I'm competitive to a fault, so of course every week I'm just like, "I want to win, I want to do great."

I got to play with ZZ Top and introduce Bryan Adams and George Michael. And to have it all topped off by me winning 'American Idol?!' It's pretty absurd.

There's definitely a visual aspect and an emotional aspect to a song. And that harks back, for me, to theater.

My brothers are my backbone. My parents are my oxygen. I can't live without them.

I knew at the time my haircut was pretty damn god-awful, so I was just hoping that I wasn't one of the joke ones. And they put me through to Hollywood and I thought, "Well okay, maybe I'm still one of the joke ones but at least I'm not terrible?"

Enjoy the experience, don't just experience the experience

If you wanna know the truth, you make or break my day. If you wanna know the truth, I wouldn't have it any other way.