Photo Credit: CHEYENNE PINO
BY STACEY PASTERNAK
On April 12th at 5:00pm, Cooper City High School’s auditorium was in the process of becoming the host of many warm-up serenades, guitar strums, and piano notes. Cowboy Idol, one of the things CCHS students with a passion for singing look forward to all year, was beginning in two hours, and rehearsal had just begun. Sophomore Mariella Amanna waited anxiously on the sidelines as her cue inched closer and closer to its call.
During the show, many students impressed the audience of friends and family alike, but when Amanna walked on to the stage, everyone was blown away. Her cover of David Guetta’s “Titanium” was right in every way, from pitch to tempo.
“I thought it was beautiful when Mariella Amanna started singing,” fellow sophomore and Cowboy Idol contestant Casey Winner said. “She has such a gorgeous voice. Nobody expects it come out of her because she is small, but she really does have a very powerful singing voice.”
Freshman Margaret McVay, another Cowboy Idol performer, felt the same way.
“Her voice just blew me away because I wasn’t expecting that voice to come out of her,” McVay said. “I’ve never heard her sing before Cowboy Idol.”
Although Amanna’s voice is relatively new to the students of CCHS, she has been singing all her life. Even as a baby, she hummed songs, according to her mother. In the summer of 2011, she was Grizzabella in the musical Cats at the Broward Center of Performing Arts, where she got a solo song. Last year, as a freshman, she played one of Maria’s best friends in our school’s performance of West Side Story. She considered auditioning for Cowboy Idol last year, but some complications prevented her from doing so.
“As a freshman I had a lot of trouble trying to find where and when to audition,” Amanna said. “I had heard about it but didn’t quite know who to ask or talk to about it.”
This year was obviously a different story.
“The person that urged me to try out this year was David Cast,” Amanna said. “He mentioned it and he said he thought I’d do really well.”
Amanna sings often at her mother’s diner, Flashback Diner, on karaoke night, and has never really gotten nervous doing so. However, when she got on the stage the night of Cowboy Idol, the feeling wasn’t quite the same.
“It honestly freaked me out,” Amanna said “The moment right before I went on stage was nerve-racking. I started shaking and my heart beat really fast.”
Luckily, the judges didn’t seem to notice.
“Performing onstage seemed relatively new to Mariella Amanna, but she still seemed comfortable being on stage,” judge Apryl West said.
West, the English teacher who has been a Cowboy Idol judge for years now, thought a few things made this year stand out amongst all others.
“The competition was especially good this year,” West said. “And I liked the idea of being able to stop the song at a place where it showed the kids talent without getting to be too much.”
West gave Amanna three out of three stars for her song, and so did the other three judges, Thomas Mayer, Pat Scaffetti and Terri Sullivan. When she realized she got an overall score of twelve out of twelve, which qualified her as part of the top five, Amanna was overwhelmed with emotion.
“I honestly felt the biggest weight off my shoulders,” Amanna said. “So much of the pressure just melted away and it was crazy. I honestly couldn’t believe it because I didn’t think that I would. I thought I’d get at least a 10 or 9 compared to the other people.”
Another new feature of this year’s Cowboy Idol was the impromptu a cappella portion for the top five to see who is crowned the official winner. Although Amanna had no idea what to do, she sung the first song that popped into her head. Her version of the chorus of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” is partly to thank for her win.
Although her ability to hit the high notes was one of the most impressive parts of her solos, that’s not the only notable singing style Amanna possesses.
“I learned how to yodel two years ago over the summer,” Amanna said. “I was bored so I went on YouTube and watched a couple videos on how to get the pitch change right and then just practiced on my own from there and pretty much got it down that summer in two months. A lot of people ask me how I learned it in such a short amount of time, and I guess it’s because I just learn fast.”
Amanna’s singing is not only a passion, but an outlet of expression for her. Hopefully, this outlet will get her far in life as she embraces a future that will always include her beautiful singing voice.
