Livy, a 22-year-old server from West Virginia, turned heads on American Idol with a memorable audition that combined her vocal talent and playful personality. The aspiring singer and Idol hopeful works at Texas Roadhouse and often showcases her voice at work in honor of guests’ birthdays.
Before delivering her audition, Livy greeted the Idol judges with her big personality and Texas Roadhouse’s signature rolls and cinnamon butter, as well as snacking peanuts. “How are we doing today? My name’s Livy, and welcome to Texas Roadhouse. I’ll be serving you. Can I get y’all start with some drinks? We got some Coke products, sweet tea. And Luke, we got that one margarita, two margarita, three margarita, but no shots,” Livy sang to the judges, introducing herself. “Today for the judges, I’m bringing the energy. I’m bringing the rolls, and I’m bringing my personality for ’em.”
She continued, “The main place [that] I sing would have to be my job. We do a thing called give us a Texas-sized yee-haw for the birthdays. So I started singing ‘Happy Birthday,’ and people were posting me on TikTok. Things were boiling up.” Her impressive vocal talents and viral videos are what ultimately led her to audition for American Idol.
Livy, whose real name is Olivia Spino, then let Luke Bryan know that her mom, Maria, is a huge fan of his and fantasizes about getting married to the country superstar. “Luke, I think my mom’s about to have a heart attack. If she sees you, she thinks you’re the sexiest man alive. She said on the way up here, she said, ‘Is Luke married?’ I said, ‘Yes, Mom, he’s married.’ She said, ‘He ain’t going to be married by the time I get in there.’ You better get prepared. That little Italian woman’s about to come get ya.”
Wearing a red button-up shirt beneath a black jacket with black denim pants and bright red sneakers, Livy went on to allow her voice to shine with a cover of “Love Wins” by Carrie Underwood.
“I believe you and me are sisters and brothers/ and I, I believe we’re made to be here for each other/ and we’ll never fall if we walk hand in hand/ put a world that seems broken together again/ yeah I, I believe in the end love wins,” Livy sang on the track’s soaring chorus.
After her performance of the Carrie Underwood track, Luke Bryan questioned, “Carrie, is she pushing too hard?”
Underwood replied, “Might be a little bit. You have such a big instrument, and I feel like sometimes if you start off out of the gate going a hundred miles an hour, there’s nowhere left to go.”
Bryan then requested the pianist to perform the chorus again, but with a softer tempo, and asked Livy to sing the chorus but less powerfully, to which she obliged.
Underwood gushed, “That was so much more emotional. Oh my gosh. Hello. That was really nice. My vote is yes. Thank you. I’m excited to see what you do next. And please show us all the sides. Your softer side, your powerful side. Yes, for me.”
Bryan, who was munching on some Texas Roadhouse roll, then added, “You’re a good enough singer to not have to push so hard, really focus on capturing the emotion like you did on that second go-around. I’m a yes.”
It was then up to Lionel Richie to reveal her fate on Idol. “I’m full,” Richie joked, referencing the Texas Roadhouse snacks Livy brought the Idol judges to snack on. “I’m sorry. It is an absolute yes for me. And let me tell you something, and I mean this from the heart. You are a sweetheart. And if you just calm down and put that voice out there, you’ve got something magical.”
Ultimately, all three Idol judges voted “yes” and she advanced to the next round. Livy not only got her golden ticket to Hollywood Week, taking place in Music City this year, but her mom, Maria, also got to meet an artist she loves, Luke Bryan.
“Mama Maria. She got the chance to meet Luke, and I think Luke was a little scared,” Livy stated after her successful audition. “I worked my butt off for this. Like Carrie Underwood, Gabby Barrett, and all these people have held this ticket… Now it’s my turn. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m ready to show the world what I can do and let’s wonder, baby. Let’s do it. We’re going to Hollywood Week. Let’s give them a big old Texas-sized yee-haw.”
