Another season of American Idol — this one makes 22 — is now on air, and singers are very familiar with the drill. Some of them are not even as old as the show, including San Antonio's Liliana Tovar Dalton, who really leaned into her teenage status and appealed on potential and an original song. Her audition, which took place in the season's final round, aired on Sunday, March 24.

The student from Antonian High School (according to the San Antonio Express-News) wasn't the youngest contestant or the one with the most famous connections. Both those titles seemed to go to 14-year-old Camila Galavis, daughter of former Bachelor contestant Juan Pablo Galavis. Still, young contestants on American Idol and similar shows like The Voice can sometimes benefit from playing to that angle, and the 17-year-old Dalton may benefit from having those extra few years to hone her craft.

Dalton played an original song on the piano called "Five Percent," which she says is about the amount of effort a boy was willing to give her.

"I'm young, so I might as well enjoy it — write a bunch of songs about stupid teenage boys while I can," said Dalton in an on-camera interview interspersed with her audition clips.

There's a lot of raw talent to go up against on Idol, and judges were realistic about how far a singer can go with a semi-conversational, folksy piano ballad. Katy Perry wondered aloud if the singer-songwriter has "range" beyond the gentle, emotional style she displayed, and Lionel Richie suggested that the singer may need to "toughen" up and avoid too much nonchalance.

Richie also mentioned a comparison Dalton made between herself and Taylor Swift, whom he said has "guts." But none of the judges brought up the other obvious parallel: Olivia Rodrigo. In fact, Dalton's emotional performance about texting and cavalier cursing onstage seemed to have embodied much more of the super Gen-Z star.

Judge Luke Bryan asked Dalton to try belting Adele's "Someone Like You," a test she passed with apparent ease, with a rendition ready to go that admittedly did skip some of the higher notes.

Whereas Taylor Swift's venom toward ex-lovers has always been on the far sides of folksy and shrewd, Olivia Rodrigo's has an abandon that feels more akin to Dalton's style, despite the latter's gentleness. (At least some Instagram commenters picked up on it.)

Most important, all three judges agreed that the singer should go on to Hollywood, so she'll have more chances coming up to showcase that range and highlight the styles that really feel like her, rather than other celebrities who became famous as teenage girls.

She'll likely have a very different journey than Rudi Gutierrez, a San Antonio singer who recently had quite the run on The Voice. Gutierrez's voice is much more richly developed after 28 years of use, but if every singer found success in the same styles, we wouldn't have much of a music industry.

When Dalton mentioned her hometown, Richie asked, "What do you do in San Antonio?"

"There's really not much to do," replied Dalton in a vague vocal fry. But perhaps after high school and her 15 minutes — or more — of fame, she'll start having a little more fun in the city. Viewers can keep up with Dalton and the rest of the singers' progress on Sundays at 7 pm on ABC, or Hulu.