Before there were YouTube fail compilations, before SoundCloud rappers, American Idol was the American dream.
Singers—and people who thought they could sing—lined up for days for the opportunity to wow the judges and/or become a national laughingstock.
People who have auditioned for shows like Idol, The X Factor, and America's Got Talent spilled the tea on their backstage experiences in a popular Reddit thread.
It turns out that the massive cattle calls aren't as glamorous as they seem, and who would have thought that reality TV has barely any integrity?
1. It's hard to compete with a chicken horse.
I tried out for American Idol, first cringeworthy thing was filming scenes with Ryan Seacrest. When all who were auditioning were in the arena area we re-did a scene where all of the lights were off and had to turn our phones on and make this really cool looking wave with the phone screens. The first time it felt pretty magical, after the 6th or 7th time redoing it...I felt like I was on a movie set with the director yelling CUT over and over again. That's only one specific for these planned scenes. They pick before hand the people they plan to interview in "line", also.
When you went to audition you stand in a row of four people. Everyone in the arena is singing and it makes your brain buzz because it's so loud. You then walk up to these small pop up tents and then a person points down the line. I was the last of my four group and the first in line actually audition with the song I had chosen, so I didn't feel like you were seen without distraction like on TV with judges.
I didn't make it, I was pretty close though, but the guy next to me in a chicken costume that sang like a horse did.
I've called bullshit since then. -Cupofkelsey
2. Paperwork before pop stardom.
I auditioned for American Idol a while ago. So, the day of the audition we had to be at Gillette Stadium at about 6 am. It was raining which sucked and there were a few thousand people milling around. So we all got separated into different seating sections of the stadium and they would call down about 2 or 3 rows of people from each section at a time. We then had to stand in four rows and there were 12 producers booths and groups of four people would go to each producers stand. You get about 30 seconds to sing and if they don't like you, you go on your way and if they like you, they funnel you into a hallway and you go to sign your forms.
Now the paperwork was about 30 pages of releases, but there was also a section saying that they are not responsible for anything and they can use your footage to make you look bad basically. So them there is another round of auditions and another, over the course of a few weeks. Then finally there's the big audition you see on t.v. and it's already preselected by the producers. It's a bunch of crap. -originalcupcake
3. Imagine having too much personality for television.
I auditioned for American Idol in Portland back in 2011. Stood in line for hours with a friend--HOURS--then sang Modest Mouse's "All Float On" for like 3 hours once filed into the Rose Bowl Stadium while they took take after take. Finally, after 8+ hours of sheer bullsh*ttery, they started lining us up. The stage floor was sectioned off into 6(?) areas (that weren't enclosed or anything) and were told to get into groups of 4 to audition for 2 producers per sectioned area. You stand in a row with your group while being auctioned off one group at a time to the next pair of producers waiting. Can confirm it was a vocal meat market.
Once in front of producers, you are asked to step forward and sing 30sec of your selected song. Myself and another got moved forward. Same as before but in a different area, sing in small groups of 4 for 30sec in front of more bored and stressed producers .
Get to 2nd group of producers, am the last to sing. After finishing, all 4 of us were thanked but they declined to move us forward. As I'm leaving with the other three, motioned by a producer to wait up.
Producer: "Hey, you're an awesome singer, but unfortunately you're not what we're looking for this season, I'm really sorry. But come back next year and audition!"
Me: "Well what are you looking for?"
Producer: "We're looking for someone with no character so America can see them morph into their American Idol. But come back and audition!"
...tbh, idk what I was expecting. Cool experience for the novelty though!
Worth noting as I walked away, someone in an full Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunk costume was serenely walking toward the door for round 3... -brettallanbam
4. YouTube is the real first round.
I worked for America's Got Talent in San Antonio, and one of the people who worked full-time on the staff told me that those who just show up to audition have almost 0 chance of actually making it in front of the judges. There is a preliminary round that is not filmed for TV where thousands of people show up, and pretty much all the ones that make it through to the TV rounds are people that the show reaches out to themselves. It's mostly people they discover on YouTube. People who just show up randomly have like a 1/1,000 chance of even making it into what people viewing at home think of as the "first round." -wehaveatrex3
5. Love at first sight?
My wife auditioned for American Idol. She said it was just a massive line to get in, and when it's your turn to sing, you have only a few seconds before they shuffle you out. First impressions are absolutely everything. -PhilAwful
6. Judges have no power, and everything is planned.
-The role of the jury is probably the most fake of the show. Their roles are scripted, their choices are the choices of a group of producers/editors. That's where they have numerous meetings about, and the stage jury is only involved in the final stage.
-Of course there's a lot of typecasting involved. The show knows they want to end up with the old rocker, the weird emo kid, the 17 y/o female-former-YouTuber, the gay girl/boy, the handsome boy-next-door, and so on. In the final episodes, of course there needs to be a balance between young-old, man-women, pop-(more)alternative.
-Licensing the song is always quite interesting. For the biggest part, contestants who passed the auditions can't sing whatever they want. It has to fit the narrative, and for the biggest part they have to choose songs from a list of pre-licensed songs. F.i. songs from The Beatles won't be licensed at all. As far as I know the same goes for Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson songs. -jenana__
7. Every contest is a beauty contest.
Friend of mine auditioned and was literally told "you're very good but not the look we want for a serious contestant". So she got cut out for basically being too ugly to be a potential winner and too good to be an intentional gag.
The crappy ones you see are selected for you to laugh at; the "auditions" you see have already been pre-selected. -2d_active
8. Their good friend was just an average singer.
Not me but a friend of mine, and I imagine it's common knowledge, but I wasn't certain until I heard it first hand.
My friend was a decent singer, good enough that she earns a living singing. She applied and got turned down from X Factor. Didn't even get through to see the judges you see on TV.
That means when the really bad people are on the show, they are selected because they are bad. For laughs. Feels pretty mean spirited to put people up on a stage to laugh at them. I haven't watched anything like that since then. -mynameisblanked
9. Sounds glamorous.
I tried out for the X-Factor US Season 3 when I was in 8th grade. We went the to a hockey stadium where they held the auditions, and before they let us in the stadium, they made us walk around aimlessly and then stand in fences like a herd of cattle while they filmed the overhead shots of all of the people that you see in the auditions. After that, you went inside, they checked you in, and you got a ticket of where to sit. I was on the lower level in like section 13 or something. They called you down, section by section, where you went into another line where the ice would be. I was in the 1st level, and auditioned at dinner time. (Everyone had arrived at 6am for the most part.) I have no idea how long the people in the nosebleeds waited.
After you waited in the line on the ice area, you were put in another line, where you waited for an audition with an individual judge in a 3 sided box with black cloth curtains and PVC piping. It almost looked like a 3 sided shower curtain. In there, they ask you a few basic questions, and then subtly ask if you have a sob story. I sang, and my judge was really nice to me at first, but unfortunately I did not get through. I went to shake her hand after to thank her for her time, and she refused (probably because of a policy, I'm not sure honestly).
If you made it through, they give you a golden ticket and you go through exit 1 for more rounds of auditions. If you do not make it through, they cut your wristband, and send you through exit 2. I spent around 10 hours watching people in these boxes, and there were definitely some boxes where nobody made it through to the next round. It could be rigged, it might just be luck of the draw, but there were absolutely tents where nobody left through exit 1.
Sorry for the formatting, I can answer questions if you have any. -KillBill53
10. Ratings first, talent....second or third.
At the encouragement of numerous friends and family members, I've auditioned for American Idol, X Factor, the Voice twice, and America's got talent.
There are several rounds prior to even getting on tv where you have to audition for producers of the show. You have to remember, they're in the business of getting ratings, not making pop stars. And it's mostly a cattle call, so you can't be like everybody else if you want to get picked. You have to stand out to get noticed. -MissKay72
11. Have you considered going brunette?
I tried out for a singing show, and was told I was great but they had put too many white, blonde girls through. So I was sent home. No big deal, I knew my chances were slim. -ofsonnetsandstartrek
12. He's a little bit country...
Knew someone who went on The Voice, made it through but they played him as "the country boy." He's about as country as I am. The dude was born and raised in the suburbs, we went to school together and what he was doing on that show was a cringeworthy act.
Even on a show where the judges aren't meant to know who you are or what you look like, who you are is really all that matters. You need that back story. Even if you have to play a country boy despite being one of the most suburban people I've ever met. -priestess_ov_mars
13. Sorry, you're not tragic enough.
I know a girl who applied for X factor and was literally told that she had an amazing voice, but wouldn't be on the show because she didn't have a special or inspiring story to go along with her talent. -Litsos
14. Hopefully they weren't cut from the supercut.
I was on American Idol season 5 and I made it to the Hollywood group rounds. I auditioned in San Francisco and there was originally ~10,000 people who auditioned the first day which took place in July. The second round was about 250 people, which (as others have said) are the best and the worst and the jokes. We did another round of singing for producers and 1 or 2 interviews, we were cut down to about 100 people. The third round took place in September or October and the first day featured another cut to about 50 people. The next day we actually sang for Paula, Simon, & Randy. Basically, I wasn't nervous to sing for them since I knew I wasn't one of the 7-10 people left that were terrible/in costume. I got a "yes" from all three judges and I was able to move on to Hollywood. The Hollywood round was filmed during November, which I remember since I was able to go without my mom since I had finally turned 18.
One of my favorite things to point out to people is the cuts of people all singing the same songs. During the interviews and second auditions they ask everyone to sing 2 or 3 of the same song and then cut it together and make it seem like the judges are watching everyone pick the same song. They also make you wear the same outfit for every day you try out before Hollywood so they can take shots from any given day and any given time you sing/talk between July and October. It’s funny to note when people’s hair has grown or been cut.
It was a really cool experience but I think getting through the first round is just such a numbers game it is hard to bring myself to do something like that again. -justaregularthief