Lloyd Bishop/NBCBefore she was a Grammy winner, Maren Morris was an aspiring artist hoping to make it big on American Idol.
The 29-year-old singer recalled her "very traumatic" audition on Wednesday's episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers.
"The Middle" star tried out for the show at the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas when she was 17.
"You don't see Paula [Abdul] and Simon [Cowell] and Randy [Jackson] in the first go audition. It's like a stadium cattle call," she said. "You audition for, like, a 20-year-old producer who probably has no music cred. You just sing for like eight seconds and sing your heart out."
However, Morris said her entire group was cut and she had to do "the walk of shame."
"I just remember being, like, 17, and I had to, like, walk through the walk of shame out to the parking lot and find my mom's car and just cry on the way home with her," she said. "But, I mean, it all worked out."
This wasn't the only time Morris auditioned for a televised competition. She also tried out for Star Search, The Voice and America's Got Talent.
"It was all a no," she said.
Still, she managed to find the silver lining in the experience.
"The poetic justice of that whole thing is that now people, like, audition with my songs on those shows," she said. "So, I just get the check in the mail."
Watch the video to see her interview.
(E! and NBC are both part of NBCUniversal).