On Glee, Amber Riley plays the sassy yet sweet Mercedes. In this YRB feature / photoshoot, she plays a glammed up diva ready to head out to a holiday party in style.
Being rejected by American Idol:
“With so many people in my family singing, it was kind of easy for me to go into clubs and sing background,” she said. “This was my first time out of my comfort zone auditioning. When I did that and they told me no, my world crumbled. I was thinking these people are in the industry and they are telling me no. I’m not good enough to do this. I definitely thought that for a minute.”
On auditioning for Glee:
“A friend of my friend was friends with a casting director and looking for a girl who could sing. I still don’t know who that friend was. She said they need a really great singer. They want a black girl. She has to really sing, really belt it out. I told her, ‘I’m not a belter. I know I have a strong voice, but I’m not a belter by nature.’ I just thought tomyself, ‘Forget it. I’ll just go on the audition.’”
Dealing with performance jitters:
“Whenever I sing, I just love music so much, I go to a totally different place,” she said. “The only times I’ve ever gotten nervous – like I want to throw up – is when I sang the National Anthem at the (2009) World Series, when I sang on and when I sang at the White House. Being on camera and singing, though, I’m not nervous. The crew is a great audience. I sing to them.”
How the American Idol rejection helped her:
“I am really glad they told me no, because maybe if they hadn’t, I never would have strived for my full potential or reached my full potential. I might have rested on my laurels,” she says, offering advice to others striving to make their dreams come true. “The best advice I can give is just be focused, be sure about what you want and don’t let anyone tell you no, you can’t do it. Don’t let that deter you.”
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