American Idol 8 - Audition Report - New Jersey - 08/19/08

(Here's the American Idol Audition Report from Olympic High Bar Gold-Medalist Indomass!)

I just want to preface that my friend is the actual singer and musician who was trying out and I went in with no expectations and tried out for fun. I did not do a purposely bad audition to get on TV. But as a stage performer myself, I took my own audition seriously. But everything else about the whole process is just very absurd. After my friend and I registered on Sunday afternoon, we were told to come back at 5am on Tuesday. Many auditioners were already camped out at 2am waiting to get in. We were smart and got there at 7am. They had us do a cheesy camera promo thing where everyone in the crowd was holding up American Flags. Still not sure why they had us do that. I also had the "privilege" of standing next to a guy who I swear can be the next Constantine Maroulis. He was just as greasy and just as big a douche-bag as Constantine!

While we were waiting on line to get in, I needed to use the bathroom, so I went to use the porta-potties across the street. As I walked back I heard the crowd cheering and didn't understand why as I walked back to join my friend I turned my head and literally crossed paths with Ryan Seacrest and his bodyguards. Ryan is pretty short in person. He also later on in the day did an Interview for the E! Channel right next to our section. His face looks very plastic and botoxed up close. But he seemed like a nice guy. He had a lot of groupies screaming for him.

Finally at 8am they let us in and we went to our seats. They had the audience do crowd songs as vocal warm-ups. Which my friend and I refused to sing really loud because they kept repeating it over and over for the cameras, and it's the worse thing to do to your voice before an audition. As well as scream and cheer which the idol people wanted us to do for the cameras too. My friend and I were seated in section 123 of the venue and they went in order from Section 101 all the way up to 244. I would say there was like 10,000 people in the audience, maybe more. Jordin Sparks also made an appearance at the auditions by welcoming all the auditioners and giving all the contestants the usual script of good luck and I was in your position. She is a very pretty girl in person.

The most annoying part of the whole process is the waiting. My friend and I did not actually get to audition until 5pm. How round 1 cattle call audition works is that you the floor of the venue has 12 tables set up with 1 or 2 judges at each table. Four people go up to each table at a time and each sing for at the least 10 seconds or at the most 30-40 seconds. If you are interesting to them they give you more time to sing.

Another annoyance was all the annoying and delusional people I met who honestly thought they could sing but they really can't sing and they became annoying and jaded and bitter that they were cut. These aren't the people who are purposely bad, these are the people who think they are good but they suck. Usually these are the ones with the biggest mouths and big haters of the talented singers. Not that the show even recognizes amazing singers all the time either. Remember folks, it's a reality TV Show.

So my friend and I finally made it up for our audition at 5pm and we were both in the same group of four to go up together with two other girls. We had two nice Hispanic ladies as our judges. BTW, the judges who audition for you in Round 1 are just production assistants, not Simon, Paula, and Randy or the exec producers. The two girls had ok voices, but nothing spectacular. When it was my turn to sing, I went up to them and smiled and told them Hi and they smiled and said hi back. So I start to sing my audition song, "Drive" by Incubus. I thought that they were going stop me at 20 seconds but they seemed to have been paying attention and smiling so I kept singing for them up until about 45 seconds and they stopped me. After that they stared at me in an interested manner and then they covered their faces with their clipboards (which they did whenever they needed to consult privately about a singer) and then they put the clipboards down and asked me if I could sing a different song for them. So I started to sing "Home" by Michael Buble and once again they had me singing for about 45 seconds and they then told me to stop.

I then proceeded to move back into the line of four and then my friend went up to sing and he sang a very old Donny Hathaway song and the judges looked really happy. And then they asked him to sing another song so he sang an old Sam Cooke song. The judges then did the same thing to my friend like they did to me with the clipboards. They then asked all four of us to step up. They started their talk with the usual scripted talk of the show being at a higher caliber this season and how the bar has been set very high because of past seasons. They then told the two girls that they would not be asking them to stay. So the girls left. They then asked my friend to step back for a moment and they wanted to speak to me.

They asked me if I have had any vocal training before, and I told them no. They told me that I had a very unique sounding voice and they personally really enjoyed it. But then they said that it wasn't the right sound that the executive producers were looking for this season but they told me that I am a very good singer and better than a lot of the people they have heard today which made me laugh out loud. They told me thank you a lot for auditioning and to keep singing and to consider getting personalized and refined training for my voice. I smiled and told them thank you and went on to get my wristband clipped by an intern. As I looked back I saw them now talking to my friend who looked really happy as I walked out of the arena.

I waited outside for my friend who called me about ten minutes later to tell me that he made it to the second round of auditions which made me really happy because he's the actual aspiring musician and is a very talented singer. He told me that they asked him to sing a third song right there on the spot that they picked for him. They told my friend that he had a Jeff Buckley tone to his voice (which is not the style of music he records) so they asked him to sing "Hallelujah". He sang the song and they told him they loved it so they sent him right to the next round.

At this point I was freaking out for my friend and when he went into the next room he told me that this was the only call he would be able to make until he's done. So I told him I'd be waiting for him by the door. It took another four hours before he came out again from the second round! He told me that the second round was filled with a lot of very good and eclectic types of sounds and some of the joke and purposely awful auditions as well. I waited as the nervous friend outside at the door for my friend talking to other friends and family who also had people in round 2 auditions. At about 10pm, my friend finally came out and told me he was one of the last people of the night to be cut. He was a little bit disappointed but overall he was very happy because of the comments the producer judge gave him.

My friend was interviewed for his second round by the producers and on camera to ask how he felt and how long he has been singing and what he does and to describe himself. He then decided to sing "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley for the next judge since the first round judges loved it. The judges once again smiled adoringly at my friend and then huddled for about 10 minutes before they gave him a decision. In the end, the producer told my friend that he has a gorgeous voice and great singing ability but they told him that he wasn't exactly what they were looking for. Overall, it made my friend happy for the compliments and we both left feeling a little bit more accomplished.

I didn't get home until 1130pm at night. So we spent over 16 hours at the audition venue on a very long day. A lot of people have asked if my friend and I were bitter about the whole process, and honestly, neither of us were. Because we both went in not expecting much and I honestly feel a lot of auditioners take themselves way too seriously and take American Idol way too seriously. You have to just remember, it's only a reality TV show. I can say that I auditioned for the show and that I got at least some personalized comments in my critique and given 75% more singing time then at least 3.000 other singers there. And I didn't walk away empty-handed! Fox was giving away promo trading cards of Family Guy and a radio station was giving away free itunes cards. So I walked away with free music and trading cards and my ego unbruised. Not too shabby! ;)

P.S. Please check out my friend's myspace music: www.myspace.com/henryivry This is the friend who made it to round 2. If I had to classify his sound, I think he sounds a little bit like Elliot Yamin, a little bit like Gavin Degraw, and a little bit like Jamie Cullum. Thanks guys!