American Idol runner-up La'Porsha Renae is opening up about her experience on the show.
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Idol host Ryan Seacrest declared Trent Harmon, a 25-year-old waiter from Amory, MS, the farewell season's winner last week after he received more home viewer votes following the final performance show than La'Porsha, a 22-year-old call representative from McComb, MS.
During a recent conference call with reporters, La'Porsha talked about her time on Idol. Below is what she had to say.
To read more from La'Porsha's interview, click here and here.
If you could flash back for a minute or two. First of all, when you were eight-years-old and the first Idol came on, what struck you about it at the time, and did you think right away, "I'm going to be on it someday?" And then the other time is when you were 16 and you tried out for the show. What was that like?
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La'Porsha Renae: Okay, so when I was eight, I was watching Kelly Clarkson, and it definitely struck me as, "This is something I could possibly do when I'm old enough." So, I started working towards that, and when I finally turned the age that was appropriate to try out for the show, 16, I went to the cattle call in New Orleans. I got a standing ovation from the stadium, and I didn't make it through.
The producers said, "No." They said I was young, that I could come back and try out again, which worked out in my favor because at that time, I didn't really have much to sing about. And so, life happened between those years, and when I came back this time, I sang with a lot of depth and emotion. I was able to emote that to my fans.
Are you planning on going back to your small town in Mississippi or will you be relocating to Los Angeles or Nashville to record your album?
La'Porsha Renae: I'm not really sure where I'm going to be. I'm not sure if I'm relocating to Los Angeles, but I definitely can say that I plan on relocating from Mississippi very, very soon. So, that's still in the air.
I don't know if you keep up with local news in Mississippi, but do you have any opinion or thoughts on the controversial bill that was passed that's considered anti-LGBT. Have you heard about that at all?
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La'Porsha Renae: No, I haven't heard about it. The only thing I've been aware of is that there was also controversy about the Confederate flag.
Does any of that factor into your decision to leave Mississippi and move somewhere else?
La'Porsha Renae: No. My main focus in wanting to leave was because of my abusive situation and just wanting to start over with me and my daughter. But, you know, those are the type of issues I'm talking about in trying to -- okay, this is how I feel about the LGBT community.
They are people just like us, you know, they're not animals, as someone stated before. They're people with feelings -- although all of us may not agree with that particular lifestyle for religious reasons or whatever the reason is. You should still treat each other with an amount of respect, you know?
I mean, everybody is just a human being and we should be able to co-exist with one another. And that really shouldn't matter when doing so, so that's how I feel about that.
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And I am one of the people who don't really agree with that lifestyle. I wasn't brought up that way. It wasn't how I was raised, but I do have a lot of friends and a lot of people that I love dearly who are gay and homosexual, and they're such sweet, nice people. So, we should just respect each other and respect each other's differences and move on.
When you are performing, you have such emotion and just pure talent that radiates and comes across. How do you channel your emotions through your performances and connect the songs to all of that?
La'Porsha Renae: Any time I was allowed to, I chose my own song. I tried to choose songs that I connected with and that I related to and that I felt like would inspire people and make them feel good inside. Even though you are, as an artist, supposed to get into character and be able to convey a message in a song, I think it's very important that you have some kind of relevance with that song choice.
Any final words, La'Porsha?
La'Porsha Renae: Thank you for allowing us to take your time and being interested in what we have to say. Thank you for your support, too, throughout this whole entire thing.
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To read more from La'Porsha's post-Idol interview, click here and here.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski