Ever wanted to see what it looks like when a person goes on an audition and gets the part, in the room, in the middle of things, and knows it?
This is BOOF-tastic 20 year-old Casey Carlson:
A petite bruny stunner on the order of Rachel Bilson, likeable to beat the band, with a Southern song voice twang that would get Carrie Underwood ruffled, and a punim that could break the JDate network server; basically, she’s everything the Disney Channel wants Selena Gomez to be, but never will.
This is her audition. Try and spot the moment where she wins, and knows it:
Did you see it? No? Let me show you the timeline of events:
1:50 - Casey walks into the room, giggles, and I watch her do so again, twelve more times on a loop.
1:48 - I start randomly humming Phantom Planet’s “California”.
1:43 - Casey makes a dumb joke about her name that I will ignore because she’s cuter than Sophia Bush covered in puppies.
1:36 - Somewhere in San Francisco, the lead singer of Third Eye Blind just stepped back from that ledge, my friend.
1:30 - She starts singing Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles”, directly at Simon (because she knows the score). Michelle Branch immediately retires.
1:25 - Simon smiles the smile of a man who just found ten million dollars in his jeans pocket. And somewhere in LA, Vanessa Hudgens grips Zac Efron’s hand a bit tighter.
1:22 - There it is. Casey sees it, gets it, and begins considering potential hairstyles for the Idol finale. Maybe an up-do, with some surprise bangs? (Did you catch the little knee bend she does after making the face? Totes uh doors.).
:51 The judges jump all over themselves to send her to Hollywood. The room REEKS of synergy.
:27 - Casey breaks down into happy tears, and skips out of the room. I take a cold shower.
Back to the moment… So, yeah, does she kind of resemble the Wicked Witch of WeHo in that moment to such a degree that my soul is liquified worse than when I look at the KINGS poster?
Sure. But when she also resembles this, I’m OK with it:
In that Reese-faced moment, Casey got the golden ticket and the backing of Simon Cowell, the support of Kara (cause even her staunch feminism can recognize and respect a Kat McPhee) and all but assured herself a place in the Top 36, my list of Early American Idol Favorites, and the hearts of every pseudo-Seth Cohen walking the planet.
(It also doesn’t hurt that, apparently, she’s a bikini model. Somewhere in Burbank studio apartment, Antonella Barba just changed her Myspace mood to “hopeful” to “sour”.)
Mark my words, I will be TiVo single-blooping Casey Carlson until May.
Bangarang!
