As announced in late 2011, Mann became part of the production team of the second season of the Cyber Academy, an online competition set to discover fresh talent of Hispanic roots. The singer from Vancouver will be mentoring the 18 selected contestants and will prove the judges Nurivan Reyes, Carolina Caldera and Carlos González that they have what it takes to win their own single distributed online across the world.
Mann sat down last night in an exclusive interview for the official website of the show and told us everything behind the audition process.
1. How are the auditions going so far?
The auditions are amazing, we concluded the first stage. I’m gladly impressed with the talent. Besides it’s mind-blowing to see how many Countries are involved. We got auditions from all Latin America and even a couple of European countries. No one from Canada, sadly.
2. Any Countries that stood out to you?
Well, Mexico is full of talent. But Argentina and Spain are another two countries in which pretty much all of the auditions were really good. They’re all great, it’s really up to the contestants themselves more than the Country they belong to.
3. Do you find it hard having to reject people after being in their position?
Of course it’s hard. No one wants to be the bad guy and I feel shitty having to say no to most of them. But when I got rejected in auditions in the past I took them as learning experiences, and look how far I’ve come. It’s really up to one to make your dreams happen, and you gotta knock as many doors as you can.
4. Any favourites?
Well, the 18 we will pick are gonna be my faves. One of them is chosen by popular voting through Facebook and the other one was selected through another singing competition held during the Summer. But I am equally going to support all of them. I’m here to help them become complete artists. They need to have the whole package to stand out. The Indie music industry is still about the talent, thankfully.
5. Any advice for the future contestants in this second stage of the auditions?
Yes. More than a great voice we’re looking for good people. There’s nothing harder than working with big egos, so I’m certainly not gonna put through people with diva attitudes. To succeed in this business, mainly when you’re an indie artist, you gotta be a good person.
6. When are you announcing the chosen 18 contestants?
We’re wrapping up auditions in a couple of weeks, so before the end of January. I believe the first episode airs is in the first week of February.