Hello everyone! I hope you all had an amazing first month of this 2022 year and that your plans for it are slowly shaping up nicely. A few months back I wrote a post on here talking about auditions and the importance of this process, and many of you have gotten in touch since then asking: “What about talent shows? How do they work? What goes on behind the scenes? Are they genuine or orchestrated?” So this month I thought I would use this space to talk a bit about my personal and professional experiences with talent shows hoping to bring clarity on certain topics and ultimately give insight that may help one’s decision to apply for them knowing roughly what to expect.
BIG SPOILERS ALERT! If you are a casual reader that truly enjoys following these TV programs and general competitions please stop reading this article now as it may “kill” the buzz or the innocence of relaxing watching something that isn’t a Netflix series.
Let’s start from the very beginning of understanding these so called Talent shows (e.g. The Voice, X Factor, XYZ’s Got Talent, etc.). They are TV shows made for entertainment, and as such, they are created for the audience and not for the contestants. This means that sometimes fairness has to be scrapped or twisted to fit a more appealing result or experience for the audience. What brought success to these shows has never really been the success of the contestants and here’s why: out of all these shows and all their seasons, how many winners can you remember and how many have they actually created a successful career out of them? I can help you answer that question: you will barely get to your second hand counting. And to get a bit geekier, think about how many countries have now got their own spin-offs of these shows, generating an absolute army of contestant and winners of all sorts every single year. I’d say about 10/15% of them are still out there doing their thing. These talent shows became so huge throughout the years because of the open gates and the almost ‘no prior experience’ needed. I won’t get into the psychology of this matter nor the way that it affects the general public’s behaviour, however I wanted to give a few lines to highlight that these competitions became multi-billion dollar franchises for a reason, and the reason is usually not the winner’s success.
So now that we established that these shows are purely made for entertainment purposes, let’s have a look at the rest of the process. Auditions, for example, are usually very straight-forward and follow a mostly fair agenda. Just like you see snippets on the programs itself, judges will be present in front of you and the candidate will be asked to perform their piece for them. What’s usually unknown to the public is that audition processes can vary for different shows, but they all often have various stages meaning that not everybody will get to sing for their idols; actually only a very small percentage will get there and the main selective process is usually done by producers or talent scouts within the program. Talent and passion are very easy to spot out and most of the times hard to deny, meaning that many people will get through different audition stages but for different reasons as the shows are created to entertain through showing a diverse array of contestants. This usually results in stereotype-casting and there are hardly three contestants all singing Beyoncé songs on the same show or belting out Sia’s “Chandelier” for a few claps. So whether one can truly sing like other big names, it’s all about personality and individuality. But a good sob story may also take you places!
Moving on to the following topic: what we get to see on our screens. It is already common knowledge that these shows involve massive productions, meaning they are all pre-recorded and assembled for TV formats when they release several months later. Just like a movie, episodes are a work of editing which wants to go and highlight all the most interesting parts of these contestants experiences and journeys. What most people don’t know though is that once you are on the program and you’ve been accepted as a contestant, you are pretty much on your own. Vocal coaches are provided by production and they’ll help you get through your next moves and prepare for your performances, however time is extremely limited usually (3-5 hours per week). Plus, the lovely moments when you see contestants working with their mentors/judges is all cute and empowering; truth is, everyone gets roughly 1 to 2 hours per week with them. So a lot of the work that contestants do on the program to prepare for their duties is self-managed outside studio time. Productions are generally caring and will be in touch with contestants via email often, but there’s not going to be any hand-holding throughout the competition.
Another hot topic is auto-tune. 99% of the time contestants sing live and without any auto-tune or lip-sync. Main stage performances are extremely well-rehearsed, several hours with and without the band/dancers/props etc., meaning that contestants will get plenty of chances to have their performance look and sound its best. I’m not sure if this is the case for all talent shows however. Sometimes performances might be a result of different takes, but the audience present is never asked to react a certain way with different contestants.
Lastly, most of the times producers will be in charge of deciding what contestants will be working on and bringing to the stage as per same reason mentioned above: variety. Sometimes they might see you fit the style of repertoire you brought in with you, but not always so be prepared and open to explore a variety of genres and styles.
I personally do enjoy watching some of these shows even though judges are not always my favourite part as some of them have absolutely no clue what they are dealing with and offer zero contribution to the show through their feedback. But overall I love seeing people chase their dreams and work hard to make it in this voracious industry. I love seeing the raw happiness when the hard work is rewarded with recognition and appreciation, I love seeing growth, self-discovery, evolution and confidence development. My personal gain out of these shows is the pleasure of music bringing people together and creating art, showcasing new talents and new faces that can hopefully make their way onto new billboards.
There’s honestly a whole lot more we could be talking about on this topic, but I’d rather keep things simple and straight to the point by answering the hottest questions I get asked the most. Although if you have more, feel free to email me or comment on Instagram under this post and I’ll get back to you. I hope this post has helped you gain some extra insight on this televised world of music competitions. If you are interested in applying for any of these shows or you have been contacted by producers to participate in one, I am here to help!
Have a great day folks, see you next month!