Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks and runner-up Blake Lewis did post-finale interviews with the press on Friday. You can download the audio of the entire satellite interview from Starry Constellation magazine. Here is the Blake Lewis downloadable interview.
Blake says that he didn’t look at the competition as winning or losing–that he tried to go out and perform well each day. However, Blake says that “In a sense, I’m kind of glad I didn’t win for contractual reasons…I honestly didn’t care about winning or losing. I call myself a winner just by getting into the Top 10.”
Read Highlights after the jump, including what he plans to perform on the tour.
- He has no regrets about any of his performances. Each week was a different experience. Performing with Doug E. Fresh on the finale was a highlight for Blake–he wasn’t nervous at all.
- Blake says the song, “This Is My Now” is definitely not his style. He thinks they should have had two songs that fit both of them. But, he’s very happy with second place.
- Blake says he’ll be talking to people in New York when he’s there to get his album underway.
- He feels the Bon Jovi song, “You Give Love a Bad Name” represents his Idol experience best out of all of his performances. He put the most work into that song. The other two songs he re-arranged and put a lot of work into were “You Keep Me Hanging On” and “This Is Where I Came In.”
- Which previous Idol would he like to base his career on? “None of them, I want to set my own path.”
- Blake met Doug E. Fresh a month ago when he came to the show to support Akon and Gwen Stefani. They did some “question and answering”–beatboxing in the hallway after the show. Blake says it was a “real magical moment.” At that point he really wanted to perform with him.
- He thinks the show needs to feature more contemporary artists if they want to remain successful.
- Blake says, standing on stage, it’s hard to hear the judges. After their comments, he “bit his tongue.” He really did not like criticism after singing a song, but he took it for what it was and just moved on to his next song.
- He was scared for country week and felt lucky to sing “When the Stars Go Blue.” He feels his Bon Jovi song was his most successful song choice. He thinks that choosing “Somewhere Only We Know” to sing when everyone thought he was just a beatboxer was a smart move.
- He would love to do character acting, voice overs and improv comedy. He loves doing live performing.
- You can see Blake performing different characters at moistcupcake.com, his friend’s improv site.
- He never thought he’d “get to this moment, ever.” He picked Jordin to be the winner early on. He’s completely satisfied with coming in second on the show. He would have also been satisfied with coming in 4th or 5th or 6th…His goal was to make the Top 10 so that he could go on tour.
- He doesn’t watch a lot of TV.
- He says he’s “tactless and honest” like Simon sometimes.
- He was in choir during middle school. In high school he did some acting and more choir. He started beatboxing during an open mike during lunch. After high school, he did open mikes at clubs where he met musicians that he still works with today.
- Coming into the show he was told that they “loved his style.” He hit it off with the AI stylist, Miles Siggins “really great.” Miles helped him pick clothes that would look good on camera. He had met the designer Ashton Michaels on one of the Ford video shoots. He said, “Wow, we have the same style.” Blake went to his shop and Michaels started making clothes for him.
- The truth is that he’s only TRIED to make his own pants. He does not have a complete pair that he has made yet. He hopes that Ashton can help him learn how to make his own pants.
- About selling out: He feels he has represented himself and stayed true to himself through the whole entire process. Blake says he’s never had a fan base, “I don’t think you can sell out before you even have a fan base.”
- He’d like to release an album of “electro-pop.” He says he is very much a child of the 80’s and loves performers like Duran Duran and Michael Jackson. It will also have melodic jazzy influences like Maroon 5 and Jamiroquai.
- He thinks he’ll be moving to LA for awhile. He’s been “meaning to move to LA for 5 years.” But, Seattle is his home, and he will eventually end up back there.
From MTV:
- About the tour: “I’m very excited about the tour, because I get to use my loop pedals and my guitar. We’re all playing instruments this time…But everyone plays a different instrument, like Chris Richardson plays drums; he’s been playing drums for, like, 15 years. [Chris] Sligh plays guitar, Phil [Stacey] can play keyboard, I play guitar and keyboard, bass. For me, I’m excited because I’m gonna do a one-man band show because I have all my loop pedals from beatboxing and then I play guitar and sing over that, so I’m gonna do kind of like a little medley that I used to do — the only two songs that I used to ever cover. One of them I sang on the show.”
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What is he talking about “never had a fanbase”? He should be more grateful to the masses of tweentards that voted for him.
He meant a fanbase before Idol. I listened to the interview. The question was how he responds to people in Seattle who claim he sold out by going on AI and his response was how can one sell out when they didn’t have a fanbase to begin with.
I agree with this comment:
The song certainly did favor Jordin’s voice over Blake’s. Being the last song, the difference between Blake and Jordin’s performance was huge in everyone’s mind. He would never sing that kind of song after AI. It just doesn’t suit his voice.
I think Jordin did want to win and Blake not so much. Good for both that they got what they wanted.
Well considering it’s the #4 most downloaded song on iTunes, I would say he’s right. :)
Go Team Plaid!
Am I considered a “tweentard” since I’m 34?
I’m going to miss seeing Blake every week on the show. I’m so happy that he went till the end. It’s funny that someone like him who didn’t even watch the show could go so far. You’d think by this time everyone would have their strategies all mapped out.
Blake seems like such a regular guy. Hope he gets all he wants. Jordin also.
Yep. And, at 27, I’ll count myself as a pre-tweentard. :)
I’m pleasantly at peace with the results of Idol this year. I think it would’ve been really hard for Blake if he had won, with so many people criticizing him for what he wasn’t (which we saw some of last week). And, at the same time, the win is perfect for Jordin, who seems to have a great presentation and personality to represent Idol without embarassment. So far.
Right, because any blunder she makes can be waved away with the “but she’s just 17!!!111!1!1!1!!!!!” excuse.
Anyway, yes Blake was talking about his pre-AI fanbase when talking about not having a big fanbase to begin with. Amazing how people can read two totally different things into a statement. I guess it depends on your pre-conceived ideas of that person in the first place.
I guess I’m a pre-tweentard as well, considering I’m 26.
ETA:
That’s “She Will Be Loved”, right?
Re: Blake selling out. Here’s the quote from the Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003722216&slug=blake26&date=20070525
I love the dig at “This is My No(w). Heh.
Oh, and add me to the list of the thirty-something tweentards!
I’m loving the way he describes how his album will sound!
Signed,
a 28 year old tweentard
That sounds awesome! Can’t wait for his record, really.
Signed,
32 year old tweentard. Heh.