Christy Saunders has a dream.
She would be center stage with a microphone in hand, thousands of lights beaming down, illuminating her success. A crowd of not just the hundreds in attendance, but also the millions of viewers from home would be chanting her name. Then, Ryan Seacrest would name her the next American Idol winner at the end of the upcoming season.
More than 80,000 hopefuls line up each year with this dream day in mind too. This summer, Saunders, one of UCF's own, was among those in line,pursuing that dream.
Saunders is a senior from Jacksonville studying hospitality management, and on Aug. 15 she set out on an attempt, which would ultimately prove unsuccessful, to make her dream a reality.
With the anticipation of the upcoming season building, the Future sat down to discuss her passion for singing and her journey with American Idol:
Q. Have you always wanted to be a singer?
Always. In elementary school I would always be humming or singing.
This was a constant problem throughout my childhood, and my teachers would call my parents to try and have them control my singing in school. Apparently, I was disrupting the classroom.
Q. With phone calls home from teachers, were your parents ever unsupportive of your passion for singing?
Never; my parents have always told me to go for my dreams, even with the phone calls from school, though they made sure I wasn't misbehaving anymore.
My dream was always encouraged.
Q. Which artists have inspired you throughout your life?
Well, when I was young, say elementary school and middle school, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey were my idols.
Then, when Britney Spears came out, I was obsessed with her and knew that I wanted to be the next B Spears.
Recently, Carrie Underwood has really attracted me to her music, because country music is the kind I would be interested in singing.
Q. When did you decide that American Idol was right for you?
When I saw the very first episode of American Idol I knew it was something I had to do.
Q. Why did you wait until this summer to first audition?
It was the first time tryouts were held close to where I live. Previously, tryouts were at least four hours from Jacksonville, and with work and school it wasn't possible to go.
When I found out that tryouts would be in Jacksonville I felt like it was fate calling my name, and it was finally the right time to go.
So I moved home for the summer and began preparing for the auditions.
Q. You said you prepared for the auditions, but what in particular did you do to get ready?
Together with my parents we made an American Idol boot camp. I joined a gym and went every single day - I lost almost twenty pounds. We hired a voice coach, and I worked on improving my talent.
Q. What was the American Idol experience like?
Wednesday, Aug. 15, was the day of the auditions. I felt extremely confident because I had worked so hard to prepare for it.
I had never worked so hard for anything else in my entire life. I never expected not to make it to the show.
Q. I can only imagine how it might have felt to have dedicated so much effort into this experience and not make it. What happened when you auditioned?
Well, I was actually in the first group to be called down. There were 30 of us. An assistant walked us into a large room where there were 12 cubicles set up.
Then they sorted us into groups of four, and I was sent to the second cubicle.
There were two judges before us, and they never made eye contact with us while we sang. Each of us sang for about 20-25 seconds. I sang "Let's Give 'em Something to Talk About" by Bonnie Raitt.
Q. What was the hardest part for you in not making it to the show?
Well at first I was really bitter. I met some amazing singers during the process and the judges would just say, "Sorry you're not what we're looking for." I felt like because of the way I look I wasn't original enough for the show. Think about it.
If they see 10,000 people in eight different cities, how many blonde American girls do you think they see? They are in the business to make ratings rather than just finding a good voice.
Q. Even though you didn't make it to Hollywood, what did you take away from the experience?
I learned that American Idol wasn't the end all for making or breaking me as a person. There is more to life than American Idol.
I am graduating in the fall, and there are more important things like getting a great job.
Had I made it and then was sent home early in the show I would have had to postpone graduating for another semester and missed out on a lot of great opportunities.
Q. What do you hope to accomplish in this upcoming year?
I am graduating with a degree in hospitality management, and right now I am working for Disney. I have applied for a couple of internships with them and would love to work for them in the future.
I want to work with event planning and management and I see a lot of opportunity with their company.
Q. Do you plan on pursing a singing career in the future?
I would never try to pursue singing in a reality TV show ever again. But, I wouldn't say that singing will ever not be a part of my life.
Whether my stage is the Kodak Theatre in California or in my car with the radio turned up and windows down, singing is something I cannot control - the rhythm moves me.
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