Oklahoma contestants aim for brass ring of singing ‘Idol’
Hundreds of people were packed inside and out of the 21C Museum Hotel, 900 W Main St., on Thursday morning for a shot at singing immortality — or, at least, brief reality TV show fame.
The singing performance competition show “American Idol” held auditions in Oklahoma City Thursday morning.
The city is among two dozen where “Idol” producers are looking for singers to try out for the show. Depending on the city, hopefuls have been known to line up as early as 4 a.m. Auditions typically begin around 8 a.m.
After a 15-season run on Fox, where the show ended in 2016, ABC rebooted the show last year, when the tryout tour held auditions at Tulsa’s Guthrie Green. Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan were the judges for the 16th season, while Ryan Seacrest returned as the “Idol” host. They all are expected to be back for the upcoming season.
Maria Vasquez, 37, of Lawton was sitting near the curb of the hotel Thursday morning, waiting for her daughter, Kasia Carter, to audition.
Vasquez said her daughter learned to sing at a young age, but she didn’t know about it until Carter, 17, was about 7 years old. She said Carter was “hyper excited” when they got the email to come to Oklahoma City several days ago, but she had since gotten sick.
Despite her illness, Vasquez said her daughter was going to give it her all.
Also from Lawton, Rodney Cobb, 21, was in line to audition, clutching his guitar in one hand and a stick of beef jerky in the other for an impromptu breakfast.
A self-professed “American Idol” fanatic, Cobb said he’s watched every season of the show.
“I love it more than any other reality show, I don’t know why,” he said.
Cobb said he’s been singing “seriously” for about 4 years, and said singing and becoming famous are what drive him. He said he had never auditioned for anything as big as “American Idol” and the only thing that came close was performing for about 1,000 people at a high school talent show. Despite coming out for his first crack at the big stage, Cobb said he had his butterflies in check.
“I’m more excited than nervous,” he said.
The son of a pastor raised on gospel music, Aaron Rollerson, 20, of Oklahoma City, said he was coaxed by his coworkers to come to the audition Thursday.
“So, I’m just doing the show for fun,” he said.
A student at the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma, Rollerson said he’s switched from mainly gospel music to R&B and Soul and is something of a veteran of the television auditioning process having previously sang for “The Voice” years ago.
“This is considered boot camp, so you have to get past boot camp before you can even go to Hollywood to audition for the judges and stuff like that,” Rollerson said.
Also considered something of a veteran, Briahna Keith, 16, of Oklahoma City, said she tried out for “American Idol” last year in Tulsa.
“I’m a lot less shy about it this year,” she said.
Keith said she would be singing and playing ukulele for her audition Thursday and didn’t specialize in any one particular genre, “just whatever sounds good.”
Although she has auditioned before, Keith said it can still be a little daunting when her name is called.
“It’s a little intimidating because whenever you first walk in you see all these people and you’re like, ‘these are my peers.’ It’s different than whenever you’re singing in front of anybody, because these people can sing. You’ve just got to take a deep breath and be able to look them in the eye,” Keith said.