Acosta Earns Golden Ticket with Mariachi Song on “American Idol”

Much like Julio Cesar Castillo impressed the coaches on The Voice with his mariachi audition, Victoria Acosta has earned raves from American Idol’s judges for her second-chance mariachi song.

During her audition for the Fox reality singing competition, the mariachi singer and San Antonio native performed Fergie’s smash hit “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” Even though she impressed the judges, it wasn’t until Randy Jackson asked her to perform a mariachi song that Acosta moved the judges to send her to Hollywood.

Victoria Acosta

“The reason why I wanted you to do that is because you see the connection there, that’s the connection you need to have,” Jackson said as all of the other judges, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban concurred.

Acosta, who started singing mariachi music when she was 6, said she was excited about the opportunity.

“Getting this golden ticket means I get to represent San Antonio and I am really excited to go to Hollywood,” said Acosta, adding that one of the main reasons why she loves performing is because she gets tourists “involved in the culture.”

“They can say, ‘Hey this is a modern city [San Antonio]’ but we still need connect to our historical roots,” she said.