Stephen Horst
Contestant #29017
Stephen Horst is a vocal teacher. What advice does Stephen give his students before a big audition? "To relax and to focus at the same time — to commit to what you're about to do — to live in the moment. That's all I want to do is just to live in the moment, to face the task, to tell the story — tell the story. That's what I tell — to tell the story.
Stephen sang Aerosmith's I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, including a few notes of falsetto.
Randy was harsh toward Stephen because his singing was not great, despite the fact that he's a vocal coach. After Randy said "No," Stephen got defensive over his singing and asked Randy for his honest opinion. Randy said that he would not tell anyone to go to Stephen for vocal lessons and suggested that he give all his students their money back.
Simon egged Stephen on by asking him if he was going to take that from Randy. With Simon empowering him, Stephen got a boost of confidence in himself and aggressively asked Randy why he was being so harsh on him, forcing Randy to continue ragging on Stephen.
Simon pretended to take the high ground during this audition, acting "amazed at Randy's rudeness and audacity."
