by Gina Scarpa

 

On last night's episode of The Glee Project, Emily found herself in the bottom three along with Cameron and Damian. The theme was "Vulnerability" and Emily had a powerful story to share but couldn't seem to focus during the video shoot. Her performance of "Grenade" was not enough to wow the judges, who felt least emotionally connected to her. She was not on the callback list and today, we spoke to her in an exclusive interview about her time on The Glee Project.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What was your performance experience prior to trying out for The Glee Project?
A. Emily: I went to Laguardia High School and I was a vocal major. I was in the musical shows they would have. I was in West Side Story and Hair and that's what, I guess, helped me train for this. If it wasn't for that, I'd be a hot mess. I went to Abrons Art Center and took dance lessons. All that training is what's helped me out on the show.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Are you a fan of Glee?
A. Emily: Yes! I love Glee! I've watched it since the first episode and I remember watching it and being like, "Wow, this is amazing! Why can't I be in this?" When I heard they were having auditions, I sent a little video in through my manager. They give you 16 bars to sing so I sang a litlte song and I couldn't believe that I was getting selected to have a callback. Going in there, I was like, "No one is going to stop me." Really believing in myself really helped me out. I always used to doubt myself.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did you become close to some of your fellow contestants?
A. Emily: Yes, Alex, Marissa, and Matheus and Hannah. I love Alex and Marissa because they're not closedminded. Marissa is from New York, Alex is from Boston. I just love their personalities.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: I really liked this week's video, "Mad World". It was really cool to see everyone just be themselves, open and honest. What did you think of it?
A. Emily: It was hard for me, to be honest. I said something really scary and I knew that my family was going to see it. It was hard but watching the video, it was so beautiful.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Speaking of, how did your family react to the episode?
A. Emily: They let me show my family because they knew it was really an intense thing. I showed them so they were ready for it. It was hard. My mom and dad and little brother were crying. No one wants to see their daughter or sister going through that. It was hard.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What was the disconnect during the video shoot? Were you having a hard time because it was uncomfortable for you or because you just felt distracted by everything else around you?
A. Emily: It's truly because, admitting this for the first time and wearing a sign, it hurts. It's really hard. I didn't feel like I took that long to get back into it but I respect them. I was joking because I don't like people seeing me like that.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you feel about Lindsay this week? You, Alex, Hannah, Marissa... a lot of you were revealing really personal things and she was over in the corner, talking about how she's a trophy.
A. Emily: I think you saw my reaction. I was like, "Oh, here we go!" That's how she feels!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: I really thought she was going to be in the bottom three this week.
A. Emily: I knew it was me. I could tell. I read people. I feel like I had one of the harder ones. I wish I would just have gotten a warning but I knew.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: It seems like, on this show, you can get eliminated for how you act during the rehearsals or video shoot. It's not just about how you sing, dance, and act. Were you surprised at that?
A. Emily: I was disappointed but... it's hard because you always have to be on point. They can target you for any little thing. It's hard to be perfect all the time. You might make a statement you don't mean. I didn't think what I was doing affected my performance. But I respect them because they know what they're doing.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What do you want to do now, career-wise?
A. Emily: I really want to be a pop star, a recording artist. I want to go on tour, travel the world, and have my own reality show with it. I like to be down to earth and real. To be a pop star and have my own reality show would be amazing.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What are you up to now and can fans stay in touch with you?
A. Emily: Yeah, you can find me on Oyxgen and there's links to my Facebook and Twitter. This week, I'm going to put a song out. It's my first single and it's fun. It's going to be on iTunes.

 

The Glee Project airs Sundays at 9/8c on Oxygen.

 

(Image courtesy of Oxygen)

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa