Nick Fradiani, who won American Idol's fourteenth-season, has explained to Reality TV World why he believes he will remain successful when "Idols" before him have fallen and why he was surprised to win.
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Nick, a 29-year-old musician from Guilford, CT, closed out the finale with an encore of his new single "Beautiful Life." He defeated Clark Beckham, a 22-year-old street performer from Whitehouse, TN, after receiving the majority of home viewer votes cast immediately following Tuesday night's performance show.
Now that Nick has been crowned champion, he's well aware the show has created a handful of very successful artists before him, but there's also been many former winners who fell off the map shortly after the hype of their Idol season died down.
During a Thursday conference call with reporters, Nick talked about how he plans to stay relevant and maintain his success. So is he a little worried about being taken seriously as an artist or band frontman because of the "American Idol" title that will follow him through his career?
"No, not at all. To be honest with you, to me, I think the biggest issue, the biggest thing, is the songs. I think 'American Idols' that come off the show and don't have a hit song, that makes it tough, you know? If you come off the show and the song isn't big, it takes a couple months for you to get your next single out there. That time can be damaging," Nick told Reality TV World.
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"So, one thing I'm excited for, is I think the single is going to do well. Right now, it's at No. 2 on iTunes. I hope that [my song] can continue to do well."
Nick explained there's one thing that makes him really confident as an artist.
"My songwriting ability and my ear for pop music," Nick said. "So, I'm really excited to show that off. It was a side that I wasn't able to show on American Idol. That's why it kind of shocked me that I was able to win, because my songwriting is what I consider to be my strong point. So, I think that I'm going to be able to succeed because of that."
Nick continued, "And I think one of the most important things is having the songs. You have to back it up with good songs, and I think I'm going to have that."
When Reality TV World spoke to Clark beforehand, the runner-up admitted Nick thought he was going to get eliminated from the competition almost every single week.
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Was that because of Nick's own performances and maybe a little bit of a lack of confidence? Was he maybe threatened by other contestants such as Clark or Jax?
"[It was] probably none of that, really. It's probably just a way of me mentally preparing for whatever. I think that's how I just used to react to things. And I mean, also, I was just never considered to be the -- I was kind of considered the underdog, I feel like. They really kind of had Jax and Clark up there, and they're really talented, so obviously they brought it every week," Nick explained.
"But yeah, I think that was just more of me preparing myself for whatever, you know what I mean? I don't want to go in there thinking that I'm definitely going through, so I was always just kind of like, 'Ahh, I'm probably going home.' I said that since Top 8. Since then I've been saying that."
Nick let out a laugh and then reiterated, "But no, nothing really about an intimidation thing or even down on my performances. I just think it was to prepare myself for whatever."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski