'American Idol' Alum Still 'Traumatized' By This Commentary From Katy Perry

We can see why the moment haunts him.

Former American Idol contestant Adriel Carrion, who appeared on the show's 19th season, is opening up about the effect a specific piece of feedback that judge Katy Perry gave him still has, even years later.

Taking to TikTok, the singer uploaded a clip from his season's Hollywood Week, which starts with the "Daisies" singer announcing to an empty stage (which you can better tell in a longer snippet from the episode), "We have officially banned everyone from singing 'Watermelon Sugar.'" Though it's not included in Carrion's TikTok, she goes on to call it a "blanket ban."

The TikTok then flips to her fellow judge Lionel Richie asking, "What are you going to do?"

"We're gonna do something sweet for you," Anthony Guzman, who performed with Carrion that day, said.

"Not 'Watermelon Sugar,'" Perry deadpanned, causing Carrion to visibly falter, the smile dropping off of his face.

Guzman didn't let her words stop him, turning back to say, "Let's Go!" as she continued, "I can't take another 'Watermelon Sugar!'"

"Come on now!" Richie offered his support as Perry continued to ask, "Is this 'Watermelon Sugar?'"

"Oh, f--k!" she shouted as Richie confirmed that it was, indeed, the song.

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The video then flipped to Carrion sitting in his own room. "It's the way that it's been three years and I'm still traumatized by this moment!" he said, before joking, "I could be getting my beauty rest and all I hear in my nightmares is, 'Not 'Watermelon Sugar!''"

He even went so far as to caption the video, which has since gone viral, "SHE IS IN MY NIGHTMARES NOW!! 😂🫶🏼🍉"

Many sympathized with him, including another fellow series alum. "Lol I understand I did American Idol 12 years ago and they didn’t want to hear set fire to the rain by Adele lol," he shared.

"u looked so CRUSHED when she say not watermelon sugar 😂😂😂😂," one said, while another wrote, "THE WAY YOUR SMILED FADED."

Others who felt the song was overplayed at the time were on Perry's side, with one writing, "katy was real for that."

But the general consensus was that she was out of line to complain. "no cause it doesn’t matter what they hear, they’re paid to sit there and listen 💀," one comment read.

While we're sure Perry didn't mean any offense with her song exhaustion, we can see how off-putting it would be to be in Carrion's place. Hopefully the moment doesn't haunt him for too much longer!