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Maren Morris Reveals She Auditioned for ‘American Idol’ and Didn’t Make It Past the 1st Round
Humble quest. Maren Morris shocked fans when she revealed that she auditioned for American Idol at 17 years old and didn’t even make it on the show. The country superstar posted an Instagram picture of her audition ticket on Monday, July 18, reminiscing on her early career.
“My mom found my American Idol audition ticket from 2007. I didn’t make it past the first-round cattle call,” her caption read. “I wasn’t really into sports growing up, but this feels like the equivalent of your mom saving your 10th place trophy.”
Fans flooded the comments expressing how stunned they were to find out that the “My Church” singer auditioned for the hit singing competition during its prime while bashing the show for not putting her through past the first round.
“This is incredible. May we not let the world tell us who we are,” country singer Lindsay Ell commented, while a fan wrote, “Thank God you didn’t make it. I feel you become a puppet for the first couple of albums, plus ‘The Middle’ may not have happened.”
However, American Idol wasn’t the only televised singing competition that Maren auditioned for before she rose to fame. During her journey of discovery, the “Girl” artist also auditioned for America’s Got Talent, The Voice and Star Search.
The Texas native revealed the news during a 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, while explaining that she got the last laugh after all.
“Now, people cover my songs for their auditions on those shows,” she said. “So, it’s like, not only is it really nice to have my song on a national television show, I get to collect the check and have some sweet revenge.”
The Grammy award-winning artist went into greater detail about her American Idol experience during a 2019 interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers, recalling her “traumatic” memory.
“You don’t see Paula and Simon and Randy in the first go audition,” she explained. “It’s like a stadium cattle-call, and you audition for, like, a 20-year-old producer who has, like, probably no music cred,” she continued. “My entire group got cut, and they said, ‘Sorry. You have to take the walk of shame.’”
