How did I end up at American Idol auditions?

If you know me, you know that I can’t sing to save my life. I’m literally the most tone-deaf person of all time. Never in my life did I imagine that I, the worst singer in the world, would end up at American Idol auditions. 

Fortunately for the judges, I wasn’t the one auditioning. But, cheerleading: Now that’s my thing. I can be a hype man any day.

A few weeks ago, my adopted brother, Bishop won a karaoke competition in Tampa and the prize was a fast pass for American Idol auditions in Orlando.     

So, last Thursday we took a short one-hour drive to Disney Springs in Orlando. We arrived around 9:30 a.m. and made our way to the check-in line.

Thank God for that fast pass because the line for the general public was about 2,000-people-long. One guy said that he got there at 4:30 a.m. and there were already 200 people in line. Wow.

Unfortunately, only the hopeful contestants could go into the audition area so I gave Bishop a big hug and went to find a spot to watch. It was sweltering outside. My weather app said it felt like 103 degrees. Why they decided to do the auditions outside in the scorching August heat, I will never know.

On the bright side, I’m always prepared so I had a jacket to sit on and an umbrella to shield the sun rays. I sat in a grassy area and got a nice little tan. It was a PRIME people watching area. I mean this was better than TV. I heard all kinds of stuff.

One of my most memorable encounters was a woman boo-hoo crying with mascara running down her face. She said to her family, “The judges didn’t even pay attention to me! They let a rapper through but not me!” 

If you’ve ever seen American Idol, you know that they let a few people go through just to make a fool of themselves on TV. 

The funniest part was, she started singing to prove that she was talented… Let’s just say that the judges made the right decision cutting her. LOL.

I also saw past American Idol contestants Jordin Sparks and Ruben Studdard... So that was pretty cool. 

For each audition, a group of four people took turns singing in front of a judge. There were numerous pop-up tents so the process could go a little faster. 

By around 12:30, it was Bishop’s time to audition. Out of the eight people that went before him, none of them moved to the next round. My nerves were through the roof!

I got up out of my seat and walked over to the barrier to get a closer look. Bishop sang “This Very Moment” by K-Ci and JoJo and blew it out the park. 

The other people in the audition line even began to cheer for him. I started screaming and a woman standing next to me said, “Is that who you came with?” I proudly said, “Yep! That’s my brother!” 

A few minutes later, the other three people walked toward the exit and Bishop was the last one standing. He moved onto the next round! Woo hoo!

To my dismay, the second round was right after that. We were bamboozled. Unfortunately, Bishop was cut after that. But don’t you worry, this is not the last you’ll hear of Jairus Sanders. Look out for his upcoming YouTube channel and I’ve already booked him for my wedding, whenever that’ll be. HA!

After all that standing in the heat, we were both hot and dehydrated so we went into the House of Blues to have a drink and cool down.

Once we rehydrated, we walked around Disney Springs and took in all the sights. We went into the Planet Hollywood Observatory and the Coca Cola Store where we had the most delicious Simply Tropical Lemonade at the Coke Bar on the roof. Definitely remaking that one!

Although we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, it was nice to get away and spend some time with my big bro!

Until next time, my friends. I’m actually getting ready to embark on a cross-country road trip from Maryland to California so I’ll be gone for about two weeks. But when I come back, you better believe there will be a new blog post alllllll about it! See you then!

-A.