It turns out hundreds of real singers feel like their time was wasted rehearsing for a bit on Nathan Fielder‘s “The Rehearsal.” The controversial meta HBO series includes a Season 2 sequence where aspiring singers would compete in front of real pilots who were serving as judges. Titled “Wings of Voice,” the faux show within a show apparently really did dupe plenty of wannabe stars, including former 2022 “The Voice” contestant Lana Love.
Love told Variety that she is tossing her non-disclosure agreement with HBO to the wind in order to “voice” her need for justice against Fielder and the series itself. “I’m legally not allowed to have this conversation with you right now, because I signed an NDA,” she told the outlet, adding of the network, “They don’t really have ground to stand on.”
A representative for HBO told IndieWire they did not have anything to add regarding Love’s claims. According to Love, the “Rehearsal” casting director scouted former “America’s Got Talent” would-be contestants who had previously auditioned for the ABC reality series. Those people were then targeted to audition for “Wings of Voice” (A Reddit thread in the “America’s Got Talent” forum seemed to confirm this.) Love cited that she estimates there were more than 1,000 people auditioning for “Wings of Voice,” all of whom did not realize it was a faux show. Contestants were told that the winner of “Wings of Voice” would perform with a Grammy-winning singer. The auditions took place in summer 2024.
Love said that the “only abnormal thing is that we auditioned for an airline pilot” and there were “no cameras visible in the room.” Love added that she would have to wait for three to four hours and only be able to sing public domain songs such as “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” and “Yankee Doodle.” She personally paid to travel from New York to Los Angeles three times under the guise of auditioning for the show; Love told told Variety that she “spent $5,500 on travel, lodging and hair and makeup across her three trips to L.A.” and lost out on her salary taking time for work as a vocal teacher.
“I signed up to be a singer, not a lab rat,” Love said. However, she has “no resentment” toward series creator Fielder. “I’m not sure if he’s a psychopath or a genius. He might be showing us our flaws through him.”
For the third taping, Love was sent a SAG-AFTRA contract, which she refused to sign as it stated that ownership for the songs would be retained by the show’s producers as opposed to the artists. “I went to the producers and said, ‘This needs to be changed, or I walk. I can’t do this unless you give me an addendum, not just for me but for every songwriter in this room,’” she said. “And they did within the hour.”
She was paid $1,250 for the third taping, which allegedly included more than 10 hours of rehearsal and one day of filming. Love claimed that other contestants who were fitted for costumes and stood on stage for hours lip-syncing were paid background actor rates of $180. Regardless, the “Rehearsal” of it all was wasted.
