How to Get Cast on ‘American Idol’

“American Idol” lives up to its description in that it’s truly “the search for a superstar.” Amateur singers showcase their talent in front of a panel of judges who decide whether they should move on to the next round of performances. Auditions take place in various cities across the country, where contestants perform a song of their choosing. With each episode, singers are eliminated by judges and viewer votes until a winner takes the crown and receives a record deal with a major label and a management contract. Some of the biggest acts to come out of the show are Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Katharine McPhee, Clay Aiken, and Chris Daughtry.

The series debuted on Fox in June 2002 and quickly became a pop culture sensation. “Idol” ran on Fox until 2016, then was revived by ABC. The revival debuted on ABC in March 2018, with Trish Kinane, showrunner and longtime executive producer, at the helm, along with Megan Michaels Wolflick.

The original trifecta of “American Idol” judges was Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson. The most recent iteration saw Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, and Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood behind the judges’ table. “Idol” has yet to confirm the judges for season 25.

Ryan Seacrest has hosted “American Idol” since its first season (Brian Dunkleman was his co-host). Though his return hasn’t been confirmed, Seacrest has previously indicated that he will be back.

“American Idol” also welcomes industry veterans to mentor and perform alongside contestants. Past mentors have included Mariah Carey (who also served as a judge during Season 12), Lady Gaga, Jon Bon Jovi, and Stevie Nicks.

Auditions for Season 25 begin Aug. 25, with the live virtual event “Idol Across America.” Casting will continue through the end of September, with the next round being the actual judges’ auditions. Season 25 is projected to debut in 2027.

“American Idol” has issued a call for contestants right here with Backstage. As the listing notes, producers are looking for the next singing sensation. “If you are between the ages of 15–28 and a U.S. citizen, we would love to hear from you! You can audition in the comfort of your home,” it reads. “If you apply here, keep an eye on your email and DMs.” Applicants can also access the “Idol Across America” registration page on ABC’s website to sign up for the live events or submit a video audition. The first 250 singers who sign up for the Aug. 25 VIP event will audition for an “Idol” producer “face-to-face,” but as of this writing, those slots had already been filled.

However, hopefuls can still sign up for the remaining auditions, which span all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Here are the regional breakdowns and dates:

• Aug. 25 — VIP Day
• Aug. 26 — Florida, Michigan, Virginia, West Virginia
• Aug. 27 — Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
• Aug. 31 — South Open Call
• Sept. 1 — Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin
• Sept. 2 — Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Washington
• Sept. 8 — Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas
• Sept. 9 — Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming
• Sept. 11 — Nationwide Open Call
• Sept. 14 — East Coast Open Call
• Sept. 16 — Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina
• Sept. 18 — Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Vermont
• Sept. 21 — West and Midwest Open Call
• Sept. 23 — Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi
• Sept. 25 — Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island, Washington, D.C. 
• Sept. 28 — Nationwide Open Call

Those who make it through this round of auditions will then move on to the judges’ auditions, which take place at a later date and time in a live location.

In the meantime, check out our guides on how to hone your talents as you prepare for your chance in the spotlight:

• How to Become a Singer
• 7 Steps to Becoming a Self-Taught Singer
• How to Sing: 12 Tips From an Audition Coach
• How to Determine Your Vocal Range and Write It on a Résumé
• How to Take Care of Your Voice
• How to Improve Your Singing Voice
• Should You Get a Vocal Coach?
• How to Sing High Notes
• How to Achieve Proper Singing Posture in 4 Spine-Straightening Steps

Because “American Idol” plucks talent from across the country—holding casting calls at large venues like auditoriums and arenas across dozens of cities, and via virtual auditions—the show does not have one primary casting director. Instead, casting is conducted by teams, with producers reaching out to local talent agencies to find contestants. Additionally, there are two extensive rounds of auditions before viewers see the singers perform in front of the judges. 

Credit: Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock

First, contestants audition in front of a small group of selectors, one of whom may be a show producer. At this stage, the field can be narrowed from thousands of hopefuls to hundreds. From here, the remaining singers are screened and filtered in front of producers, and more are eliminated before they land on TV. During this process, producers, casting directors, and scouts seek the best each city has to offer. 

While the series has kept some of the humor that made the original auditions so memorable, it now takes a more compassionate approach. As former “American Idol” producer Trish Kinane explained, “It doesn’t feel comfortable to put borderline unstable people up on stage and laugh at them,” she said, adding that viewers are now much savvier about how “Idol” operates. “I think that people once thought that the judges saw everyone, and now you know there’s a line of producers who screen before them. We want the humor, but we don’t want the exploitation.”

As social media has evolved since the show first aired, the newest iteration of “Idol” can search for talent through more avenues. 

When it came to finding the right talent for the reboot in Season 16, reality show casting guru Doron Ofir, who also discovered the cast of “Jersey Shore” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” had a fresh approach: “The United States is a really broad and spectacularly large, vast network to cover, so what I’m doing is a lot of independent outreach. I’m going through millions of different versions of YouTube videos, SoundCloud, and DJ services that use session singers—people who either felt it was out of their grasp, wasn’t right for them or didn’t even consider it for fear of the process. I’m trying to reach them directly and let them know there is another chance to get on, and I would love to hear from them, see what they are made of, and potentially throw their hat in the ring.

“I think a lot of people shied away from it for various fears, and I think that the industry has really changed,” Ofir has said. “When ‘American Idol’ started, they didn’t have the opportunity to cast through those means or seek them out where they actually exist. And I think that’s one of my strong suits as a company, that I’m able to find undiscovered areas to be able to approach or invite people to apply.”

On a similar note, Kinane explained, “We decided whilst we would keep the same format, we would look at every element of it and refresh it. We made it really easy for contestants to get to us in terms of our audition process. We’re much more interested in kids with raw talent from nowhere. These kids haven’t got any money; they can’t travel very far for these auditions. So we sent two buses off to 24 locations all around America.” Kinane added, “We had showcases; we had open auditions; we had produced auditions; we had online [auditions]… We did everything to make it easy to get to us.”

Don’t let nerves get the best of you: “It’s going to be nerve-wracking, but try not to be nervous,” said Season 16 “Idol” contestant Rissa Wilson. “You need to seem calm and that you are confident in what you can do. Just don’t overthink it. If you overthink it, you’re going to mess up, and you’re going to find self-doubt. You need to go in there, be as strong as you can and just kill it.”

Highlight your range: “They want to see that you can do different things,” Wilson added. ”So try to have the biggest spectrum that you can. Show them everything that you’re capable of.”

Choose a well-known song: Underwood knows what it feels like to be on both sides of the table. That’s why she suggests “Idol” hopefuls belt out a popular tune instead of singing an original song, as it allows the panel to focus on the individual’s vocal range, nothing more. “It’s kind of hard to listen to a lot of originals, because you’re not just judging their voice, you’re also trying to figure out the song,” Underwood explained. “So your brain’s not really getting to focus on their voice after like the bazillionth original song that we’ve listened to.”

“I was like, I feel like I’m at a concert where I paid my money and went to go see an artist that I love, and they’re doing their entire new album, and they’re not doing any of their hits, you know what I mean? That’s what I feel like,” she added. “The best thing to me when I watch ‘American Idol’ is when somebody just nails a song that I love, that makes me want to vote for them even more.”

Meaningless movements make your performance mean less: “What I saw were people moving in ways that were completely distracting from the song,” Season 1 runner-up Justin Guarini said of his time on the judges’ panel in 2019. “There were people who had good voices, there were people who had great voices, there were people who had a great look, and all this stuff going for them, but they would put their arms behind their back and look around and make all these movements that were distracting the judges from what was really important, which was telling the story and singing and inviting us into your experience of the music.

“Tape yourself singing. There’s the [suggestion to] ‘Just sing in front of people,’ but, no, that just makes you really self-conscious. Tape yourself so that you can see the kind of movements and what it is that you’re doing...because more often than not, people do things that have nothing to do with the song and distract from the wonderful, beautiful performance that you’re giving.”

Let your emotions shine through: At 21, Underwood stood in front of the original judge trio and belted out Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” But as she told Today, nerves made it difficult for Underwood to show her emotions. “In my audition, I think I was just trying to hold in all my emotions, literally. Like, hold them into my body or else, I don’t know what I thought was gonna happen,” she shared. Although she had performed onstage before and knew how to work a crowd, the audition was different: “You’re not on stage. It’s just you singing without a band, without anything. There’s not an audience in front of you. You know, you have these judges, and they’re gonna decide your fate.”

Now, from the judge’s chair, she advises contestants to “emote more.” She added, “[N]ow on the other side of things as a judge, you see people walk in like that…. I can relate to holding in the emotions.” If anyone knows how nerve-racking that audition room can be, it’s Underwood—so take her advice and let your whole self shine through.

Tell your story: “‘American Idol’ goes to great lengths to discover, edit, and beautifully craft the stories of the people who come on the show,” Guarini said. “This show is about talent, yes, but it’s about you. It is not about the judges; it’s not about the music, necessarily—all these things are a part of it. But one of the things that makes ‘American Idol’ so wonderful, and the reason it has consistently been on the top of the charts for so long, is that it is about you. When we watch ‘American Idol,’ we fall in love with your story; we fall in love with the ups and the downs and everything in between that you go through. So why not, as you are auditioning, tell us your story through the music? [No matter what song you’re singing], it’s that story and those lyrics as told by you, the performer. It doesn’t matter if 100 performers sing ‘Rolling in the Deep’ by Adele; if you all own your own story, and if you tell your version of ‘Rolling in the Deep,’ what that means to you, who or what you are singing about, what struggles have you gone through that helps you relate to those lyrics...then every one of those 100 performances will be different, and that’s what we want.”

Similarly, former producer Patrick Lynn encouraged singers to really let themselves come through. “Your personality is a huge portion of the show. A lot of people say, ‘Hey, it’s important.’ I go, ‘No, it’s really important.’ We hear a lot of people who can sing. It’s a rare occurrence when we have somebody really good with a great personality and great presence. People should try to be as original as possible. We’re not looking for another Crystal Bowersox or another Chris Daughtry or another Adam Lambert or another Kris Allen. We found that already. We’re looking for something new and different and original.”