Dear Readers,

Well I sincerely wish I could tell you I got a red card and am going to Los Angeles but sadly, I can not.

I wanted to say thank you to all of those hoping and praying for me and sending all the vibes and encouraging words my way. Some of you have never heard me sing, and were so super supportive and pulling for me. That meant a lot! Thank you!

Here is the song I sang (no cameras in the room) so this YouTube I took from the set of my show will have to do…

It was a fun experience, and hey, it’s another high-stakes audition (for NBC producers) to add to my list of auditions. The more you audition, the better you get, (so they say).

I do want to point something out though. As I was standing in line, one of the handlers addressed the crowd for what had to be the 200th time that day, and said, “Thank you for being here, we don’t have a show without you. We understand you are a person and you are not cattle so we won’t treat you like that. We want to get you in and out of here, unlike American Idol where it’s a 14-16 hour day, we want to get you out of here in 2-3 hours. You are here because you believe you are ‘The Voice’ or you believe you are talented enough to come out and take your shot. We appreciate you, get yourself ready and show the judges what you are made of, have some fun and show off your best.”

It was really encouraging, and this was my fourth time auditioning and no one had ever said anything like that before. In the past, it was quite literally a cattle call… just line after line, and for hours on end. That was not the case this year. We got there at 12 and left a little after 4, which was way better than I was thinking it was going to be.

As I approached the audition room, I started to get revved up, excited and the adrenaline was pumping, I took off my running shoes and put on my sexy shoes that I had packed in my bag. I was first in line so did a few lip trills and ran my “la be da me ni po tu’s” as I waited. I did my power posing and pictured a red card in my hand and saw it in my mind and did a few jumps to get my energy up and ready.

The door opened and we were ushered in to the room with 5 chairs on each side of the room. The producer was a wiry guy with lots of tattoos and he was sitting at a little table with a laptop on it and stacks and stacks of audition passes and he said,

“Welcome, thank you for being here and pursuing a dream. I want to start by saying thank you to the parents who are supporting their kids and their dreams. Secondly, I want to tell you that there are a ton of people who audition for us and don’t get on the show but still have very successful music careers, and a yes is very easy to hear, but no is harder to hear and a lot more common. So, when I call your name give me the very best 45 seconds you got. You can sing any part of the song you want, it can be the beginning and the middle or the end, but you only get 45 seconds.  You will stop you or I will stop you when my stopwatch says 45 seconds and hopefully we will move you to the next round. After you all sing, I will tell you the results. I want to tell you too, that what you are doing takes guts, most people are afraid to pursue their dreams, that’s not you, because here you are, so, best of luck, and let’s start.”

I was about 7th to sing (lucky number 7?) and I am proud of how I sang. I am not happy with one of the notes, but I did what I did and in the moment that is all you CAN do.

No one in the room advanced, and when he told us that, this is what he said,

“As you may remember from watching the show, sometimes you will see a coach hovering their hand right over the button but they don’t press and it was like that here today.  I heard a lot of good things, but no one was consistent enough to move forward but I thank you all for coming in and come back, you might have missed it by one note.”

So I got a big fat no, but I am not that upset for a few reasons. It was the most encouraging “no” I think I ever got. I was so happy that the producer took the time to build people up in that way, since obviously they don’t have to do that.

They were doing auditions since 7am that morning, and if you do the math 10 people per audition session, he had to say that at least 100 times before I ever stepped foot in his audition room. It was incredible that he said it with such gusto and sincerity.

And you know what, I am not discouraged, I prepared and and did all I could do to show them the best that I have to offer and I am not what they are looking for this season.

Truly I am unsure if I will try again, since I have no idea what my life will bring in the next few years. I truly feel that any “NO” you get usually makes way for a “new opportunity” or a yes on something you don’t yet know about e.g. last January when I auditioned in the cold and windy Minute Maid outdoor stadium. I didn’t know it but I was pregnant so you could say the timing on that worked out really well. I also know that I have a great deal of pride in going after my dream, and I can proudly say yes to anyone who asks, “Jennifer, you are a great singer. Have you ever auditioned for ‘The Voice’?” Especially my daughter, as it’s become pretty important to think of her and the example I am setting. I want her to be bold and strong and one of the ways I can help her achieve that is being that way myself.

I know that this is a flight of fancy. I mean really, doing the math, the odds are pretty astronomical but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have just as easily gone my way.  I might have missed it by one note like the NBC producer said. Again, how cool is it that I have auditioned for NBC four times? A lot of people would view that as “You have also been rejected by them 4 times”, but I don’t see it that way. In fact, while I was contemplating this post, I was already compiling a list of the artists I know how to sing well so I can keep developing my playlist of songs and be ready for the next singing opportunity.

But back to you, dear reader. What crazy, bold, out there thing have you been saying you need to do… but just haven’t done yet? Is it writing a book? Freelancing? Starting your own business? Learning a new language? Run a marathon? Go figure out what you need to do (researching is a good place to begin) to start and then actually START. Make small steps to begin and then build that momentum and go get it done!

You got this, I am 100% behind you and on your team, cheering you on.

I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!

Think About It.