Katy Perry Asks "Are You OK?" as Claudia Conway Auditions for American Idol

Claudia Conway, daughter of Kellyanne and George Conway, auditioned for American Idol and got some serious advice from the judges.

By Lauren Piester Feb 15, 2021 2:47 AMTags
Watch: Kellyanne Conway's Daughter Auditions For "American Idol"

It's not often that a contestant walks into the American Idol audition room and Katy Perry immediately goes, "Are you OK?!" 

But it's also not often that Katy immediately recognizes an auditioner as the daughter of two high-profile political figures, as she did tonight when Claudia Conway tried out for the ABC reality competition show. 

Claudia is the 16-year-old daughter of Kellyanne Conway, who worked as senior counselor to former President Donald Trump, and George Conway, an attorney who worked against Trump, as Claudia explained during her audition. 

In an intro video, she introduced herself as "15-year-old emancipation girl" and explained that she hated living with her parents in Washington D.C.. 

"When your mom's working for the President of the United States, who you very much disagree with, it's really hard," she said. 

While George accompanied Claudia to the audition, Kellyanne was present on a giant video screen as Claudia expressed her nerves.

"You should be nervous, honey," Kellyanne said. "It's a very humbling experience." 

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Before Claudia got to singing, Katy wanted to know about her home life. 

"With your mom being the figure that she is," she asked, "does she still hug you?" 

Claudia said she does. 

"I mean yeah, she loves me, I love her," she said. "I just feel like our relationship's a little iffy. Most of my life my feelings had been suppressed, so then I got social media and I was like, well now my voice is being heard. I believe that age actually has nothing to do with a willingness to learn and educate yourself." 

Claudia explained that the internet can be a "very, very dark place." 

"But when life is all going downhill, I have my music," she shared. "Now I kind of want to get out of the drama, get out of the political whatever and let people know that I'm a singer, and that this is what I wanna do." 

Claudia started out singing Rihanna's "Love on the Brain," but Katy quickly stopped her and asked if she had another song. Claudia then switched to Adele's "When We Were Young," and Katy advised her to "calm the storm that is around you." 

"If you seem you like you want to read the social media comments afterwards, you're only ever gonna be a TikTok star," Katy said. "We want an American Idol." 

So did the young social media maven make it to Hollywood? 

Claudia's performance received somewhat mixed reviews. While Luke Bryan could praise her for sounding like a 16-year-old singer, he couldn't give her a yes. 

Katy once again explained to Claudia that she had to address the "noise" in her life and advised her to put her phone down and stop reading comments, "because if not, you may not ever rise above your dad, or your mom. It's your choice." 

In the end, Katy and Lionel Richie both gave Claudia a yes, meaning she now gets to head to the next step and be mentored by Bobby Bones

American Idol airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC. 

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