Idol Review – Blogging American Idol 2011

JPL: Essentially what happens is it starts on Thursday where you pick a song. You rehearse it on Friday, and then Saturday, you do a little more rehearsal, and then Sunday, you’re doing a commercial. Monday you’re getting ready for your song and dance number, and you do a little more rehearsal and then on that Tuesday you perform. And the song selection process is really simple, where you give them five songs that you want to sing, and they come back and say, you can clear one of these songs. And sometimes you can get all five and sometimes you can’t. This year they’re able to clear a lot more songs than they could when I was on the show.

IR: What was your process in choosing your songs? How did you choose, say you got all five of them cleared, then how would you choose what to sing?

JPL: It was kind of whatever moved me the most. Like when I did some of those Elvis songs, I just kind of jumped up and started moving, jumping around the moment that I heard them, and I was like ‘alright, these are the ones.’” They were compelling me to get up off my feet and dance around, and I thought, if it’s compelling me to do that, it will compel other people to do that. Those are the ones that I chose.

IR: Were there ever any songs that you wanted to sing on the show but they either never got cleared or the theme wasn’t right?

JPL: Oh, yes. There were so many times. I wanted to sing so many Van Morrison songs, and I could never clear any Van Morrison songs. I wanted to sing every Beatles song in the songbook and I couldn’t back then. A lot of my number one choices I never was able to sing, but since then have actually been aired on show.

IR: Are contestants given a stipend while they are performing on the show, or any sort of food or clothing allowances?

JPL: Yeah, they are. It’s my guess it is probably different this year. I’m sure they get a clothing budget from the moment they start the show. For my season, you start to get paid the moment you’re in the top 24, because you’re paid by AFTRA, so the union makes sure that you get paid something. And then, and then you get a clothing budget. And when I was on, it was like 450 bucks, something like that. I’m sure it’s like double that amount now.

IR: And did you go shopping for your own clothes or did you go with a fashion consultant or someone you could ask?

JPL: Yeah, there was a stylist with us.

IR: Where did you guys live when you were on the show?

JPL: We lived in a big house together. We were the last season they did the mansion. But now they have apartments that they move into. After my season they realized who cared about everybody living in a big mansion together? There weren’t cameras everywhere in this big mansion.

IR: Right, it’s not Big Brother.

JPL: No, it definitely isn’t Big Brother. People weren’t excited about us living in a mansion. And believe me, I wasn’t necessarily excited about living in this mansion. This mansion was the testament to the fact that money cannot buy taste. This thing looked like five architects got into a fist fight and drew it up. It was interesting.

IR: How much of the show is really produced? And are you ever encouraged to talk back to Simon? Are your questions very pre-orchestrated, or how much of it is improv-ed in the moment?

JPL: Everything’s improv-ed. You never get any prompts from the producers to talk back to anybody or you’re not manipulated into being angry at somebody. Nobody ever came to me and said, ‘well, so-and-so said this about you.’ It was never that way. It’s not a show about creating drama backstage. The drama comes from the fact that you’re on stage in front of millions of people and whether or not you are going to perform well. That’s the drama. And also the drama is in what is Simon going to say about it. It’s not about what are you going to say back to him. All that stuff is just bonus. Simon’s reaction and Paula’s and Randy’s judgments, that’s the drama, so they don’t really need to manipulate that.

IR: Have you been a fan of show since you were on? Do you have any favorite seasons or contestants that you have been rooting for?

JPL: I’d never seen the show before I was on Idol. And I didn’t see season 4, but I’ve seen all of season 5 and 6. And 7 so far. Some of my favorite contestants? I have a lot of favorites this year, actually. I like a lot of the contestants this year. They seem like good folks, so far. But they all seem like good folks in the beginning and then I’m not so sure towards the end, but then again, maybe that’s just TV.

IR: Do you keep in touch with anyone from your season?

JPL: Yeah, I talk with Matt Rogers. He’s not a really popular guy from my season.

IR: Oh, I remember Matt.

JPL: You remember Matt. Matt was one of my favorite people. You know, now he’s got like three hosting shows on the Discovery Channel now. He is one of my good buddies. He’s a cool guy.

IR: What advice would you give to any future Idol contestants as to how to use the show’s publicity to their best advantage?

JPL: I’d say, be very clear about what kind of record you want to make when the show’s done, regardless of what place you come in. And if you’re clear on that, then you’re going to be in good shape when it’s all over.

IR: Would you ever go back on the show to perform your new music?

JPL: Yeah, absolutely I would.

IR: So you think that’s a good way to keep your name out there.

JPL: Oh, yeah. It’s never bad to be in front of 30 million people no matter what the show is. You know, it doesn’t matter. If Jim Carey will stand up and wear an elephant costume, you know, there’s definitely some power there.

IR: So you have a new single coming out tomorrow [March 18], I believe?

JPL: That’s correct. It’s called Break the Silence. You know, the music video’s on my MySpace. You can also preview the song there and. The record is also going to be called Break the Silence, which releases June 3.

IR: How would you describe the album?

JPL: It’s moody pop music. It’s definitely a little melancholy, but it’s positive at the same time. It won’t make you depressed.

IR: What was your experience like making that album?

JPL: It was fantastic. I love being in the studio. I love creating music. I love being with really competent musicians and just figuring the whole thing out. It’s painful but fun at the same time. And stressful, but rewarding. It’s really great.

IR: How long did it take to make?

JPL: Well, we started talking about it last July. And we really started work on it last Fall doing heavy preproduction. And then January is when we started full production on it.

IR: Do you have any live performances scheduled?

JPL: I’ve got a few shows coming up soon. I’m going to be doing a lot of radio shows, and those tour dates will be announced shortly on my website and my MySpace.
Also, make sure to tell everybody that Idol Camp is going to be June 15th to the 21st.

IR: Have you ever been to the Idol Camp before?
JPL: Yeah, I was at Idol Camp last year.

IR: How was that?