“American Idol” front-runner Kenedi Anderson sacrificed her “platinum ticket” when she unceremoniously dumped the show last week — but won’t stop singing!
The 17-year-old has debuted a new, possibly hint-filled original song on TikTok just a short time after quitting ABC’s venerable talent competition for “personal reasons.”
“Here is the chorus of a song I wrote not too long ago,” Anderson said as she sat by her piano and began to harmonize in the now-deleted clip, the Daily Mail reported.
“I need to find, need to find something better than what I had, and with no strings attached,” she sang in the clip which quickly fueled fan speculation that she left the show because she already scored a record deal.
She also crooned, “Don’t I deserve that? Something with no strings attached.” Once she finished her chorus, she jokingly teased her followers saying, “That’s all you get.” Hours later she yanked the clip from the video platform.
However, that didn’t stop her loyal #Kenicat — yes, she already has a hashtag — followers from flooding the comments section of her TikTok with encouraging comments about Anderson scoring her own record deal — all while checking out her other posted performance clips.
“Hope you got a better opportunity than what American Idol would have given you,” one fan wrote. “You are way more than them!” Another added, “Rumor has it you got a record deal….? Congrats if so!”
It was on April 11 that Anderson took to Instagram to disclose that she had decided to drop out of the musical series. Her Top 24 performance was pre-taped and had aired the previous night. She sang an emotional cover of Christina Perri’s hit song, “Human.”
“For personal reasons, I’m unable to continue on ‘American Idol.’ This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, but I know it’s necessary,” Anderson wrote on social media.
“I’m so grateful to ‘American Idol,’ the judges, the producers, the amazing contestants and all the fans who have supported me,” the teen said. “Thank you for giving me such an amazing opportunity to share my voice, chase my dreams, feel so much joy and happiness doing what I love, and make lifelong friends along the way.”
A rep for show producer Fremantle told The Post in a statement regarding the singer’s departure, “We are disappointed to see Kenedi leave, but we are excited to watch this celebratory 20th season unfold with the incredible talent vying to be the next ‘American Idol.’”
On Monday night’s “American Idol” episode — right after Anderson’s performance — host Ryan Seacrest announced her exit to the audience.
“You might have noticed that there was no voting information during Kenedi’s performance just now,” he said. “Since we taped these shows in Hawaii earlier, Kenedi has decided to withdraw from our show for personal reasons. We send her well wishes.”