Medford's Keelin McGinn moves on to Hollywood Round on 'American Idol'

Medford singer Keelin had the "American Idol" judges literally on their feet, dancing to her original song "Don't Call Me," on Sunday night's episode of the ABC music competition as she earned a Golden Ticket to the live rounds in Hollywood.

Auditioning in New Orleans last year, Keelin, née Keelin McGinn, 25, greeted judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie with great vivacity, bouncing on both feet. "I'm ready to go! I just feel like a ball of energy right now, and just seeing you guys, I think it just triples!"

After some introductions, Keelin, then 24, said she would perform her whimsically naughty original song "Don't Call Me," explaining, "I was talking to this guy and he was love-bombing me" — expressing grand romance in a way that could be genuine but is most often defined as the sign of a manipulative narcissist. "He was giving me the world … telling me all the right things. And then he just up and left. And I was, like, 'We're both adults. Can you just not communicate with me?' So I wrote this for the people that—" "Get ghosted?" Perry suggested knowingly.

To the music-track sound of telephone digits and a finger-snap beat, Keelin eased into the bouncy yet dark-tinged tune, using clever choreography to the song that announces: "Don't call me up unless you wanna get down / Don't call me up unless you wanna let go / Hi, you've reached Keelin's hotline / If you're looking for love, press One / For friendship, press Two / For fun, press Three / And if you're not emotionally available enough to know what you want, hang up."

All three judges began waving their arms to the beat, and then the judges all sang a bar or two of "Don't Call Me," to Keelin's hand-clapping squeal of delight.

"Very clever," Richie told her. "That's a compliment to your songwriting. That's the whole concept: How long does it take to say it back to you? You did it."

Bryan called her song and choreography "cute and fun, but I think [with] your singing, you really gotta focus on those high-end notes." He ultimately voted against her continuing on.

Richie and Perry voted yes, however, with Perry saying Keelin "kinda reminds me of ["All About That Bass" singer] Meghan Trainor. … And that song showed me some promise." Added Richie, "Things that are memorable, that's what makes careers. You are memorable. I would love to see where you go."

Then after the voting, to Keelin's great surprise, all three judges stood up as the music track returned and they danced in a circle around her. Perry and Richie then sang a bar of her song again.

"I am a golden ticket with a golden ticket," she wrote afterward on Instagram Stories, where posts cycle out after 24 hours.

Keelin, who performs Tuesday on the multi-artist bill "Breaking Sound NYC" at the Manhattan nightspot Pianos., was born in West Islip and raised in Oakdale through age 7, when her parents moved the family to their native Ireland. She returned to the United States in May 2021 after obtaining a degree in voice from the Cork School of Music, and currently works at the Hauppauge Irish bar and restaurant Grafton Street Pub.