It would be unfair of me to begin this article on the day Brooklyn auditioned for The Next Star. Brooklyn’s preparation for this competition started years ago. From a very young age Brooklyn had the desire to perform. She started in acting classes when she was about five years old. Back then she had no problem memorizing short scripts and choreography.
Around the age of seven Brooklyn became interested in singing competitions. She watched her father and grandfather compete for years. Brooklyn sang ‘Take Me Out To The Ball Game’ at the Mitchell’s Bay Singing Contest her first year. I believe she only sang the first verse and chorus but she was hooked.
Because of her passion for singing, dancing and acting Brooklyn decided to enroll in a new program in town called ‘Triple Threat’ at The Pure Dance Academy. It combined all three of her interests in one class. She absolutely loved it. She played ‘Kelsey’ in ‘High School Musical’ the first year. She didn’t have many lines but you could tell she loved her role. The next year she played Willy Wonka from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. She always wanted the lead role; it didn’t matter if they were boy roles or roles that didn’t suit her.
We believe that because of Brooklyn’s prior experience on stage including dancing, singing and acting is what gave Brooklyn the edge when she auditioned for The Next Star. When you can walk in to an audition with confidence, belt out a few songs and look the producers and judges in the eye when you are only 14 years old you will make an impression.
When Brooklyn enters a competition she takes it very seriously. She makes sure she knows what the judges are looking for. When she entered the Next Star competition she began her preparation weeks in advance. She carefully selected her audition songs so that they suited her voice and would show off her range.
Another important factor she considered was how she would dress for the competition. She knew it was a children’s program and needed to dress appropriately but she also wanted to stand out and have an edge about her. She accomplished that by adding sparkle to her outfit and wearing big trendy boots to with a nice pair of jeans. She also made sure she didn’t wear too much makeup but added some glitter to her eyes.
Brooklyn felt that one of her weaknesses would be speaking to the judges and speaking in front of the camera. In order to prepare for this she came up with a list of questions that she thought the judges might ask. Every day Brooklyn would pretend we were the judges and have us ask her questions until she felt comfortable answering them.
The closest audition city for The Next Star was in Toronto. They scheduled two days for the Toronto auditions. We thought that the lineups would be crazy long. In these competitions people line up hours in order to get a good spot in line. We knew that wouldn’t be good for Brooklyn because she isn’t a morning person. The next closest city was Montreal. There was only one day scheduled for auditions. We thought that Montreal would be a better fit for Brooklyn to get a decent night sleep and have the opportunity to warm up her voice before seeing the judges. We were right!! She had plenty of rest, warmed up her voice and had time to get ready and have a good breakfast.
Once inside we couldn’t believe how many people were there. There were little clusters of hopefuls who were practicing their songs or just anxiously waiting. Considering we were one of the last people to walk in to the room the lines moved fairly quickly. Once in front of the judges Brooklyn was asked to perform the songs that she had prepared to sing. Well from that point on you know the rest of the story if you watched the show. It was a very exciting experience!
During the seven weeks we lived in Toronto Brooklyn spent nearly every day filming the show. Most days were very long but at the end of each day Brooklyn came through the door with a smile on her face. This experience solidified for Brooklyn that the entertainment business is where she wants to be.
The top six bonded during this time and spent most of their time together. Because Brooklyn and Darren were the youngest out of the top six Brooklyn was the closest to him. The most exciting part about the competition for Brooklyn besides winning of course was the filming of her video ‘The Way I See You’.
There are a lot of irons in the fire for Brooklyn right now. Her next steps are to record her new song and video which will be released just before Christmas. She also opened up for Michelle Wright at the St. Clair Capitol Theatre in Chatham on November 16.
Coming from a small town was a bonus for Brooklyn in this competition. The media was extremely good to her. They kept her story alive throughout the entire process. Also, Brooklyn had already begun to make a name for herself around town and people already knew that she was a budding artist. Small towns seem to rally for one of their own. There’s something to be said about small town pride.
When people ask Brooklyn for advice she likes to tell them to be yourself and be as prepared as you possibly can be. Join an acting, singing and/or dancing class. Take every chance to get up on stage and be comfortable there. Enter singing competitions and find out what you did well and what you need to work on. Every experience teaches you something. You won’t always win or get the best part but you will always learn.
“Walk the widest PATH to live your biggest DREAM”
~ Brooklyn Roebuck
