him a hug.

Bryan jokingly asked, "Are you breathing?" To which Martin, still trying to gain control, said, "I'm fine." But Bryan wasn't convinced, "You're not breathing," he exclaimed, and even went on to check the singer's pulse. With his two fingers on Martin's wrist, Bryan began counting out loud in a flurry, "1,2,3,4,5,6,7," before teasing, "You may be at the verge of... we need a damn ENT in here." After a minute of eagerly watching over Martin's heart rate, Brayn exclaimed, "148 is his heart rate." But Martin responded, this time with confidence, "I'm excited to be here." "Well, I'm psyched for your performance too," Bryan added, walking back to his seat.

However, what came as a shock was when Martin from Martin kicked off his performance on Kings of Leon's hit song 'Use Somebody'. Throughout his performance, the judges elicited an enthusiastic response, with Richie even breaking out into a little dance, and Bryan sang along while Katy Perry clapped to the beat, enjoying the song. As soon as the performance wrapped up, Bryan told the young singer, "You little Devil," while Richie quipped, "It was a great trick that you just did. I mean, I loved the way you set us up." Mimicking Martin Richie further added, "I'm a little afraid, I'm a little timid, I'm not quite sure... then WoooooW," he said, adding a dramatic baam noise with his fists on the table.

Perry also commented, "You have got an incredible voice." She added, "I don't know if you write your songs..," prompting a quick "I do," from Martin, she continued: "I mean I would like to hear it." When Martin sang, his original judges it blown the judges over one more time. Richie commented, "Listen, I love it." Perry added, "Would you faint if I told you you are a top 10," while Bryan pegged that he is "top 5," before holding up a piece of paper with one word scrawled across it—“WINNER.” Per GMA Network, Martin finished at place 7 on season 18, proving that the judges were right.

Fans also couldn't stop raving about the young performer. The YouTube section was soon flooded with comments, one fan wrote, "The best thing about him is that he’s so humble, literally so humble. Then on top of that, he is a good-looking dude. Then, even more, his voice is phenomenal. That’s what I call the whole package, man." The second chimed in, "I see a winner, his shyness, talent, and humility will win over thousands. Man, I can wait to hear more!" A third wrote on Twitter, "Wow!! With a voice like that, he shouldn't be nervous at all 😯👋🏻 RT @AmericanIdo: Just a little bit nervous?? Will Francisco from Francisco be able to calm his nerves?? #AmericanIdol."