SANDPOINT — The age to audition for "American Idol" is 15 and up, so when the show was cancelled after last year's season, a 14-year-old local teen was devastated.

Now 15, Jaida Donaldson had planned on being on "American Idol" since she was 9 years old, though she has been singing since before she can remember. 

"It was her biggest dream, to be on Idol," said her mom, Angie Reynolds.

So when producers announced its return on ABC, Donaldson was ecstatic. And this Thursday, the Sandpoint teen will take the stage in Oregon to audition for the show.

"I'm really nervous," Donaldson said Tuesday, the evening before she and her mom departed for Portland.

KXLY 4 News recently ran a contest on their Facebook page for people to post their audition videos. A few talented winners received "front of the line" passes to the Portland auditions.

"We got the call that she got one of the passes to go front of the line, which is amazing," Reynolds said. "So (KXLY) is going to be sending a news crew down to Portland to do a story while they are down there auditioning."

So now, as she prepares to head into her sophomore year at Sandpoint High School, Donaldson might get to miss some class next year if she makes it through the auditions to perform in front of famous artists on national TV. The one person she really hopes to meet during the experience — Katy Perry. The pop star is, so far, the only judge revealed for the upcoming season.

Donaldson said she doesn't have a favorite music genre — she usually just sings "today's hits." For the audition, the teen will perform "Toxic" by Britney Spears, but in a slower arrangement than the original.

And this won't be Donaldson's first go-round with the talent industry. She auditioned for "America's Got Talent" two years ago, though she didn't quite make it through, and she took second place in "North Idaho's Got Talent." The winner of the local competition was sent to Hollywood to audition for "America's Got Talent." But, she has been there and got the T-shirt — literally. She has been in several other talent shows and competitions over the years as well.

The teen said she can't remember the first song she ever sang, but her dad and some of her siblings are musical as well. Her dad wrote songs, she said, so she remembers him teaching her the words. Her older brother plays guitar, and others of her six siblings are musically inclined as well.

The first song her mom remembers her singing was the classic Oscar Mayer Bologna commercial.

As far as long-term dreams, Donaldson said she isn't sure what she wants to do. Being a professional singer is in the mix, of course, but she has also thought about being a music teacher. Reynolds said her daughter has a natural talent for music and she is "very artistic."

"She's an actress," Reynolds said. "She loves to dress up in costumes and go out in public ... she creates characters and puts them on YouTube, and she does impersonations."

Her regular hobbies include drawing and journaling, and next year she plans to take up guitar lessons. In 2017, she said, she decided to "change up her life a bit."

"For about a month-and-a-half I was a vegetarian — that did not last very long," Donaldson said. "So I started journaling and started drawing a lot more, and getting into different things to see what I liked."

Reynolds is proud of her daughter as she "puts herself out there," with an opportunity do things at 15 years old that many people never get a chance to.

"It's a great experience," Reynolds said of the "American Idol" auditions. "... I don't know how far she'll get, but I am pretty confident she will make it to the next round."

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.