Cooking, to me, it's kind of therapeutic. It's completely different from music as well. I'm not amazing at it, but I can cook myself a good meal. And I'm not just saying this, but anytime I'm on the bus or at home, I'm watching Food Network or cooking on TV just 'cause it's interesting to me.
I love chicken and anything to do with chicken. I love anything that's homemade. Oh, and BBQ. And I love green beans. There is so much good food. I can go on and on and on.
Some songs are just going to be acoustic with just maybe some light background stuff going on and maybe violin or something like that. Or sax - I mean, I'm definitely having some sax. That's just what I love. It's going to be jazz-rock stuff. That's what I'm aiming for.
It started last year, during the summer. I went to the doctor and they found out it was kidney stones, so they had surgery done to help get those out and to pass them... More just kept coming in. So I had all together before the last show... I had like five surgeries.
I didn't even want to sing, honestly. I started thinking about how long the journey was, how far all of us had come - me and Jessica Sanchez, Hollie Cavanagh and Josh Ledet and everybody. It's insane, man. It's not as easy as you think.
I know what my sound is. I'm just trying to get it out there how I can explain it. I'm not trying to write or put out some music that doesn't represent me.
I've just been recording mostly acoustic stuff, drums, and sax, and electric guitar. I'm just still writing songs and what not.
A couple days ago, I saw a lot of people tweeting, 'Oh, it's so cool 'Home' is being used in the Olympics!' We don't really get to watch much TV, man, with the concerts every night, but I wish I could have seen it. I really just found out through Twitter and my management texting me. I thought it was really awesome.
My sister has a non-profit organization called Mission Change. It helps the homeless and kids.
I'm nervous, but once I get a guitar on and start a song, after the first few seconds, I can feel it ease. I don't have to worry about anything other than the music.
I get scared to death every time I have to play. I always get nervous because you never know what to expect. The crowd could be awful, or it could be amazing. You just never know what you're going to get until you get out there and do it. I just do my best and have fun.
I get scared as crap to perform but I push myself to do it. I don't know what I would be doing without it.
I have two belly buttons.
I have no idea why I won, man. I guess some people liked the music that I was doing. I'm just lucky. I was just doing my thing each week.
I'd rather sell 10,000 records that represent me than 2 million that don't represent me at all.
I am very grateful for the opportunities provided to me through appearing on 'American Idol.' The value that the fans and the show have given to my career is not lost on me. However, I have not felt that I have been free to conduct my career in a way that I am comfortable with.
'Idol' was a great experience. It was a great stepping-stone. I got to meet a lot of amazing people through that and learn a lot of great things. But afterward - that's what I tell a lot of people - it's up to you to represent it as an artist.
Not many artists or bands go platinum every year, from what people have told me, so it's an honor to have so many fans. A million people, that's a lot of people! Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake sell a few million, and so hopefully I'll make my way up to that.
I'm not big on dark chocolate, but I do have a sweet tooth, so it gets me in trouble. I love warm chocolate chip cookies with ice cream. Then there's this chocolate pie my mom makes for me every year for my birthday. She's been making it since I was younger, and there's nothing like it. It's really so, so good!
Live shows are really big for me. I want to do as many of those as I can.
