“You represent New Jersey, so tell us a story and show us who you are.”

Those were just a few of the encouraging words spoken before a range of emotions broke through the stadium of the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, when one of the top television shows in the country made its fourth of six audition stops this summer.

American Idol recently started auditions for their tenth season, beginning in Nashville, Tennessee, and ending in San Francisco, California on August 19.

Armed with the knowledge that the age restriction for auditioning had dropped this season from 16 to 15, I decided to follow my dream of sharing music with the world on one of the most popular singing competitions in the country.

I soon snapped on my wristband, which marked me as a potential contestant, and joined the sea of thousands of hopeful competitors in line to register for this exciting opportunity.

Viewers at home have no idea how aggravating the actual audition process can be, as so much goes on behind the scenes.

For the first round, some of the show’s producers, who are each looking for something different, sit at tables in the center of the audition venue and call the contestant hopefuls up four at a time.

Should a potential contestant pass this round, he moves on to another group of producers, who determine whether or not this candidate will fly out to audition before the celebrity judges.

It really does come down to luck when it comes to which producer the contestant auditions in front of, as some prefer to hear about the candidate’s background while others like to get straight to singing. Some only allow contestants to sing for about ten seconds before cutting them off.

Although we were advised to introduce ourselves to the producers and give them a taste of our stories at the start of our auditions, the producers truly preferred that we step up and just get to singing.

While I understand that the producers have a massive amount of people to get through and listening to each and every person’s story takes up valuable time, I believe that the producers might find that knowledge of contestant’s personalities makes a world of difference on the show.

I went into the audition thinking that showcasing my own songs would give me an advantage, as they give insight into who I really am. However, I received a judge who was not interested in hearing any original songs and cut me off after only a few bars.

Caught a little off guard, I scrambled to think of a song that the producer would know. After the four people in my group had finished singing, the producer told us all that we had potential and should never stop singing, but that he was going to have to pass on sending any of us to the next round.

Although I was not feeling devastated as they snipped off my wristband, which is the official symbol of being cut from the competition, I was feeling very disappointed that they were not looking for original people with their own songs and a voice, but were looking for people who fit a certain mold and would bring higher ratings.

To be honest, after witnessing all of the auditions before mine, most of the people with the best voices and talent were cut from the show because one producer, who had very specific ideas of who they wanted to move on, decided their fate.

However, that is how the business works. Audience members watching the auditions often chanted in an attempt to bring back some of the more talented individuals who were cut and booed when people without talent but in ludicrous costumes were sent to the next round.

Many people who had come to audition left before going in front of a producer because they found the judging experience too unfair.

In the end, this was not really a talent competition, as the producers were casting a show.