"American Idol" judges use one-time-only save to keep Makayla Phillips in competition

TEMECULA, Calif. -- The "American Idol" top 10 quickly became the top 11. On Sunday's second week of socially distant, remotely filmed competition, "Idol" fans voted and cut the competition down from 20 contestants to 10.

But at the very end, judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan decided to use their one-time-only power to save one competitor from elimination. They chose 17-year-old Makayla Phillips from Temecula.
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"We thought Makayla, she has an incredible voice and she checks a lot of the boxes," said Perry.

"When you have similar genres, you know, instead of piling up on one we had one choice and we decided to go with a voice that was missing out of that group,' said Richie.
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She joins fellow Southern Californians Sophia James and Jonny West, along with Julia Gargano, Arthur Gunn, Dillon James, Louis Knight, Grace Leer, Francisco Martin, Just Sam and Jovin Webb.

The Top 7 will be revealed next Sunday. The "American Idol" winner will be revealed on the season finale on May 17.

MORE: 'American Idol' judges talk about home performances