*This is the full-length version of our America's Got Talent audition. Be warned; it's quite long. Time to break out the popcorn and soda and settle down in a comfy chair!*
We woke up at 6:00 this morning to start getting ready for
our audition. We tried to eat some breakfast, did our hair and makeup, packed
up the van, and changed into our dresses. Arrived at the Convention Center just
before 9:00am and parked in the garage.
We went through the building and one of the organizers
pointed us to the line of people outside. We walked out and as soon as the
other people in line saw us they started clapping for us! It took us a minute
to realize they were clapping for us. We felt a lot of support from that kind
act.
Stood in line and showed the organizers our paperwork; there
was a lot of it because there are five of us in the group! LOL. They gave
Christina a blue wristband because she’s our designated spokeswoman, Mom got a
grey wristband because she was there with Natalie (a minor), and the rest of us
were given red wristbands. They gave us our number and Christina had to wear it
on her dress, and then they took a picture of our group.
We talked to some of the other people in line and enjoyed
looking at all the different costumes and outfits the other people were
wearing. We made friends with a nice lady named Jenna who was also a singer.
Her parents were in Georgia and her boyfriend had to work so she was alone. We
were glad to have her stay with us the rest of the morning and had a nice time
chatting with her.
We were let into the building in groups of about 25 or so.
They led us up the stairs and to a desk where we turned in our paperwork and
picture. They checked everything over and made sure it was complete and then
gave it back to us.
We were then led into a “holding room” with hundreds of
other people. Some of them had been there since around 5 in the morning! It was
chaotic and crowded and fun. Every so often they would call about 20 numbers to
go up and get ready to be led to their audition rooms. It was amazing to see
all of the different people/talents there!
After a little while, they had everyone whose number hadn’t
been called go back out into the entrance and they told us to shout and jump up
and down while they filmed from different angles. There was a group of 5
dancers who were wearing “Wizard of Oz” type costumes and they were asked to go
to the top of the stairs where they filmed them and the rest of us behind them.
Then they saw us in our matching dresses and had us go to
the foot of the stairs. Natalie and Tanya, being the shortest sisters in our
group, were in the front of us and the camera starting filming about 8 inches
from their faces, focused on the rest of our group, and then the crowd behind
us. It was very intimidating to have the camera so close!
They asked us to be really excited and we smiled and put our
hands in the air. We’re all very shy and reserved so even though we were
extremely excited, I don’t think it showed as well as some of the other people
who put their whole body into it! Afterwards, the lady with a cool British
accent who was kind of leading the whole procession told us that we were very
sweet and demure. :)
Went back to the holding room and they filmed: the “Wizard
of Oz” group (who were dancers), a Michael Jackson impersonator (complete with
red jacket and one white glove), a breakdancer (who was very entertaining!), a
lady dressed as a man with a top-hat (who did a monologue and then pulled off
her hat to reveal she was actually a woman), and a Frank Sinatra impersonator
(who had a very sweet, kind voice).
Then we all sat back down and after a bit they asked
everyone to stand up and perform their talent while the camera crew went around
and filmed. It was really loud and hard to hear but we had a fun time anyway.
They had some people say “We’ve got talent” or “America’s Got Talent” while
they were filmed.
After awhile they asked us to sit down and observe a minute
of silence. It was nice to relax and have some peace for at least a little bit.
Jenna listened to a relaxation CD after that and we ate some snacks. We tried
to watch out for Mom and make sure her leg was propped up as much as possible.
One of the hardest things for us is that we didn’t when they
were going to call our number to audition, so we never knew if we had time to
eat or not. We all have varying degrees of hypoglycemia (low blood-sugar
levels, kind of like diabetes) and as a result, we need to eat a lot of small
meals during the day.
We didn’t know we’d be there for so long and we left most of
our snacks in the van. That made it a bit harder later on in the day when we
ran out of snacks and started going into “low-sugar-shock” (a term we made up).
We were also nervous the entire day and had to make bathroom breaks quite
often! That seemed to be a common theme for most of the other people in the
room.
Sometime in the afternoon (our cameras and cell phones were
in the car so we’re not really sure on times!) they called our number and
Jenna’s number and we stood in line against the wall. Because we were in a
group instead of solo singing, they put us in a separate, smaller line.
They led Jenna and the other solo singers to one audition
room, and our small line was led to a different one. The couple ahead of us was
a guy and lady in country/western clothes. They went into the audition room and
we heard them sing for about 20 seconds and then they came out and left,
looking sad.
We went into the room and stood around the X on the floor.
There was a judge, a person behind a video camera, and another person behind a
laptop. We introduced ourselves and sang “Beyond the Sea”. We smiled and
performed the best we could and apparently did a pretty good job!
After we finished our song (it was longer than 90 seconds
and afterwards we were quite surprised the judge let us sing the whole thing!)
the judge was quiet for a few seconds. We stood there nervously but tried to
look confident.
Then the judge started asking us a whole bunch of questions;
what type of music we liked singing, could we sing more popular music, when we
started singing together as sisters, and what would BYU think if we made it
into “America’s Got Talent” (we think the professors and administration would
be excited!).
The question that caught us most off-guard was what type of
audience we normally perform for. We were silent for a few seconds and then
started nervously giggling and answered that we’ve only performed for friends
and family!
We guess that with our dresses, confidence, and song, we
must look like professional performers!
He told us that he would love to work with us and that he was passing us
on to the next audition! He said that if we thought it was hard singing in
front of him, it would be even harder for the next one. He proceeded to give us
quite a few tips for the next audition and told us that we should smile a lot
because when we smile, it makes him smile. Awww!
We left the room and another nice guy started to lead us to
the “Executives” room. He was very impressed that we had done so well for the
judge and he told us that particular judge is one of the Executive Producers of
“America’s Got Talent’! Wow. Maybe it’s better we didn’t know who he was until
afterward. LOL!
We were led to a hallway with a few chairs against the wall.
We met a nice magician who showed us some card tricks, a guy and a lady who
were singers, and a young man who has an exceptionally long tongue (yes, that
was his talent!)
We also saw some acrobats and a men’s group of about 10 who
had black shirts, bright plaid pants, and pink and yellow tennis shoes. We
heard them sing a little bit and they sounded really good.
We chatted with our new friends for awhile and one by one
were called into the Executives room. Finally, it was our turn. We walked in
and waved and smiled to them. They were very friendly and kind.
We introduced ourselves, handed them our DVD with our music
video, and started singing “Beyond the Sea”. We were cut off in the middle of
the song and they asked if we had another song. We sang from the middle of “One
World” and then they were quiet for a few seconds. They asked us to go outside
to the hall for a few minutes.
We were led into the hallway and anxiously awaited the
judges’ decision. We were led back into the room and told that we were a
“definite maybe”. We were a bit confused because we thought we’d be told that
day if we were a yes or no. Mostly we were just excited that they didn’t say no
right away!
We thanked them for their time and smiled and were led to
the “Confessional”. A lady behind a black screen with a camera sticking out
interviewed us. She had a kind voice and was very pleasant to talk to.
Christina was our designated spokeswoman so she answered the questions as best
she could. Mom said she was very articulate in her answers; that made Christina
feel less like a goof!
We were then taken back into the holding room, which was now
filled with people from the latest session (3-6pm). The camera crew there
filmed us singing “America, we’ve got talent” and had everyone cheer for us. It
was fun!
Then they took us to “Processing” and got all of our names,
ages, and contact information. They also asked us to choose a couple of backup
songs in case “Beyond the Sea” didn’t clear for performing on TV. The ladies there were very sweet and we had a
lot of fun chatting with them.
We then spoke to another kind gentleman who made sure our
paperwork was in order, took another picture of us, and answered any questions
we had. Natalie, who was very hungry by this point, asked if he knew where an
In ‘N Out burgers was. He actually took the time to look it up on his laptop
for us!
Everyone at “America’s Got Talent” was very pleasant and
kind. They were organized and even though it was very slow at times, they did
their best to make it a pleasant experience for everyone. We had a wonderful
time and really enjoyed the opportunity to audition for such friendly people.
We were very impressed with the whole experience.
We left the Convention center at 6:00pm and went to dinner.
The In’N Out was quite a ways from us so we stopped at the first place we came
to, a Dennys. Our waitress was very nice and we got our food really quickly. We
enjoyed dinner and called Dad, David, and Keith to tell them the news, and then
started the long journey home.
