By being in church, I saw how important people are to me. When you’re in the church you get a chance to see people going through every period of their lives. At church you see how fragile people can be. You see people who are happy and thanking God for blessings, but you also see people who have just lost their child or husband or have been diagnosed with a deadly disease. You see the most faithful people angry and questioning God’s love. Other times, you see people who are wantin’ one more chance and they are worshipping Him so strongly that you can taste their desperation. Church folks have taught me everything I know about life and happiness and sorrow, good and evil, riches and poverty. This has given me a loving view of people and that is why, to this day, I never meet a stranger. I have a loving attitude about everyone who I meet. I guess that is what makes me “country.” I’m willing to be open with the way that I feel about people. I have no strain about lovin’ people.
When I wonAmerican Idol, besides making my album, my first experience was going on theAmerican Idol tour. The Top 10 Idols performed in fifty-two cities, showcasing our talent. The press spoke so much about how generous I was with the spotlight on the tour. I never understood how I could have been any other way.
The tour began in mid-July and ended in early October in Singapore. We went to fifty-two cities. Our normal schedule was to perform one night, then travel and have the next night off. We went to fifty-two cities in North America and then went to Singapore, which was a first for the tour. We visited Salt Lake City, Utah; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cincinnati, Ohio; Sunrise, Florida; Toronto, Ontario; and Honolulu, Hawaii, just to name a few. It was an awesome chance to see America and meet the people who put us where we were.
We rehearsed for two weeks in Los Angeles before the tour started. The rehearsals were hard, but it was fun for me to be back with my other favorite Idols like Jasmine, Camille, La Toya and George, remembering and reliving all that had happened in such a short amount of time. Millions of people had watchedAmerican Idol week after week, and fans became addicted to experiencing the ups and downs of regular people living their dreams. TheAmerican Idol tour is a way for the audience to see their favorite singers and enjoy watching everyone perform without having to worry about who will get eliminated and end up being crushed at the end of the night.
When the tour rehearsals first started, I naïvely thought the songs had been divided equally among everyone. When I looked at the song list, I had a bunch of songs. They basically had me doing the whole show. I was performing solos and duets and group numbers—it was crazy! So when it was time to go to the first official rehearsal, it seemed that the producers were trying to make it the “Fantasia Show” because I had won. I felt like it wasn’t fair because there were nine other winners there and the people didn’t only want to see me and Diana DeGarmo. I wanted to share the spotlight, so I gave up a couple of my solos. I wanted everyone to be able to have a chance to sing and beheard. We had all worked hard to get there and this was the time that everyone could show what they had. I was known for disrupting rehearsal by changing things around. I would say to the producers, “Let so and so sing that one!” or “Let him sing that, too!” We all love to sing, so I was simply givin’ props where they were due. Sharin’ the love—givin’ everyone their chance to receive the love from our audience.
Everyone in the Top 10 was so likable and so talented. We got along so well. (I know most people don’t believe that, but it’s true.) Of course, we had our disagreements, much like brothers and sisters do. We argued about what to eat, or who was late getting to the stage, or we teased each other when our hair was not done or when someone was losing or gaining weight. There were small disagreements but because of the amount of stress we were under, the disagreements often escalated into something bigger. Sometimes there was “drama”—but only until show time. One of the producers told me that we were actually the best group ever in terms of gettin’ along and lookin’ out for each other.
Sometimes, the Idols were sick of seein’ each other because we were sick of ourselves. We would see each other in passing and joke, “You haven’t gone home yet?” We were gettingtired. There was not a lot to do when we weren’t singing or on the bus. Jasmine, John, and Diana were all traveling with their mothers. Amy Adams was engaged
