XFactor Auditions in LA ♥♥♥
It's that time again... spring means XFactor audition time. My friends and I went to LA for some vaca time and of course to audition for XFactor. My fellow blogger Warren also tried out.
2013 XFactor auditions
Los Angeles, CA, March 6
Registration March 4-5
Charleston, SC, March 19
Registration March 17-18
New Orleans, LA, April 14
Registration April 12-13
Long Island, NY, April 25
Registration April 23-24
Denver, CO, May 14
Registration May 12-13
We went to the first audition in LA because it was the closest and there are lots of fun things to do in LA and see.
You could say this is not my first rodeo... I've been to a few of these auditions so for those
of you planning to go to one of the other auditions, keep reading.
What was different?
The main difference I noticed in this audition versus past years was that there were Sony Music execs sitting in on the XFactor auditions. I felt like I was being grilled a bit about my music career. They wanted to know what I was doing right now to pursue a music career... was I in a band, singing at gigs at coffee shops, etc. This didn't go so great for me because I pretty much just sing a lot of karaoke. I have a real world job also. I tried to sell the whole XFactor is such a great show because it gives you the chance to anyone to pursue a singing career. I think this might have worked better with a straight show producer instead of a Sony exec. My friends also got asked music specific questions: Where are you right now in your music career? How is music a part of your everyday life?
They also told us we would be auditioning in front of a Sony Music exec and producer. I did audition in front of two people and it was very clear the Song music exec was making the call. My friend was quite surprised, though, when he had to audition in front of 4 people! So no two auditions are going to be exactly alike... but I think XFactor is definitely focusing more on the music this year (in the past, I think it's a lot of what will be interesting for TV).
I sung Sugarland's Stay acapella... the last verse and chorus and while I can see definite improvement in my performances at these auditions, I don't know if I'll ever make it even though I would love to! I could still do an online audition too, so I might try that.
Everything else at the audition was pretty much the same as all the others. It's always good to show up early on bracelet day because you audition based on your ticket that you receive on bracelet day. We showed up at 2:30 am on Monday for bracelet day. We agreed this was a little bit early because they didn't let us line up and actually asked us to leave because they said it wasn't safe and they could liable if something happened to us while we were waiting. Different people kept telling us you can't line up until 8 am... then you can't line up until 6 am. I knew this wasn't true because I've been to enough of these auditions to know that you have line up early! We did finally get to line up at 4 am and were pretty close to the front (although, we would have been closer if they allowed us to line up earlier.) It totally worked out in the end though because we were in the first group to audition on audition day. Literally, I was the third person in the first group!
We showed up too late on actual audition day to be in any of the group shots. I made cute signs, but they are not going to see the airwaves. I also had a blinged-out outfit with XFactor across the chest and Melissa on the pants. I was hoping a more interesting look would help me get past that first round, but no-go. It needed to be crazier! I still love my pants though and I will totally rock them again.
One other random tid-bit I heard through awesome blogger Warren is that on the 3rd round of The Voice audition they give you a list of 50 songs and you have to pick a song off the list to sing. And the trick? You only have 45 minutes to learn the song. So unless you already know a song on the list or are AMAZINGLY fast at learning a new song, you could be outta luck. I think it would be best to have a whole bunch of songs under your belt that you could sing to get past that round. The source also said it's a similar process for XFactor.
GOOD LUCK if you plan to try out for XFactor this year! Let me know if you make it and how it goes. :) XOXO honeybees!
2:30 am is when it started...
I'm gonna say this was not set up well... we could definitely have had a better set up for getting bracelets and tickets. There was no where for the crowd to exit. There are only a few people in this photo because it was the handicapped peeps getting their bracelets/tickets first.
