Here’s how the latest American Idol contestant from SC did and what Katy Perry said about him

Katy Perry had this to say about Tripp Taylor, an 18-year-old from Florence, after he auditioned for “American Idol.”

“People are going to remember your name.”

Taylor got rave reviews from all three Idol judges, who joked that Taylor looked like he could be Lionel Richie’s son. Richie said he considered that a compliment.

Taylor had previously said he was most excited about meeting Richie because he was a fan of old soul genre. He elected to sing a Ray Charles tune, “I believe To My Soul,” and accompanied himself on the piano.

In this introduction, he described Florence as “not the biggest town” where there isn’t a lot to do.

“It’s not like the best place for racially ambiguous people,” he said. “But you find the good things to look at whenever there are a lot of bad things around you.”

He said he’s been singing all his life. His dad and sister sing as well.

Judge Luke Bryan said, “I really like your attack at the mike. When you open up … the promising thing is you’ve got your own kind of sound. It’s just the right kind of gravel and grit.”

Perry called Taylor a diamond in the rough.

“You’ve just got all of it. First and foremost is talent. You’ve got the ‘it’ factor. You’ve got the name to go with it. You’ve got humility.”

Richie praised Taylor’s stage presence, but cautioned once he went to the next level — Hollywood — he would find it shocking because everyone thinks they are No. 1.

“I think we can vote this guy into the next part of his life,” Richie said.

Taylor graduated from the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville last year and is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, majoring in musical theater.

Beside piano, he plays tenor saxophone and has a large presence on TikTok with more than 345,000 followers and 6.6 million views.

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