By Shelby McGuire
There was cacophony of introductions, pleasant exchanges, and vocal warm-ups in the line of hopeful singers waiting for their chance to audition in front of the producers of “American Idol.” Auditions for the show’s 17th season took place on Wednesday at Genoa Park in Columbus. Among the nearly 3,000 potential idols, one familiar face could be spotted in the crowd. Cedarville’s own Macy McClain performed “Titanium” by David Guetta and “A Moment Like This” by Kelly Clarkson for a producer of the show at the Columbus audition .
Macy has been a long-time fan of the show and was browsing the “American Idol” website earlier this year when she discovered that auditions were taking place only an hour away from her home. With the support of her family and friends, she jumped at the opportunity to audition for the show. She immediately began filling out extensive paperwork and forms required to register for the audition.
Choosing the perfect songs that would fit her voice perfectly and wow the producer was a daunting task, so Macy reached out to her facebook followers to help her choose her two songs. She received an overwhelming amount of feedback urging her to choose Christian songs, although she was leaning more towards choosing secular songs.
“I think you can still show people the gospel without shoving the Christian thoughts down their throat,” Macy said. “There are a lot of good secular songs that still have a great message. There are a lot of other ways that you can show that you are a Christian and have people ask about your faith, not just telling them ‘Jesus loves you!’ and handing them a gospel track.” Macy went with her gut and chose two secular songs for her audition.
Unfortunately, the Saturday before the audition, Macy was struck with the infamous “cedar plague.” The cold-like symptoms and congestion left her voice weak and ragged. Even with all of the tea from Rinnova she drank in the days leading up to the event, she said that her voice was still struggling on the day of the audition, and that she feels she could have done better if she had not been sick.
As she was singing, Macy was thinking about “doing the best you’ve ever done it and really putting your emotion into the song; also trying not to think about how they will think differently of you because you’re blind.” Macy said that she set her cane down behind her while she auditioned so that it would not be a distraction. She also does this whenever she sings on the chapel stage at Cedarville. She said that she does this because she wants people to see past her eyes and “hear the voice behind the eyes.”
About a minute after she was done singing, Macy was called over to the producer’s table where her heart sank as the producer told her, “Thank you so much for coming out to audition, unfortunately, vocally it’s going to be a no.”
She said that on one hand, she was a little surprised that she did not make it further in the competition, but on the other hand, she felt that her voice was struggling because of her lingering sickness. Macy did come prepared for any outcome; she said, “I brought an extra thing of tissues with me because I was like ‘Hey, if I cry, I’ll be prepared.’”
Even though she did not advance to the judges’ round, Macy had a great experience overall. She said, “Am I little salty about it? Yeah, of course. But, honestly, it’s not everything. It was a really fun experience, and, would I do it again? Absolutely.”
Shelby is a sophomore journalism major. She enjoys working out as well as feeding her caffeine addiction and pretending that she has her life together.
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