fascinating AIdol reading
 

wow, this makes the show look pretty rigged.... judge for yourself... don't judge the actual myths they give. some are crazy (like who thinks simon and company judge all 12,000 people at a site)

http://www.votefortheworst.com/node/33

very negative on mcphee, hicks and pickler

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

This is all true. I audition every year with a friend (and made it to the judges in season 3) and by far, the hardest round to get through is the first, huge cattle call, when in each city, they weed 10,000 down to about 200-250. This round takes place in a stadium of some sort (here in LA they do it at the Rosebowl). During this round, they line you up 4 at a time in front of a tent (there are about 12 on the field) and each person sings about 30 seconds of a song.

All day, they turn away great singer after great singer. The people they take have to really stand out, either for being very good but different (Taylor Hicks, etc) or very very bad. I'd say about 1/3 of the people they take are bad people.

Then, the 2nd round, they weed the 200-250 down to about 100-120, and constantly remind people not to mention to the cameras that this is the 2nd audition. They really want to create the illusion that SRP see all 10,000 people in every city.
This second round usually takes place in a hotel, lasts for about 10 hours, and there are many interviews and such during the day. Finally, when you audition, it's in front of the British producers (Warwick and Lithgoe) and about30 other PA's, etc. and this takes place in the room that you see on tv.

If you make it through this round, then at a much later date (up to a MONTH later) you come back and audition for SRP.

It is very cruel and manipulative, the way that they pump up the bad singers. Just imagine, you go to the audition to hang out with a friend of yours who is the actual singer. You end up singing for the heck of it, and it's not so good, but they take you! Then, you're taken in the second round. Wow, maybe you could actually be the next American Idol! The entire audition process is very very long and grueling, there's a lot of waiting, a lot of time to let your mind wander. The bad singers are like lambs to the Simon Slaughter.

It seems that every year, there are usually only 2 or 3 people who have a true crack at winning. Just imagine how much better the competition would be if they took more good singers in the initial cattle call round.

Because this first round is the hardest round to advance from in the entire competition, I recommend to anyone thinking about auditioning, who is actually a good singer, to sing very very poorly in the 1st round, or to do something totally bizarre, so that you stand out and get to the judges, then sing well for real.

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

I made it past the first two rounds and am not a particularly good singer (although not god awful either). I can give a trip report soon if ya'll want.

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

Good stuff, guys. Trip reports would be awesome!


P.S. Curtains vs. Dali heads-up singing competition?

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

I would lose, Im not that good.

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

[ QUOTE ]
wow, this makes the show look pretty rigged.... judge for yourself... don't judge the actual myths they give. some are crazy (like who thinks simon and company judge all 12,000 people at a site)

http://www.votefortheworst.com/node/33

very negative on mcphee, hicks and pickler

[/ QUOTE ]

standard

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

[ QUOTE ]
I can give a trip report soon if ya'll want.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let's hear it.

To OP: great read by the way.

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

Great read. Although I don't think it paints Taylor in a negative light, other than he refused to sing the original dreck they came up with for him. Good for him. I can actually see why producers do this. They know they can put that crappy coronation song out there and it will sell anyway. So why waste a good song?

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

[ QUOTE ]
wow, this makes the show look pretty rigged.... judge for yourself... don't judge the actual myths they give. some are crazy (like who thinks simon and company judge all 12,000 people at a site)

http://www.votefortheworst.com/node/33

very negative on mcphee, hicks and pickler

[/ QUOTE ]

interesting stuff.

where is is negative about taylor?

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

[ QUOTE ]
where is is negative about taylor?

[/ QUOTE ]

wouldn't do the song they had for him. wanted a new one written... i'm negatively biased, i thought he was marginally talented (being generous?) doofus. and struck me as an A-hole. i realize that's quite a bit for me to surmise.

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

doh! i think i missed last paragraph.

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
where is is negative about taylor?

[/ QUOTE ]

wouldn't do the song they had for him. wanted a new one written... i'm negatively biased, i thought he was marginally talented (being generous?) doofus. and struck me as an A-hole. i realize that's quite a bit for me to surmise.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought they were being very positive about Taylor with that. Taylor mostly sucked, but if he pushed back against the producer's crap, good for him.

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

Is there anyone out there who really thinks SRP sees every single person who auditions? I never thought that for a second.

And by now, if you don't know what you're getting into by auditioning then that's just ignorant.

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

Also I disagree that they are cutting lots of amazing singers. I think they cut lots of very good singers, but rarely any incredibly great ones. At least thats what it seemed from my short time in the giant cattle call room. They do definitely let through some really terrible singers.

Re: fascinating AIdol reading
 

[ QUOTE ]
Also I disagree that they are cutting lots of amazing singers. I think they cut lots of very good singers, but rarely any incredibly great ones. At least thats what it seemed from my short time in the giant cattle call room. They do definitely let through some really terrible singers.

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I've auditioned a few times, and I have seen them cut some very very good singers in the opening cattle call. Maybe not amazing (don't want to get into a semantics argument though) but still excellent. I will say that I watched dozens of people cut who were at least as good as most of the remaining top 16, along with countless other top 24 contestants from past seasons.
Let's be honest, are the 24 people they took this year really the BEST 24 singers out of 100,000 they could find??


To get past that first round you not only have to be great but also something about you has to really stick out.
There really is a lot of luck involved. Who you sing for, what they're looking for that day, etc. It's very possible (probable) that before each audition, the producers let all they pa's know what types they have enough of and what types they still need to fill the quota for.

I would compare the cattle call to playing in a big poker tournament. If you're good and prepared, it increases your chances, but there are still a lot of uncontrollable factors.

I've auditioned 3 times, and the 1 time I went through I can honestly say that it was my worst performance of the 3.Also, it's been my experience that it is much much easier to get chosen if you go to the first audition city. I remember auditioning once in the last city (San Fran in season 4) and they were seriously not taking ANYONE, because once you've seen your one millionth large black chick singing Alicia Keys "Fallin'" they don't stick out anymore, even if they're good.