Ever since I was little, it was my dream to try out for American Idol and I finally got the chance to this past summer. I grew up watching American Idol with my mom and my sister; it was our show, our time together and we looked forward to it every year. I was too young to remember people like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Jordan Sparks winning but I definitely remember listening to their music growing up. I remember Miley Cyrus performing The Climb in 2009 and thinking to myself that I was going to be singing on the stage one day. That’s my earliest memory of wanting to be on Idol and be a singer.
From then on, I couldn’t wait until I turned 15 because it meant I could finally audition. But the year I turned 15 was the year the show was canceled. Once I heard that it came back on, I immediately prepared an online audition and sent it in but I never heard back from them. This year I went to Arizona to visit my friend and while I was there, we both decided to audition for American Idol. We both practiced like crazy. Then came the day for the audition.
We ended up waiting in line for 7 hours despite getting there about an hour after the auditions started. We practiced in line a little bit and finally got to the audition area. My friend went first, then me, and then the other two girls in the room with us. My friend and the other two girls did amazing. I completely froze. I knew both songs I had prepared like the back of my hand, but I guess my nerves got the best of me. None of us got through because they were “out of tickets” (even though we only saw them hand out like 15-20) but said we were all pretty good.
I started crying as soon as we got out of the audition area and didn’t stop for about a half an hour. My friend, her dad, and I went to Olive Garden afterward and I just got a drink and nibbled on some breadsticks. About 15 minutes into us eating, my friend got a call from an executive producer saying they had heard her audition and wanted her to submit an online audition so they could have her come to the next city and audition there. I don’t think anything came from it or if she even sent in the audition but I know that if she had, they’d be crazy to turn her away. Later that night my friend told me if she ever becomes famous and goes on tour then she’ll bring me on as an opening act!
I now know what to expect at the auditions and plan to keep on trying until I no longer am able to. Maybe I’ll be the next American Idol.