ECU student on "American Idol"

Jennifer Sieminski who tells us what the auditions are like

Jennifer Sieminski used to be your typical ECU student. This blonde-haired New Jersey native is a Communication major who describes herself as a "normal kid." But there is something not so normal about this girl, something that the majority of us Pirates will never experience. Sieminski was recently on the number one rated television show "American Idol." After a stellar audition at Solider Field in Chicago, Sieminki was invited to travel across the country to the show's Hollywood auditions, taking the next step to "Idol" fame. This is her story.

TEC: First, can you take us through the audition process?

Sieminski: I first auditioned at Soldier Field, and for the cattle call audition you had to get there two days before the initial audition to secure a spot if you wanted to be in the front. If you're at the end, you don't stand a chance because [the producers] have been hearing thousands and thousands of people. I think the final head count was something around 15,000... Everybody got a ticket when you entered and you had an assigned seat, so you could leave the stadium... but there were people who didn't have money for a hotel overnight... they stayed in the stadium, outdoors, for two days.

TEC: Those poor people had to be cold out there.

Sieminski: Well, this took place in September actually. We were the last city, although [the producers] portrayed it on TV to be the first city.

TEC: Oh, OK. Go on.

Sieminski: When we came back on the audition day, we had to be there at 6:30 in the morning... they had 12 tents on the field with lower level producers... they funnel us down and we sing in groups of four and we go before these judges. They say "what are you singing? What is your name? Where are you from?" and we go up and sing our song. At my point, I was probably in the top 500 to audition, so I performed fairly early on in the day, but it was raining and we were outside, it was horrible. Somehow, when I stepped onto the field the sun came out and I was like "thank God." I ended up singing "Something to talk about" by Bonnie Rait and the producers liked it and they said "can you sing another song?" and I was like "sure" so I sang "Bless the broken road" by Rascal Flatts. I was the only one in my group to go through, I was probably only like the 40th person to get through that day. So I was pretty psyched because I knew that the next audition was the most important. It was in front of the executive producers, Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe. This is where they decide who they want in their top 24. I didn't know that at the time, but now I know it... so I went and I waited... for hours for these producers and they made us memorize that "Lady Marmalade" song because that was our city's song.

TEC: That leads me into another question. I've read online about how you and a few other people had talked about how everything was edited too much and nothing was how it seemed on TV, and that the judges (Randy, Paula and Simon) didn't really see everyone. Is that true?

Sieminski: Yes, that's partly true. When we went to the executive producers, only 300 people from the 15,000 got to see them, and I'd say about 200 of them were genuinely bad. [The producers] know the difference between people who are trying to fake it and people who genuinely think that they are God's great gift. It's sad, because I witnessed this and I tried to teach these kids "Lady Marmalade" and I hear them sing and I'm just thinking "these are those people that they're going to parade on TV." Funny thing was, Crazy Dave, I taught him the song and I'm like "oh my God, this guy is so bad," I felt so bad for him. But anyways, I auditioned in front of the executive producers and they really liked me. They didn't ask me to sing "Lady Marmalade" because, I then realized, they only had the bad people sing it.

TEC: Yes, I remember that montage at the end of the show where you could hear Seacrest saying that these were the worst versions of that song ever, or something like that.

Sieminski: Yes! That wasn't even recorded in front of Simon, Paula and Randy... when we advanced to go see [Simon, Paula and Randy] they were like "OK now come back in four days"... I had to fly back [to Greenville] and my mom had to fly all the way home, then we flew all the way back three days later just to see Simon, Paula and Randy... only about 100 people saw them and they act like they see everyone in the stadium, and that's not the case... I don't know how na�ve people could have been to think that they saw everyone. I met people at the audition who were like "oh I can't wait to see Simon, Paula and Randy."

TEC: So how did your audition with Simon, Paula and Randy go?

Sieminski: Simon was so nice to me, I was very surprised. He said "I love you. You're a natural. You know what you want; you know what you're doing. So it's a definite 'yes' for me." Paula was like "yeah, great tone," but she doesn't like girls, as we all know. So I didn't really pay attention to her. It was actually Randy who didn't like me. He was like "yeah, that was good dawg, it didn't blow me away, but good audition." They were unanimous on sending me through, so I was excited. After that, we had to talk to the Fox publicity people and they told us that we couldn't tell anyone that we were going to Hollywood because it wasn't going to be airing until January 12 or something.

TEC: So you really couldn't tell anyone about that?

Sieminski: No, but I did. I told a lot of people, but I wasn't allowed to do press. Even though people found out and eventually came to me about it, but I was just like "I can't talk about it." We later found out that a lot of people broke the confidentially agreement. Before we got to Hollywood [the producers] sent us a 50-page survey asking us really personal questions like about our sexual orientation. Ken Warwick has come out and said that they don't care about sexuality, but it was a big question. I'm straight, but I met a lot of gay people and they were like "I felt like I didn't have to disclose that information." The survey was very personal and very offending to some people. But this was before we went to Hollywood.

TEC: Well then, can you walk us through the Hollywood auditions?

Sieminski: I have so many opinions. *laughs* I got there and the first night we had an orientation where we were told that we can't have personal webpage's and we can't have stuff about us online singing. You can't do this, you can't do that. I'm just thinking "oh my myspace is still on." *laughs* I put my voice on [myspace] after Hollywood, but I did have a page before then... Anyways, they had given us two weeks [in between the Chicago audition and Hollywood], and we had a list of 12 songs to pick from for the first round. I was thrilled because "Bless the broken road" was on there, so I didn't have to learn a new song...so I just wanted to stick with what I knew. I was going to be safe. Our calls were at 7:30 in the morning... the first day they had group one audition which was Las Vegas auditions, Austin auditions (which were actually in San Francisco)... the groups on day one and day two were chosen by which city you auditioned in. I was thrilled I wasn't on day one, I had a day to relax. So we had gone on a field trip and we went to the Hollywood Bowl, the Santa Monica Pier, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the Kodak Theatre where the finale is held. So group one auditioned, and after those people were cut, they didn't get to go on the trip, they immediately went home. They were sent home within a day.... My goal was just to make it past the first cut. When I auditioned, my number was 72 and there were 75 people auditioning that day, so I was at the very end. I was like "no. so many people sang my song already, the judges are tired, this is not going to be a good thing." What you did was you had one chance with the piano to practice it... we auditioned, they brought us out in a group of eight and we lined up... and luckily I moved on from that point. So here's where things start to fall apart. Auditions ended that day at around 11:30 at night, and we were exhausted...I just wanted to go to sleep, but no...we have to get into groups of three or four... and we had never seen these songs before. My group consisted of myself, the oh-so-humble Katherine McPhee and Crystal Stark. Crystal was in the same boat that I was, we were never shown on TV. You would have never known we were there... We picked "I can't help myself (sugarpie honeybunch)" and we picked it because it had easy words and we knew the melody. But it's now 11:30 and the last thing we wanted to do was sing more... At this point, I started to break down. I was so tired and this was so stressful. Anyways, Katherine is not so humble, she's overzealous, she's bossy, she's a b*tch, and they totally portray her as being the sweet girl. They didn't air the fight that we had because they wanted to keep her... everyone's playing a character, and I, unfortunately, didn't fit their mold... it was 2:30 in the morning before they let us go back to the hotel... and then 7:30 call, everyone was a bit tired and it was a little rough. The group day went well, we got group 22, and we had plenty of time to practice. We did well, and guess who forgot all the words? Katherine... but that was the toughest part, the group part.

TEC: Did you make any good friends while you were out there?

Sieminski: Yes, and that was the best part about the whole experience... a lot of my friends are still in the competition, and I keep in touch with a lot of these people and I wish them the best... but you also meet people and you're like "why are they here?" and it's because they have a story.

TEC: Like the cowboys.

Sieminski: Yes, like Garret Johnson. He wouldn't have made it anywhere else, but he had a story. The kid never left his town. He had never been out of his state. He lived in a town of nine people. That was a story... I thought a lot of people were being cheated because they simply didn't fit a character... I made a list of all the different characters, like there's the pretty model, there's the little country girl who doesn't know what keys are. Kelly Pickler actually forgot all of her words for two days and they didn't show that. Heather Cox had laryngitis for two days and couldn't even sing a note on group day, but somehow made it through. I'm not disappointed that I was cut... I'm mad at the people who weren't cut... Anyways, round three they made us pick from 95 songs, and my first audition song was on that list too. So I was just like why bother learning a new song and killing myself over it, I'll just sing "Something to talk about." I did really well... I got great feedback. I never got a negative remark from the judges ever. That's why I was so confused when I was put in the room [with the soon to be eliminated contestants], and I looked around before [the judges] even came in there and I knew I was cut. I just knew it. I wanted to be in Ace's room.

TEC: Speaking of which, who were the hottest guys there?

Sieminski: I'm in love with Ace. I picked him from the beginning to win. He didn't sound very good on the Denver audition when they showed him... but he was amazing in Hollywood. He's a white male, they need a white male to win, and everyone knows it. I picked him from the very first second I saw him. I was like "he's going to win." He's a white good looking male, and they haven't had that yet, and they will do everything in their power to make a white male win... if they have another female win, it's just not good for the show... They don't rig the competition, they don't tamper with votes, that's illegal... but there's so much that goes into the top 24, [the viewers] don't realize that they analyze these people over and over again... and when America sees these people, they already have their favorites because [the producers] have pushed them so much. They've pushed their story. Like Kelly Pickler, they've pushed her story so she already has a huge fan base. Now how is that fair to someone like Melissa McGee who's also in the top 24 but has not been shown once singing?

TEC: How do you feel about the Brittenum twins? Are they really as obnoxious as they came off as on TV?

Sieminski: Yes, even more so. We hated them. Everyone was like "I can't stand them."... They were very obnoxious and it was not surprising that they were held on forgery and theft.

TEC: Most important question of all. Is Ryan Seacrest as corny off camera as he is on camera?

Sieminski: *laughs* No... I had a chance to talk to Ryan a lot, he's an extremely nice guy, very down to earth, not corny at all. He's a cool guy... he's nice. He interacted with the contestants. I liked him a lot.

TEC: Has anyone ever recognized you from the show?

Sieminski: Yes. Last night when I was working [at Chicos] these girls were talking to the waiter and the waiter came up to me and was like "those girls think they know you. They saw you on 'American Idol' last night." *laughs* Some girl on the bus the other day asked me if I was on there.

TEC: What advice do you have for anyone interested in auditioning for the show?

Sieminski: Go in there with an open mind and be ready for anything. Know that it's a hit or miss thing. You don't know what the producers are looking for. They have a preconceived thing that they're looking for every season before you get there. If you don't make it past that first round, don't give it. It's not you, it's them. It's a very difficult process; people always ask me if I'd do it again and... it's a long exhausting process. You have to have a very strong passion for this business.

TEC: How do you feel about the whole experience overall? Was it worth it?

Sieminski: Yeah, I mean it was an experience that only so many people can go through. I'm grateful for the opportunity that I had to do this. However, it wasn't a good experience, but it wasn't a bad experience... it's something I'll remember for the rest of my life... when one door closes, another opens. It's just hopefully a stepping stone to bigger things.

TEC: What are your plans now that you're back in Greenville? Are you still going to pursue a career in music, or are you just trying to graduate?

Sieminski: More of the latter. Greenville, unfortunately is not like living where I live at home because I'm close to [NYC]. There's not a lot of outlets here for me to express myself and work on my music because I'm in a small town and... it's harder here. It's difficult for someone who's so driven, like myself, and so into the music. I try to get people here to play with me for open mics and stuff like that, but people are preoccupied with other things. I mean we're in a college town, it's not like people are focused on music here. Now that I'm back in Greenville, I've been actively keeping contact with people that I met, and I've got an internship this summer with Island/Def Jam, so I'm really excited about that... I'm working in tour marketing and publicity. Maybe I'll just burst out a song in the coffee room one day and be like "sign me, I can sing." *laughs* It's all about the relationships you have with people. You have to work hard, and don't give me.

TEC: Is there anything else that you'd like to add?

Sieminski: I wanted to clear something up because ["Idol"] portrayed to look really, really mad [after I was cut] and that bit was filmed four hours after we were cut. We were down in the hotel lobby, all of us kids who were cut, just having fun, joking around, trying to make light of the situation. So one of the cameramen was my friends, he was Nigel Lithgow's son, and so I was joking with him, I didn't even think the camera was on. I was sitting there and I'm like "what makes good TV?" and then I'm like "oh yeah, put the little 'American Idol' sign over my mouth now," and I said [expletives that can't be printed here]. And I was laughing, if you didn't see me laughing at the end, and they portrayed me like I was on a warpath, and I really was not that angry. I was laughing about it, having fun, joking, and when I saw it on TV I was just like "Oh. My. God." I can't believe they did that. They made me look like a psycho. It's really embarrassing to me... it was taken completely out of context. They never showed me singing, they never showed me doing anything and then all of a sudden I'm so pissed... And another thing, the judges kept telling us to continually step it up. Is forgetting the words stepping it up? If I did that, I would have been gone the second I messed up. But Kelly Pickler did that and it didn't matter. Heather Cox? It didn't matter if she couldn't sing a note. They already had her on their list. They had their top 24 picked from before we even went to Hollywood. Otherwise there's no explanation for people like Sway. I don't even want to talk about him. They were all horrible in Hollywood. I'm not the best singer in the world, but I deserved to be there. I stepped it up. I did well the whole week, and I was cut. That's the hardest part for me. I will never know why [I was cut]. Ayla's a little snobby rich girl. I don't know how America's going to relate to her. They say that she's the All American Girl. Her father's the state Senator for Massachusetts, her mother is a TV news anchor for a Fox affiliate station. They told us we were not allowed to have any immediate family member work for Fox or a Fox affiliate, and I dug it up, and a lot of other people dug it up... I almost wish that I messed up so I had a reason to go on instead of wondering why this happened. I almost wish I had forgotten the words because then I would have expected to get cut... when we were in the rooms and I looked around and Ace wasn't there and Chris Daughtry wasn't in my room, I knew it was over.