BATON ROUGE — Two young musicians with connections to the capital region are finalists on the 23rd season of "American Idol."

West Baton Rouge Parish native John Foster, 18, and LSU Online student Baylee Littrell, 22, both made their way to the top 24 contestants on the singing competition show.

Foster graduated from Brusly High School as valedictorian and attends LSU, singing primarily country music on the show. He sang "Callin' Baton Rouge" during the episode Monday. West Baton Rouge Schools posted their support of Foster on Facebook, encouraging people to vote for him.

Littrell is the son of Backstreet Boys member Brian Littrell and first cousin once removed of fellow member Kevin Richardson. Sunday night, Littrell sang "Happy" by Pharrell. When Littrell got his golden ticket to advance from auditions to the Hollywood stage of the competition, LSU Online congratulated him in a Facebook post.

"We’ll be cheering you on as you take the stage," the post said about the sports administration student.

Two singers from each night will be eliminated when the Top 20 are revealed during a special "Songs of Faith" episode on Sunday, April 20.

Information on how to vote for the two local competitors to make it to the Top 20 can be found here.