Remember when thousands of hopefuls would show up in Utah to audition for “American Idol”?
Yeah, well, they don’t do that any more. Now, it’s all online.
ABC’s singing competition show has announced open-call auditions on Zoom for residents of the Beehive State for Monday, Aug. 21. Aspiring singers can sign up at americanidol.com/auditions to audition “face-to-face in front of producers and receive real-time feedback for a chance at making Idol history and being crowned the next ‘American Idol.’”
It’s not a great chance, but it’s a chance.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Laila Grigley of Lehi holds the sign her friend Jade Dansie plans to present as she waits in line nearby to audition for "American Idol" in downtown Provo on Wednesday morning, Aug. 23, 2017.
If you would prefer, you can go to this link and upload yourself singing at any time.
Monday is not exclusively a Utah day. Residents of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming are also invited to audition. And the producers of “Idol” seem to be unaware that the Mountain Time Zone exists — all eight of those states are listed as Pacific Time, while only Oregon and sometimes Arizona actually are. (There are listings for Eastern, Central, Pacific, Alaska and Hawaii time, but none for Mountain time.)
• To audition, you must be between the ages of 15-29. (Your birth date must be between Feb. 15, 2009, and June 2, 1994.)
• You must be a legal U.S. resident.
• You cannot be a candidate for public office, and you must agree that you will not become a candidate for one year after your final appearance (if any) if the show airs.
• You cannot be signed to a recording deal or management contract that would limit your participation in “American Idol.”
Details of the restrictions are also available at this link.
In-person “American Idol” auditions first came to Utah in July 2008, when the show was at the peak of its popularity — Utah’s own David Archuleta finished second the previous season — and thousands turned out at EnergySolutions Arena (now the Delta Center) in Salt Lake City to audition. Five years later, auditions returned to the basketball arena and several hundred hopefuls lined up before the sun rose.
Fox canceled “American Idol” in 2016. In 2017, when ABC revived the show, about 1,000 auditioned in Provo in August that year. A few hundred auditioned in Salt Lake City in 2019. Since then, auditions have been online only.
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