American Idol (season 3) - Hollywood Week

Hollywood Week

There were 117 contestants in the first Hollywood round which was held at the Pasadena Civic Center in Pasadena, California. The contestants first came onto the stage in groups but each performed solo and talked briefly about themselves. Simon Cowell was not impressed with their performances. They were also asked to write original lyrics and melody for one of ten song titles given and perform their song the next day. After their performance, they were divided into four groups and one groups is eliminated.

In the next round, the remaining 87 contestants performed in groups in three. The girls and boys were separate and they were each given 3 different songs to choose - Girls with The Supremes' You Can't Hurry Love, Vonda Shepard's "Tell Him", Candi Staton's Young Hearts Run Free, the boys with Billy Joel's Tell Her About It, Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up, The Drifters's Up on the Roof. 30 contestants were cut and 57 then advanced to the next stage where they performed solo. The contestants were then divided into 3 group and placed in separate rooms, with one group sent home. 32 contestants remained for the semi-finals.

Hollywood rounds contestant Taryn Southern later appeared on the Project My World series and wrote and performed the 2007 "Hott4Hill" viral video.