It was the summer of 2009. Senior Brandon Pierce was in a never-ending line in front of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, cringing at the discordant sound of a fellow singer belting songs left and right. Pierce tapped his foot nervously as he thought about his mission: to stand out in a crowd of 11,000 people who wanted to be the next American Idol.
Pierce tried out for Idol between his sophomore and junior year because of his love for singing and curiosity for the unique experience. Though he didn’t reach his American Idol dream, Pierce did manage to win Saratoga Idol in 2010.
“I’ve been singing practically my whole life,” Pierce said. “I’ve done solos in church since about kindergarten and really started to get serious about singing at the beginning of high school.”
Pierce auditioned for season nine American Idol, in which Lee DeWyze was the winner.
Pierce’s audition day was the day the largest number of people showed up ever to try out for Idol.
Pierce said he had to prepare two songs for his audition and worked on the songs with his voice teacher, who is also the music director of his church. Pierce began practicing four to five weeks before his audition.
Pierce performed “Wait for You” by Elliot Yamin in his 30-second time slot in front of the show’s producers. Had Pierce gotten further along in the audition process, he would have met the real judges, but producers judge the first few rounds.
Although Pierce didn’t get too far along in the auditioning process, he enjoyed the experience and was glad that he at least tried.
“I was really nervous, but it was so much fun,” Pierce said. “There were some crazy people who were both amazing at singing and just hilarious to watch.”
However fun the audition was, there was much waiting before. Pierce had to wait in line from 3:30 a.m. till noon to register on one day, and once again from 4 a.m. till noon on audition day.
“All that waiting for only 30 seconds of singing is kind of ridiculous, but it was definitely an experience,” Pierce said.