Maren Morris is undoubtedly one of the hottest artists in country music right now. With a recent chart-topping single, a whopping six CMA Awards nominations and the launch of the second leg of her GIRL: The World Tour, there seems to be no stopping the 29-year-old Texas native.
There once was a time, however, that Morris struggled with finding her place within the music industry. It was then that she turned to reality television with hopes to land a spot on a popular singing competition like The Voice or American Idol.
During her appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Morris revealed she once auditioned for “everything you can think of,” including America’s Got Talent, American Idol, Star Search, and The Voice.
“It was all a no,” she confessed, confirming she didn’t make it past the first round during any of the auditions.
She went on to share details of her “traumatic” experience auditioning for American Idol, which left her in tears.
“I have this very traumatic, vivid memory of auditioning for American Idol when I was 17, in Dallas, where I’m from. It was at the Cowboys Stadium. You know, 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. You just sing for like eight seconds and sing your heart out and then my entire group got cut. They’re like, ‘sorry, you have to take the walk of shame.’ I just remember being like 17 and I had to like walk through the walk of shame out to the parking lot and find my mom’s car and just cry on the way home with her.”
“But,” she continued, “I mean, it all worked out.”
Worked out is an understatement as Morris went on to become the most played female artist on country radio in 2017 and 2018. Now, she’s getting the last laugh.
“Honestly, the poetic justice of that whole thing is that now, people like audition with my songs on those shows, so I just get the check in the mail.”
https://youtu.be/cAZy9T4G2dw