Royal Oak's Drew Machak Reflects on 'Surreal' Experience on 'Idol'

The only glimpse we caught of local resident Drew Machak on Thursday night's American Idol Hollywood audition show was of his back turned to the camera.

Producers had edited in a scene of him opening his hotel room curtains to a sunny California day, and by the time Machak did his interview off stage after his performance, he said he knew then they'd never show his face.

Why? Machak said he just didn't think he acted dramatic enough on a show with a history of elevating extreme behavior.

"Some people were so upset when they didn't get through," Machak said. "And when they asked me how I felt, I was just like, 'Nerves got me. It is what it is.' "

Indeed, Machak had just gotten booted off of the pre-taped show quietlya – and invisibly – after singing a mash-up of "What's Going On?" by Marvin Gaye and "This Love" by Maroon 5.

He said producers asked him during his post-audition interview if he was "mad," to which he said he replied, "No, not really."

"I guess I just didn't act horrible enough" to get attention, Machak said.

His reaction is not surprising considering his Idol experience that started last summer with his first audition in front of the judges in Milwaukee.

Machak, 20, who is a 2008 graduate of Detroit Country Day High School and is the lead singer for the local band The Blue Effect, had gone to the Idol audition to support his good friend and fellow Country Day graduate Keith Honda. Honda always had wanted to be on the show and figured the two would stand out if they sang a duet. The plan worked, but judges ended up picking the less-interested Machak.

Machak told Royal Oak Patch in recent weeks that the decision tore him up inside for Honda, who also is a talented singer. "That really made the whole experience bad for me," Machak said of his friend not making it to Hollywood like he did.

Still, Machak called the whole Hollywood experience "surreal" and marveled at how serious people took the competition. He said he also realized how difficult it is to actually make it. He acknowledged that two other contestants he became good friends with in Hollywood had much better voices than he did.

"They didn't even make it," Machak said.

Machak said Friday evening that he still was not allowed to talk about anything specific with the Hollywood audition process – he couldn't even talk about the food, saying only that he "ate well."

As Machak flew to Hollywood (he said he couldn't even give the date he was there), there also were several Idol contestants on the same flight. A total of about 330 contestants made it to Hollywood for the first round, and judges dismissed half of them during Thursday night's show.

The show paid for his airfare and hotel, but pretty much let him loose after the judges dismissed him, he said.

It wasn't the dismissal that upset him, or his mother, the most.

Jean Machak accompanied her son to California and even bought him a new wardrobe in anticipation that they might be there for a total of 10 days had he made it through to the second round of the Hollywood auditions. She sat in a balcony with a bright light and camera on her as Machak sang. She said she knew when she heard him, it wasn't his best performance.

 "That's what disappointed me the most, that he didn't do the best he could do," Jean Machak said. 

The same went for Machak, who admitted he was very nervous and botched the audition.

For now he's back in Lansing, where every other band member of The Blue Effect is a student at Michigan State University. Machak takes college courses online and works part time at a tea lounge. He makes the most time he can to play with the band and write his own music.

"I knew whatever happened at (American Idol), I'd come back to Lansing and keep doing what I've always wanted to do: make music."