I was 16-years-old when I appeared on 'American Idol,' and the show was my boot camp. It was a crazy, stressful at times, experience.

Even though it was a stressful time in my life, I have a lot of good memories from my Idol experience.

I always make a wish at 11:11, even if its something cheesy.

A lot of people who wanted to audition for Idol have asked me: “What should I do?” or “How to I prepare myself?” I always told them: “Just go in and believe in yourself.”

I was born in America, but I consider myself a Filipino.

The thing that I did not like about being signed to a label was I unable to have control over what I wanted to do.

My friends are mostly familiar with music that plays on the mainstream radio.