VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: ‘American Idol’ Finalist Francisco Martin Reveals Details About The Woman Behind New Song “Swollen”

Francisco Martin revealed details about the woman behind his new song “Swollen” in his new uInterview.

Martin, who calls himself a “singer-songwriter at heart,” placed top 5 in 2020’s Season 18 of American Idol.

He revealed that he looks up to  indie pop singer Maggie Rogers, whose song he used for his first audition on the show.

“She basically opened my eyes up to different genres, so like folk music, singer-songwriter music, just all kinds of music,” the singer told Erik Meers. “And it was all ’cause of Maggie Rogers and her EP Now That The Light Is Fading … So that’s the reason why I actually sang “Alaska” on my first audition.”

He explained that the inspiration for his new song “Swollen,” came after he sang “Alaska” during the first rounds of auditions on American Idol.

“It was about this girl that I met on the show that I kind of fell in love with the idea with,” he said. “I wasn’t in love with her, I knew I wasn’t obviously, I only met her for like a day. We hung out the whole entire day, we talked about like life and music and what she loves to do in her free time and what I love to do in my free time. And I remember her being like really nervous to perform, and I was just, this is so unlike me, but I was so encouraging, I was trying to help her out, and like make her feel safe.”

“Afterwards, she unfortunately didn’t make it through that round so then that night she left, and then  I was super heartbroken I guess, just a little sad, cause I was like, ‘Damn, I was just talking to this chick the whole entire day, now she’s gone,’ and like she lives super far,” Martin said.

He said he was “sulking in my own emotions” for the next couple of days, until he listened to James Bay‘s Peer Pressure, which helped inspire him to “conjure up these emotions that I’m feeling.”

“It all started from this girl that kind of left me swollen,” he said laughing.

He explained that although they traded numbers and follow each other on Instagram, she has no idea his song is about her. “In her mind, she probably thinks this is some random guy that I just talked to for the whole day, but for me it was like this whole entire experience,” Martin said.

“So if you’re out there you don’t need to hit me up, it’s fine, but just know that the song’s about you.”