Nicole Scherzinger has joked she would have been "Ethnic Chanting Spice" if she'd made it into the Spice Girls.
While she is a glamorous star these days, in her youth Nicole was proud to be a Goth who dressed only in black. She also worked as a backing singer for a rock band, so was sceptical when her mother suggested she tried out for a singing reality TV show.
"I was so theater at the time I was like, 'I am not going to be a Spice Girl.' That is just not me," she laughed to Notion magazine.
"I mean I'm a Spice Girls fan now, but at the time I only wore black and I was Goth. I would have been Goth Spice. Ethnic Chanting Spice, that's who I thought I was."
Despite her doubts, Nicole went on to win the program with her band Eden's Crush.
She is now thankful that her family encouraged her to audition, even though she gets embarrassed when she thinks of all the home footage she included on her initial tape.
After Eden's Crush disbanded the star went on to front The Pussycat Dolls and is now enjoying a solo career.
Although things are going well for her, the 34-year-old is happy to admit she still makes mistakes.
"I passed on [Rihanna and Calvin Harris track] We Found Love," she explained. "I got the demo of that song and I was busy at the time.
"They’d sent me a few dance tracks and I wasn’t able to get to them and I was like, 'Oh, there’s so much dance and I want to take a break from it.' That was my fault. I slept on it."
