SM Global Auditions 2013 - Seattle

I just finished my audition for SM Entertainment. I went in at 3:00 and waited an hour before I was called into the second waiting area. There weren’t that many people there I guess because they did groups of 20.

First of all I rode the bus there and there was this really sweet old lady who helped me get off at the right stop.

Once I entered there were signs on the walls with arrows telling you where to head for the auditions. You reach a room with a staff person and they ask you to fill out a half sheet form. Exactly the same as the one online. Then you just waited in the room while the projector played sm artist’s music videos.

I was S137 and I was in the second line of ten in my group. The latter 10 sit down and watch the first 10 perform then they leave and it’s just the second half.

The singers in my group were decent on average. One of the girls was amazing. She sang Mercy and she got all the high notes perfectly. Everyone was just looking at her in awe even the camerawoman but the judge was like whatever is on my phone is much more interesting. Most people did pretty good but there were 5 of us that we’re sooooo bad. This one guy said he was auditioning to be a model and when they asked him to do a model walk he kind of hobbles towards the camera and everyone started snickering at him. I think he was just there for his friend. His friend went right before him and he was good and he sang really loud. The judge asked him to sing another song. Then he got held back and watched the second of is audition since he was in the first group. I noticed him when we were waiting and I remember thinking he looks like idol material. To get an idea he looks a lot like Barom from C-Clown. I thought he was cute but really arrogant but I guess the guy had a reason to be since he got held back. One of the girls after me was pretty good too. The very last got froze up and tried three times to sing but she ended up getting too nervous. The guy right before me was decent but his voice wavered a bit. The first half of my group had one girl who couldn’t sing at all. Then this other girl kept on trying to hit the high notes but ending up squeaking like the sound you get from when you have two forks stuck together at the fork end.

There were 3 dancers. With the white girl and a guy even though they were really good the judge was like nope not looking at you. Her eyes were stuck on the little girl dancing she was really talented. She’ll probably get a email for a callback but the only one held back was arrogant guy in plaid. I thought it was interesting that one guy who had an envelope was auditioning to be a composer. Now I know how to do my intro when I audition for real as a composer next year.

The song they used for the dancers was Scream by Usher I believe. So I guess they change it at each city they go to.

When it was my turn I kind if froze up for a second but then started. I auditioned with BAP Rain Sound from Zelo’s rap to the second to last stanza if the song. So yes I rapped then sang. Everyone on the line kind of turned to look at me when I started because I guess it was unexpected. I saw the judge look at me for a couple of second when I got to the chorus but then my voice cracked for a sec and she looked down again. Since I was mainly looking at the camera I’m not sure if she wrote anything down for me. I asked the guy in front of me how bad I did and he tried to be nice and all saying I did better than him yeah right.

I also noticed for the people who were dressed to impress the judge saw them when they walked in the door and didn’t even bother looking at them because they were usually the people that weren’t as good. The one girl who was really off pitch the judge kind if rolled her eyes. I guess when you have to hear variations of that for hours it gets irritating.

When several other people were singing I saw the judge look at me but when it was my turn she barely glanced at me.

My audition was at 3:00 and I was there until 5:56. They said those who auditioned would be notified their results in a month.

Overall my experience was interesting. I’d never done anything like this before so it was nerve wracking but after words even though I did poorly I felt strangely content. I can be really shy in front if people and cameras but I didn’t chicken out and actually got through it.

This note was really random and here’s a couple more things I noticed. I saw accounts from other people of the New York auditions mentioning how the staff was attractive. I thought they wee ok looking but own of them looked really familiar maybe a translator. It wasn’t as disorganized as I thought but could have been much more efficiently done. The guy with gauges was kind if cute, he was so awkward when he announced stuff.

One last thing. Since not a lot of people came we were all allowed up to 2:00 minutes. Even if the judge didn’t look at you and you were off pitch they didn’t cut you off. It was really obvious when someone was terrible because the camerawoman sat down plus you’ll have this guilty need to laugh. Seriously last thing. I noticed that I sang for the longest time I think I took the whole 2:00 minutes provided while everyone else sang maybe a max up to a little over a minute. If I had to rank myself I’d say of my group I did better than 4 people only because they were just totally off or too nervous. So 16th place out if 20. XD

My advise is know what to expect by reading other people’s accounts so all you have to worry about is what you prepared. I think they were mainly interested in finding male trainees. In accounts most people talk more about what they do waiting then the actual audition. I hope this was helpful probably not.

If anyone had questions feel free to ask and if you were there share your experience with me. If you were at the audition for Seattle do you know if anyone else got held back?