‘American Idol’ Contestant Still ‘Traumatized’ by Katy Perry

A former American Idol contestant is still “traumatized” by Katy Perry after auditioning three years ago.

On TikTok, Adriel Carrion, an American Idol contestant who briefly appeared on the show during Season 19 in 2021, shared a clip of Perry requesting Harry Styles‘ song “Watermelon Sugar” be banned after many other contestants performed the song.

Unfortunately, she made the remark just before Adriel and another contestant, Anthony Guzman, performed that very song.

“Not ‘Watermelon Sugar’ … I can’t take another ‘Watermelon Sugar’!” Perry bemoaned.

“It’s the way that it has been three years and I’m still traumatized by this moment,” Adriel says in the TikTok, joking that he can be resting when all of a sudden he hears Perry say “not ‘Watermelon Sugar!'” in his nightmares.

Watch below:

In another clip posted to his TikTok account, Adriel replied to a comment that read he “looked so crushed” after Perry’s comment about hearing yet another rendition of “Watermelon Sugar.”

“I was crushed, but it made me wanna prove them wrong. That’s why I make those psycho faces,” he explained, showing a video of the full performance.

Adriel also noted there is no bad blood between him and Perry, who was otherwise “so sweet.”

Watch below:

In fact, according to an Instagram post, Perry even gave Adriel a standing ovation during a different performance on the show:

“Watermelon Sugar” was a huge hit for Styles, becoming his first No.1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2020.

Off his acclaimed album Fine Line, the track has been certified 5x Platinum for moving the sales equivalent of 5,000,000 units in the U.S.