The Glee Project: Interview with Contestant McKynleigh Abraham

SPOILER ALERT! Do not read if you have not seen Episode 4 of The Glee Project.

McKynleigh Abraham was eliminated from Episode 4. Catch up on missed episodes in the slice.ca video centre. Watch on Slice on Sundays at 9pm ET/6pm PT.

Q: So we were wondering on your walk to the callback sheet, you said you struggled with the same thing all season. What that was in your mind?

McKynleigh Abraham: In my mind, my struggle through the whole season was connecting to the camera. Because that's what the mentors kept telling me I was having problems with. And it seemed like I hadn't really gotten better at connecting with the camera. So it seemed like that was what I'd been struggling with the most.

Q: Your "last chance" performance was amazing. Did you feel after you had delivered that you had saved yourself or were you nervous? How were you feeling at that moment?

McKynleigh Abraham: I honestly didn't feel like I had saved myself because I was in the bottom three with, you know, Alex and Matheus. And I mean they hadn't been having any problems pretty much. I mean the whole time that they were there, they were winning homework assignments and getting called first and all that.

So I felt like out of the two of them I was lagging behind the most. And so I knew that, you know, even if I did do a really good job on my "last chance" performance, I felt like, you know, they weren't just going to take into account my performance. They were going to take into account the whole time that I'd been there in comparison to the other people that were in the bottom three.

So I was kind of in the mindset of, I'm going to get out there and do my best. But, you know, if it doesn't save me, then at least I went out with a bang. And if it does save me, then that's awesome. I was just kind of accepting whatever came.

Q: If you could go back, would there be anything you would do differently?

McKynleigh Abraham: If I could go back? Maybe. It was a difficult note that I was continuously given, you know, that I wasn't connecting to the camera. And that's a difficult note because, you know, I've been doing stage performance for like 16 years. And I've never done anything on camera before.

And so I would probably try harder, you know, and try harder to understand what they wanted from me because instead of just taking it as an automatic defeat which is, you know, unfortunately what I did. I took it as a well, there's no way that I can fix what you want me to fix, you know, in a week. And I think that if I could go back, I would definitely, you know, strip down everything that could be the problem and try to figure out what it is and try to fix what they wanted me to.

Q: What was your favourite moment on the show?

McKynleigh Abraham: My favourite moment on the show was living with all of the contenders. I was home schooled and I have a sister but I'm, you know, seven years apart from her. So I missed that sense of like, you know, living with people and getting that social level that I didn't get when I was in high school.

So it was like the high school I never had and the siblings that I never had that were my age. And I thought that was a lot of fun. And I, you know, we all became really close and we all became really good friends. And even though it was a competition, we were all kind of supporting each other along the way. We were definitely one big family.

We would have conflicts and then we would get over them and then we'd have fun and then we'd have more conflicts. But I mean we were a family. And we all loved each other no matter what.

Q: If you could have picked any song to perform for Ryan Murphy and the judges, which song would you have picked and why?

McKynleigh Abraham: Well, it's funny. It would be between one of two songs. And one of the songs that I would have picked is actually the song I got to sing. "Last Name" is one of my favourite songs. It's a song that I have competed with before. And it's a song that I definitely get to show my personality with and I get to be sassy with it and it's a fun song to perform. And so I was actually really, really happy with that. That's actually a song I would have chosen.

My second song that I probably would have chosen is "Fancy" by Reba McIntyre. I really enjoy that song because it requires you to really get into the song and really portray a character of the type of person the song is about. And I really enjoy performing that song, too.

Q: Who in the cast would you say you got along with best?

McKynleigh Abraham: I got along the best with Samuel. We were really, really good friends. And we Skype now all the time and text each other. And we're still in contact. But Sam was definitely one of my best friends on the show.

Q: When you watched the episode, what surprised you? Did any of the other contenders or mentors make comments that you hadn't been aware of at the time?

McKynleigh Abraham: Well, you know, I was surprised by two things that happened on the show last night. I was surprised when Alex said that he had basically thrown the homework challenge. I had heard about how that happened like some of the contenders had mentioned it.

And they were talking about it. And I wasn't there so, you know, I didn't really know exactly what happened. So seeing it on TV and seeing the way that it happened, it was kind of like a oh, all right. So that's how it happened, you know.

And that surprised me, you know, because I always knew that Alex was, you know, kind of the diva but I didn't think that he was that arrogant. I just thought he was just a stereotypical diva. But yeah, that surprised me.

And also, Sam his little thing where he took Hannah's word "skadoosh" in the rap. That kind of surprised me too because I thought that he had, you know, given Hannah credit for coming up with what he said. But he definitely accepted it as his own, so that kind of surprised me too.

But other than that, we were all pretty open with each other and everything went along the way that I thought it would.

Q: How did you get into the groove of rapping since you're more of a country girl?

McKynleigh Abraham: Well I was making jokes. I was thinking of it well, I guess I'll have to get in touch with my dad's side of the family, you know. I was like, I'll have to sort of tap into my inner gangster. But it was definitely difficult, definitely weird but I just kind of did my best. And I felt like an idiot the entire time I was doing it. But I tried my best.

Q: What's happening next with your career? Is there anything specifically that you want to pursue next?

McKynleigh Abraham: Well, I have a love for performing on stage and doing musical theatre and stuff like that. I've been doing musical theatre for 13 years. I really have a love for the live stage. And I'm going to school next month. I'm transferring to Northern Kentucky University in the Bachelor of Fine Arts Program for Performing Arts. It's where I'll be for the next three years, you know, just working on my performing and trying to, you know, get what I need to get my career started and knowing the technicalities of everything and what I want to go into.

I'm really focused on school right now but I'm not going to stop my singing career and performing. You know, I want to get out there. This isn't the end of the road for me. I'm sure I won't let it be. I'm definitely going to pursue my career. Right now I'm just focusing on school but, you know, I don't know what the future's going to bring.

Watch The Glee Project on Slice on Sundays at 9pm ET/6pm PT. Read all of The Glee Project Interviews and visit the show page on slice.ca.