Anytime great opportunities come around, I’m always up to grab them. Ever since I was 8 years old, I’ve loved to sing. Singing has been a part of me for a long time now, whether it’s talent shows, karaoke, or singing with bands. I’ll do anything to grab a microphone and shine on stage. When American Idol bus tour auditions came around to Little Rock; of course, I absolutely had to give it a shot.
Going in to it, my expectations were to just have fun and live and learn from the experience. Shockingly, the incredible participation took me on a long but enjoyable journey.
During the summer on August 17, American Idol held auditions outside of the Clinton Library for their season 13 premiere. My parents read about the information on the internet, and we made sure we were there right on time. Our day began by getting in the extremely long line around 7 a.m. My older sister, Victoria, who also auditioned, along with my mom and my step dad came with me.
While standing in the line the whole day, I was surrounded by guitar players, singers, and dancers. It was so entertaining to see groups of strangers mingle and put their talents together to make the wait lively and fun instead of long and dreadful. By the end of the day, we were strangers no more. One of my favorite parts was getting to meet new people, especially since they share the same interests as me.
By about 3:00 in the afternoon, I was finally up to the audition tables! What most people don’t know, is that there is more than one round before going to the rounds you see on television. The first three rounds are singing in front of American Idol producers only.
By the fourth round, you proceed to the first round people know of; the intense audition in front of the famous judges. It may seem easy to pass these rounds, but personally, they are the hardest rounds to go through. It takes luck, confidence, good attitudes, and positive minds for this competition. We went up to the audition tables in groups of four, sang individually, and then they sent whoever they thought was best to move on. This could mean sending one from every group, everybody in the group, or even none in the group to the next round. For my audition, I sang Black Velvet by Alannah Myles. After the last person sang in my group, they asked me to step forward, and explained their apologies to the three they were not sending through.
The producers told me I had a strong, controlling voice, and that I also had a good performance and connection when I sang my song.
I continued to talk to other producers, telling them as much information about myself as possible and received my ticket for the next round, which I chose to be in Austin, Texas. After the information and paperwork were done, they had me and my parents do a couple filming shots with us acting like ourselves while walking around, talking, and enjoying the day, and then filmed me singing my audition song. The whole idea was an amazing shock to me, because I was not expecting to make it through, but then they told me that about 300 people auditioned and only about 20-30 people made it through. Considering I was one of those 20-30 people, I seriously could not explain my excitement. When that was finished with, we grabbed our things and headed out and continued to wait for the email about when my second round of auditions would be.
We finally started our 10 hour drive to Austin, TX on September 21 for my audition the following day. When the next day came, we were up and ready and in line at 6:50 a.m. The auditions were held in the Austin Convention Center. The long line stayed outside until about 9-9:30. This time, the line entertainment was a lot different from last time. Most people were laying down, eating, or just talking to their friends that they made around them. I made 2 specific friends when I auditioned in Little Rock who made it to the next round as well, so it was so awesome to see them again and catch up and practice together. American Idol producers were running around everywhere collecting information and filming some participants in line. At one point, a producer gathered me and 3 other contestants. They clipped a microphone to us and specifically told us to carry on a nonstop conversation about the judges, Austin, TX, the show in general, etc while they filmed us from a distance.
A couple of hours later, the time finally came to enter the convention center and hopefully begin the auditions. The first thing we did was register and get our American Idol number sticker to place on our shirts.
They split the whole line into 3 groups, in which my group was the first group of people to get in line for the auditions. While a producer was talking to us about what to expect, what to do, and what will happen, he informed us that we all needed to learn the song People Like Us by Kelly Clarkson. This had to be my favorite part of the whole day. Our group of about 30 people got their guitars and gathered in a huge group and worked on singing the song all together. I absolutely loved it!
The producers came back to the group to grab the first 10 contestants, with me being part of that group. He took us to the first audition room of more producers as the judges. We went in separately when it was our turn. They explained that although our voices did have a big part in this round, our personality and confidence would be the main aspect being judged. I guess I was a little nervous, but nerves never really bother me too much. I was pretty much excited and ready for it! After I sang my original audition song again, it was a simple and quick yes, and I was off to round 3.
Round 3 was right down the hall, and this was the round where the cameras came out. Producers judged us again, but this setting was set up like what would be seen on tv. My whole auditioned was filmed, from me entering the room, while singing and talking in the room, and what I said after the auditioned. During this round I sang Black Velvet by Alannah Myles and Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood. They talked to me about myself and my life back home and then gave me the news. They said I had such a strong voice, especially for a 16-year-old. Considering how strong it was now, in a few years it would be even better. They reassured me by saying, they do that to most 16 year olds because they still have time to mature their voice. I smiled, said thank you and walked out the room into more cameras. My parents stood by me and we were interviewed about what the judges said, how I felt, and what I plan to do next. From there, I said my goodbyes, wished luck to everyone, and was on my way.
I’ve had a lot of people ask how upset I am about it, if I cried, if I was mad, or some things along those lines. But the truth is, I’m actually happy! Yes, it would’ve been even better if I made it farther in the show, but I am beyond thankful of this whole entire experience. I had a blast during the whole thing and learned so much from getting critiqued by multiple singers and producers. Considering all the filming they did, it is still a possibility that I could get maybe a little bit of tv time. Either way, I’m happy for this opportunity that came along.
