Among all the applicants on site at Kulturhuset in Stockholm is 23-year-old Agnes Sanzén Ekelund from Lund. Before she steps into the Idol jury and sings Cherry Blossom by Lana del Rey, we get to know her story, where years of bullying and exclusion marked her.
– My self-confidence has been quite low, in ninth grade I was quite lonely. It was also only then that it became apparent that my classmates didn’t like me that much. It was clear to me that they thought I was strange and ugly, says Agnes in a feature in Idol.
“Why couldn’t I be a musician or an artist?”
Agnes was born with a cleft palate and four years ago she had jaw surgery.
– The fact that I was deviant in that way in my appearance was a contributing cause, probably to the fact that others and myself thought I did not look the way I should, she says.
– Of course it settles down. I made it a kind of truth, that I was ugly. So I started to embrace it instead, she continues.
When she started high school, the turning point came. Then she made friends – and sang solo in front of people for the first time. She still describes singing for others as “scary as shit”, even though the self-confidence today is different.
– Why couldn’t I be a musician or an artist? she says.
And then we see Agnes, who thought she would be much more nervous than she actually was, walking away from her Idol audition with a golden ticket in hand.
– I thought “I greet the jury as if they were my friends” and tried not to have any expectations. It was only now when I watched the episode that I realized that the jury said great things, in the moment it was hard to take in that they thought it was beautiful. I mostly waited for a yes or no, says Agnes now to TV4.
Glad her story got space on Idol
She emphasizes that she is happy that her story was given the space it was given in the program.
– I think there are people who can relate to what I’m talking about, that you are in an exclusion but then you are part of a sunshine story. It will be good in the end. Today my life is completely different, I enjoy myself and being able to exist, says Agnes.
Even before the episode aired in the TV box, Agnes has received a response from viewers.
– There is already one person who has written to me, who was touched by my story. It’s so nice that people get in touch and are grateful for sharing. I think it can have a positive impact on many who watch. After all, I give a little of myself and then it opens up for others to share and give back, she says.
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Swedish music entertainment where unknown talents get the chance to show what they can do in front of a critical jury.