Anoop Desai - Wildcard Conference Call

Final Transcript

FBC PUBLICITY: American Idol 8March 6, 2009/10:00 a.m. PST

SPEAKERS

Chloe Ellers, FBC PublicityJasmine Murray, American Idol contestantMegan Corkrey, American Idol contestantMatt Giraud, American Idol contestantAnoop Desai, American Idol contestant

PRESENTATION

Moderator Welcome to the American Idol Interview call with Jasmine Murray. I’d

also like to remind you that today’s conference is being recorded. I’ll now

turn the conference over to Chloe Ellers for opening remarks.

C. Ellers Hello, everybody. Thank you so much for calling in today to talk to our

four contestants that have made it through, Jasmine, Megan, Matt, and

Anoop. We are going to limit each person to 15 minutes to accommodate

everybody in the hour and, as always, the Idols are here to talk about their

FBC PUBLICITYHost: Chloe Ellers

March 6, 2009/10:00 a.m. PSTPage 2

experience on the show, and if we feel like anyone is harping on a

question too much, we reserve the right to move on. With that being said,

we’ll go right into the first question with Jasmine.

Moderator That will come from Mike Hughes with TV America.

M. Hughes Jasmine, people were really impressed when you used the big voice last

night. You do a lot of the big power singing, and what made you decide to

really go for it last night?

J. Murray Well, I just like to explore different types of music, you know, but

Christina Aguilera is like one of my favorite artists, and Reflection, I just

thought it was a beautiful song, and I think it was like really age

appropriate for me since I’m 17. And it was like from a Disney movie, so

I just really thought that it’d be a good choice to do, and so I just tried to

do the best that I could last night. So I’m glad that it paid off, I guess.

M. Hughes And the other thing is, the songs with big finishes usually don’t do well

with the judges, but really do well with the viewers, so is it likely that

coming up when the viewers get to vote that you’ll have more of that kind

of like big finish kind of songs?



J. Murray Well, I guess it just depends, you know, on what song, what genre we’ll be

doing, so, but I look forward to, you know, doing anything, and I don’t

know. You know, we’ll see, I guess. If America likes it, then I hope they

vote for whatever performance they like, but I hope they vote for all of

them if I get very far.

M. Hughes Okay, cool, thanks.

J. Murray Thank you.

Moderator Next we have Rodney Ho with the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

R. Ho I was wondering, have you done a lot of public signing before, singing in

public at least?

J. Murray Yes, I have, actually, not like a lot, a lot, but I’ve gotten experience on the

stage for sure. I was like Mississippi’s Outstanding Teen, and I was really

involved in pageants and stuff for a little while, so that kind of got me

used to being on stage and stuff like that. And I actually got to sing for the

Miss America Pageant two years ago, so it was amazing, and that was like

one of the greatest experiences of my life … but being on the Idol stage, I



think it’s like a little bit different, you know, because you actually have

people judging you and stuff, but, I mean, it’s still amazing, you know,

being on stage, and I really, really like it a lot.

R. Ho Are you looking forward to hitting the Kodak Stage, the big theater next

week?

J. Murray I’m definitely looking forward to it. I cannot wait. I hope that I get to be

there at the end, so I’m just praying. I’m believing, you know, that I can

do it, and I’m just going to keep on practicing and doing my best.

R. Ho Good luck. Thank you.


Moderator Next we have Antonia Blyth with US Weekly Magazine.

A. Blyth Hello, Jasmine, how are you today?

J. Murray Hello. I’m good. How are you?



A. Blyth I am well. I just wanted to get an idea of how you’re managing to balance

your schoolwork and Idol. How many hours a day do you have to study?

Isn’t there like a minimum you have to do?

J. Murray Well, I basically do like my schoolwork that is from my school, but we,

like my teachers will send homework and assignments to me, and I do

about probably three hours a day, sometimes maybe longer. But, you

know, it’s different because here it’s a little shorter because, at my school,

I go from 7:45 to 5:15 every day going to class, because I go to the

Mississippi School of the Arts, so it’s kind of like college, and I love it,

but it’s a little different here. And I really like school here too as well

because it’s shorter and, you know, it’s cool. I’ve got a great teacher and,

you know, it’s really cool though. Yes.

A. Blyth What was that name of the school?

J. Murray I go to the Mississippi School of the Arts.

A. Blyth And do you think that having to study puts you at a possible disadvantage?



J. Murray No, no, because, I mean, everybody here went to high school too, and I

really like school a lot, and I think education is so important, so I

definitely want to continue that, you know, because education is

something, you know, nobody can take away from you, and you learn and

get smarter, and it’s so important for you to have in your life. So, no, it’s

not a disadvantage at all. If anything, it’s an advantage … get the

opportunity to go to school in other countries, so I’m blessed to even be

able to go to school.

A. Blyth Thanks, and good luck.

J. Murray Thank you so much.

Moderator Next we have Katie Byrne with MTV News.

K. Byrne Hello, Jasmine. How are you doing?

J. Murray Hello. I’m good. How are you?

K. Byrne Great. I wanted to ask you about your past pageant experience. I was

wondering if that has helped you, do you think, on the Idol stage?



J. Murray Yes, definitely. Getting used to being on stage and singing and stuff, it

definitely has, and I’m glad that I have that experience in the past, or else I

might be, you know, a little more nervous or, you know, just not as

comfortable, so yes. Definitely being on the stage before in pageants or

just performing in talent shows or anything like that, you know, definitely

has helped a lot.

K. Byrne Also, I know you have sung a couple different styles of music, and I was

wondering, now that you’re through to the finals, what kind of genre are

you going to focus on, or maybe what kind of music you put out after the

show.

J. Murray Well, during the show, they do like so many different themes, different

genres, so I’m really looking forward to all of that because I really like so

many different types of music. And since I’m so young, you know, I

don’t want to limit myself right now, like I really want to explore different

things, you know, see what I like and try out different things and see how

it sounds with my voice, and so I’m really looking forward to the different

themes, but I hope I stick around and get to do that and show America the

different styles that I can do.



K. Byrne Great. Thanks so much. Good luck.


Moderator Next is Marnie Brodersen with AmericanIdol.com.

M. Brodersen Hello, Jasmine.

J. Murray Hello.

M. Brodersen I was just wondering. I’ve just been noticing that the judges are

particularly, you know, picky about song choices here, and I’m just

wondering if you have any kind of strategy forming for the coming weeks,

especially, you know, what kind of songs you think you’ll choose.

J. Murray Well, I’ll just, and going … I think this goes with anybody. You just have

to take the best song that suits your voice that’ll show who you are, that

will show, like, your strong points and stuff like that because I think that’s

really important that you focus. I mean, even though, you know, we’re all

doing songs by different artists that we try to make sure the song fits us,

you know, because that’s a problem sometimes, so yes.



M. Brodersen Sure. And what kind of album do you think you guys can make in the

future?

J. Murray Oh my gosh. I don’t know. Like, I like so many different types of music,

so I would love to try tons of different things: pop, rock, country, I mean

all of is because, I mean, music just in general is beautiful. The different

genres are so interesting to get to sing all of them or, you know, just

experiment and see what you sound like signing them. I’m mean, I’m still

young, so yes; I’m still trying to find out what exactly. But, like I said, I

mean, I like so many different genres, and I want to try so many different

things.

M. Brodersen Great. Thank you so much. Good luck.

Moderator We also have Angela DeGregorio with Life & Style Weekly.

A. DeGregorio Hello. Congratulations.

J. Murray Hello.



A. DeGregorio I want to know who out of the contestants were you surprised didn’t make

it to be one of the wild cards?

J. Murray I honestly can’t say because, you know, all of the top 36 were amazing,

and I don’t even know how they made that decision, you know. I mean,

well, part of it was up to America too, but I don’t even know how the

judges, you know, did that. It’s so hard because this group of people, they

were all so talented, all of them, so I certainly know I probably couldn’t be

up there judging because I would just want them all to be the top 12, but

you know that wouldn’t be right because it would be 36, but you know I

don’t know.

I’m just happy for the people that made it, and I know, though, the people

that didn’t make it, I know that they have big futures ahead of them. And,

like I said, they’re so talented, and I know they’re all going to keep

singing and keep doing what they’re doing. And, I mean, hey, even if I

weren’t here, I would be doing the same thing; just keep singing, because

if you really love doing this, you’re not going to stop.



A. DeGregorio Right, and do you have any thoughts on the rumors that are going around

that Randy Jackson is paying favorites? There’s that whole story with

Adam Lambert; they went out to dinner or something like that.

J. Murray I have never heard that until now, but I don’t know. I don’t think … but, I

don’t know. I don’t know. I had never heard that until now.

A. DeGregorio Okay, and how has your personal style changed since joining the show?

J. Murray As far as my vocal style or like…?

A. DeGregorio No, as far as like whether it’s your hair, your clothing, that kind of stuff.

J. Murray It hasn’t changed a lot really, I don’t think. I like to just look nice and

presentable, you know, wherever I go or whatever I’m doing, so just, I’m

happy that I’ve been blessed to have nice clothes or, you know, be able to

fix my hair up. You know, just, you know, and….

A. DeGregorio Great. Thank you so much.



Moderator That concludes the questions for Jasmine. Do you have any closing

remarks?

J. Murray No, I don’t, but thank you so much for everything.

Moderator Then, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes this portion of the call. You’ll

be back on music hold while we get Megan Corkrey to the phone. Thank

you for your patience.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. We’re back for the

American Idol Interview call, and we have Anoop Desai on with us. Our

first question will come from the line of Randy Ho with the Atlanta

Journal Constitution.

R. Ho It’s Rodney. Close enough. Hello, Anoop. How’s it going?

A. Desai Doing all right. How are you?

R. Ho I’m doing great. You looked completely like utterly shocked last night. I

mean, how did you feel when you thought you were eliminated for about

ten seconds?



A. Desai I mean, it was the pits, man. It was, you know, I’ve been telling people it

was the difference between having all your dreams dashed and then, ten

seconds later, they’re alive again, so it was definitely, I mean, it was a

shock. It was a genuine shock for me, and I’m just glad that I’m still here.

R. Ho And what did Ryan tell you afterwards? I mean, did he apologize that he

had to do that to you?

A. Desai Yes, they all, you know, the producers and Simon and all the judges sort

of apologized and said, you know, sorry we did this to you.

R. Ho Sort of apologized.

A. Desai Yes.

R. Ho Thanks.

A. Desai Sure.

Moderator Next is Antonia Blyth with US Weekly Magazine.



A. Blyth Hello, Anoop. How are you?

A. Desai I’m doing all right. How are you?

A. Blyth Good to talk to you again. I spoke to you last night.

A. Desai Yes, I remember it.

A. Blyth So I just was thinking, you were talking about how much you liked Kanye,

so how do you feel about the fact that he’s coming on the show next

week?

A. Desai Yes, when I spoke to you about that, I had no idea.

A. Blyth Yes.

A. Desai So actually I found out from Ryan this morning when I was on his show,

so I feel great. Hopefully I’ll get to meet him, and we can talk about some

collaborations in the future.



A. Blyth I know you wanted to emulate his style, his clothing style. Maybe you can

get some tips. What do you think?

A. Desai Definitely. I’m definitely going to pick his brain. We’ll see if he has

anything to lend me to. Maybe it’ll have to dig a bit deeper for that.

A. Blyth Well, thank you, and best of luck.

A. Desai Thank you so much.

Moderator Next we have Mike Hughes with TV America.

M. Hughes Anoop, I want to learn a little bit more about you. What are you majoring

in, in grad school, and what was your degree for your Bachelor’s?

A. Desai My undergraduate degrees were in political science and American studies,

and my graduate curriculum or, sorry, my graduate program was in

folklore, which is pretty much, I guess, the nearest thing that people know

would be cultural anthropology.



M. Hughes Yes. Speak of cultural anthropology, were your parents born in this

country, or were they born in India?

A. Desai No, my dad was born in India. My mom was born in South Africa.

There’s a very large Indian population in South Africa, actually, so that’s

where her entire family lives.

M. Hughes Cool, and just one other thing, because you grew up in Chapel Hill, does

that mean your folks are like faculty members there?

A. Desai No, they both work and have worked in the research triangle area. It’s,

you know, a lot of high tech and, you know, biotech jobs, which is what

they do. My mom is a biochemist, and my dad does software work.

M. Hughes Cool. Thanks a lot.

A. Desai Sure.

Moderator We’ll go to Lisa Young with Chapel Hill Herald.

L. Young Hello, Anoop. How are you?



A. Desai I’m doing well.

L. Young Good to hear from you again.

A. Desai You, too.

L. Young A quick question for you about Eve Carson. I understand you were a good

friend of hers.

A. Desai Yes, yes. She was, you know, I mean, everyone, I feel like on … Eve, but

yes, I was….

L. Young Pretty much everyone’s friend.

A. Desai Yes, but I was … for our time at Carolina.

L. Young Right. You mentioned that she inspired you to audition, but has she

inspired your performances as well?

A. Desai You know, I go out – every time I go out on stage, I go out to make her

proud, and I carry – when we graduated in May, they passed out to the



entire senior class these big buttons that just say Eve and Carolina with

blue letters on them. The buttons are black.

L. Young Yes, I remember….

A. Desai Yes, and I carry that in my pocket every time I go on stage or go onto a

results show just to remind myself that I’m doing it for her.

L. Young Cool. And you gave the shout out to Chapel Hill last night. How are you

handling that anniversary of her death? Has it been difficult to be away

because of that?

A. Desai Yes, it was really difficult yesterday. You know, I’ve been thinking about

it for – you know, since they told me I was going to be back on the wild

card, and I knew that the performance day was last night as well. But I

was lucky enough to – you know, they streamed it online, so I was lucky

enough to—

L. Young The memorial.



A. Desai --you know, go on a Web site and be able to – right – and be able to see

the ceremony and … so I was glad.

L. Young Yes, it was really awesome, from what I hear. I wasn’t there, but—

A. Desai Yes, yes.

L. Young Thank you.

A. Desai Thank you. Go Heels.

Moderator Next we have Scott Pierce with the Deseret News.

S. Pierce Could you just talk a little bit about how it’s been interacting with the

judges? Is there anything that you feel that they’ve done that’s helped

you, anything that you maybe thought they’ll a little off base?

A. Desai You know, I think that they’re four very experienced voices in the

industry, and so I’m grateful for that. And, you know, we don’t really

have that much contact with them outside of the show, but I do feel like

they say everything for a reason, especially Simon. I think that he says



things to elicit a reaction, so if something wasn’t good enough, he’s going

to tell you because he wants you to do better. You know, he’s not a mean

person at all. So, yes, I think everything has – everything they say has its

purpose.

S. Pierce Thank you.

A. Desai Sure.

Moderator We’ll go to Victor Balta with Comcast.net.

V. Balta Hello, Anoop. How are you doing?

A. Desai Hello. Doing all right.

V. Balta Good, good. Thanks for taking the time. So I wanted to find out a little

more about your decision to sing the Bobby Brown song again and, you

know, rather than show a different side. Obviously it worked out, but just

talk about maybe the chance to give people something new and not taking

it.



A. Desai Yes, well, that song in particular has, I think, become, you know, sort of

like an anthem for me throughout, you know, since Hollywood Week.

And I thought it was especially appropriate for the wild card round just,

you know, to go out there and say, listen; this is who I am. I’m going to

do what I do, and I’m going to have fun. It’s my prerogative. So that’s

the reason I chose it.

And, you know, I knew that I had done it in the past, obviously, but like

the judges said, I think I did a better job of it this time. I was really happy

to be able to do that song with an audience too because it’s such an

audience reaction song, so the small audience on the stage that night was

key and, you know, that performance, the wild card performance is all

about showing the judges your – I mean, it’s a last ditch effort, pretty

much, and so I was, you know, obviously I wanted to show them the side

that they liked before.

V. Balta Cool, and so what else can we look forward to seeing from you? What,

you know, outside of that type of song?

A. Desai You know, I don’t like to … I don’t want to typecast myself into, you

know, I’m always going to sing a fast song. I’m always going to sing, you



know, a song I can jump around. I’m, you know, I want to think of myself

as a singer and an artist. That happens to be one genre that I particularly

enjoy. But, you know, I’m not going to limit myself to those types of

songs. You know, I like to sing ballots, as evidenced by Angel of Mine,

but, you know, it’s really going to depend on the theme and what I’m

feeling from that theme or that artist.

V. Balta Cool. Thanks a lot. Good luck.

A. Desai Sure. Thanks.

Moderator Next we have Monica Sotomayor with Flash News.

M. Sotomayor Hello, Anoop. Congratulations.


M. Sotomayor So I wanted to ask you. I mean, what has been the most surprising to you

about your Idol experience? I mean, did you discover anything crazy

backstage that you weren’t aware of before being on the show?



A. Desai I guess the whole process of it, you know, and I know that’s really vague,

but when you watch it on TV, and when I used to watch it on TV, it’s like,

oh, there’s a commercial break. I’m just going to go get a soda or

whatever. But there’s such a frantic, you know, effort during those

commercial breaks just to get everything in place. And just, you know,

the number of people, you know, the resources that go into producing just

one of these hour-long results shows is incredible. And, you know, I think

that was, in my mind, furthered by our press experience last night and just,

you know, looking into all these flashing cameras. You know, I knew that

it was a juggernaut, but it’s really something else to experience it.

M. Sotomayor Yes, and the judges really like you, obviously, so, I mean, what are you

going to do to stay on their good side? Is there any bribing going to go

down? What are you going to do?

A. Desai No, not really. I haven’t really done any – you know, I haven’t tried to get

in their good graces. It’s just that I’ve been fortunate enough for it to

happen. So I’m going, you know, just be – I’ve been myself this entire

time, and so that’s what I’m going to continue to do.

M. Sotomayor Great. Best of luck to you, Anoop.




Moderator Next is David Menconi with the Raleigh News.

A. Desai Hello?

D. Menconi So depending on how long this goes, I’m calling from Raleigh, as I

believe they said. You’re going to miss March Madness here in Chapel

Hill.

A. Desai I am.

D. Menconi Does that bum you out?

A. Desai It – you have no idea. Actually, the last Carolina/Duke game, you know,

we were sitting in our hotel room, me and Ricky Bratty, who is also a big

Carolina fan, and we were watching, and seriously about two minutes

before tip off, ESPN blacked out, and it was the only channel in our hotel

that blacked out, so I was – and I’m really superstitious about Carolina

games, like I can’t look at the score while the game is going on. And so, I

was pacing back and forth in my room for two hours. And so, I don’t



know what I’m going to do about, you know, not being in Chapel Hill for

March Madness. I’ve never been – you know, with the … that we used to

go on spring break and we’d miss some tournament games, but, you know,

I’d always have someone keep me updated, tell me the score, and

everything because obviously I couldn’t look, but this is a whole other

ballgame. I’m going to have to be a little creative and figure something

out.

D. Menconi Okay. And I hadn’t realized Kara went to Duke before you said that last

night. Have you all sort of had any back and forth about Duke versus

Carolina, other than that last night?

A. Desai Not really. I actually, you know, I read that in a New York Times article,

and I thought – after I auditioned and everything, and I thought that was

really funny. So when she – you know, we haven’t – that’s the first time

either of us has mentioned it to the other, so—

D. Menconi Okay. Very good. Well, keep it up.

A. Desai Thank you. I appreciate it.



Moderator We’ll go to Katie Byrne with MTV News.

K. Byrne Hello, Anoop. How are you doing?

A. Desai I’m doing well. How are you?

K. Byrne Pretty good. I just wanted to see what kind of music you were thinking of

releasing after the show, what kind of style you think that you’d release an

album in.

A. Desai You know, I love Neo right now, and I think that I’m a pop, R&B singer.

I’m a contemporary R&B singer, so that’s really the album, the type of

album I’d like to release. I’d love to do some collaborations with Luda

and Kanye and stuff like that because I love those guys, but we’ll see.

You know, like, whatever this takes me, I know that I’m going to have a

great opportunity to do my music.

K. Byrne And I know you’re excited about Kanye being on the show next week.

A. Desai Definitely.



K. Byrne Are there any other guest mentors that you would look forward to working

with?

A. Desai You know, if Stevie Wonder came back, I would faint because I think he’s

the greatest musical mind that I’ve ever heard, and that would be the

ultimate for me.

K. Byrne Very good. Thank you.

A. Desai Thank you.

Moderator Next we have Barbara Rodriguez with The Associated Press.

B. Rodriguez Hello, Anoop. Congrats on making the top 13.


B. Rodriguez I see that most people have asked a lot of the other questions that I would

have asked, but what do you think about the addition of a 13th contestant?

I mean, what do you think it brings to the competition, and what sort of

pressure does that place on you since you were the last person selected?



A. Desai Yes, I mean, obviously I’m glad that they expanded it, but I don’t know

that there’s an added pressure. I happen to be the last one chosen, but I’m

very comfortable with that. I think that everyone here is going to, you

know – you’re going to get what you pay for, you know what I mean, in a

sense with this show because every one of the top 13 is, I think, really,

really talented and has their own niche and their own style. So I think it’s

going to be a boom for the show because it’s going to be able to showcase

that wide variety, that array of talent.

B. Rodriguez Also, I realize on previous episodes at least that you try to wrap your

Carolina blue gear and things like that. Are there any sort of things that

you’re going to be doing like that in the upcoming weeks to kind of really

show that you’re from North Carolina and all that?

A. Desai Being from North Carolina Chapel Hill is just who I am, and I always

bring my personality and my identity through. But I think everyone

knows that I love North Carolina … and I love Chapel Hill. I don’t know,

short of doing some PD Pablo on the show, I’m not really sure what I

could do, but yes.

B. Rodriguez Great. Thanks so much. I appreciate it.



A. Desai Thank you.

Moderator We are out of time for this portion. Anoop, do you have any closing

remarks?

A. Desai Just thank you all for all your support and, yes, Go Heels.

Moderator Thank you. Then, ladies and gentlemen, you’ll be back on a music hold

while we get our next contestant online. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the American Idol Interview call.

We now have Megan Corkrey online. Our first question will come from

Earlene McMichael with the Kalamazoo Gazette.

E. McMichael Hello, Megan. How are you doing?

M. Corkrey Good. How are you?

E. McMichael Fine, thank you. I have watched you, and it’s been very interesting.

Actually, you participated in our live chat last night, and a lot of people

remark on the interesting way that you dance, the kind of movement thing



you do. It’s very interesting and unique. Can you tell us a little bit about

that?

M. Corkrey I really don’t know why that happens. When I start singing, I just blob

around, and it just happens. I don’t know why.

E. McMichael Yes. What is your musical influence?

M. Corkrey My number one influence is Biork.

E. McMichael Tell us more about that. What is it that you like about Bjork.

M. Corkrey I fell in love with it when I was 16. It just changed my life. Her music is

so beautiful and original and different, and it’s so emotional, and I just

love it.

E. McMichael Thank you.

M. Corkrey No problem.

Moderator Next we have Joel Amos with SheKnows.com.



J. Amos Hello. How are you?

M. Corkrey Good. How are you?

J. Amos I’m doing great. Thank you. I bet you’re doing fabulous.

M. Corkrey I am.

J. Amos I’m so sure, and congratulations, first of all.

M. Corkrey Thank you.

J. Amos I wanted to ask you. Obviously you are a fan of the show so much so that

you turned out following a dream, but I wanted to see if you felt like

things were different and how it was from a contestant point of view with

four judges versus what you know, which is American Idol with three

judges.

M. Corkrey It’s been pretty crazy. It’s exciting to have a fourth input, and Kara is

tough, so it’s nice to have somebody that you want to impress and get on

your side, so I’m all about it.



J. Amos Cool, cool. A follow-up would be if there is a song that you have not done

yet that you hope that you can get done in the next couple weeks, what

song would that be?

M. Corkrey If I was allowed to, I would sing any Bjork song, any.

J. Amos Cool. Thank you so much, and all the best.

M. Corkrey No problem. Thank you.

Moderator We’ll go to Andrea Dresdale with ABC News Radio.

A. Dresdale Hello, Megan.

M. Corkrey Hello.

A. Dresdale I think you should sing Birthday by the Sugar Cubes. How about that?

M. Corkrey All right. Let’s do it.



A. Dresdale No, I wonder if you could tell us about your tattoo because it’s so

interesting and it’s so colorful. Tell us about the imagery in there and

what it means, if anything.

M. Corkrey Absolutely. It’s a castle, and there’s a night sky above it. And in the

glass, it’s stained glass, and it’s my fairytale. And there’s a king and a

queen, and that’s me and who knows. And then there’s a fairy godmother,

my mom, a wizard, my brother, and a prince, my son. And then there’s

roses growing up the castle.

A. Dresdale Did you design that yourself?

M. Corkrey I did, well, I came up with the idea. I can’t draw, so I sat down with my

artist and told him exactly what I wanted, and he drew it up.

A. Dresdale Why do you look at your life as a fairytale?

M. Corkrey Because it is. I’m very blessed, and I love my family, and I’ll always love

my family….

A. Dresdale Thanks very much.




Moderator Next we have Antonia Blyth with US Weekly Magazine.

A. Blyth Hello, Megan.

M. Corkrey Hello.

A. Blyth Great to talk to you again after speaking to you last night.

M. Corkrey Me too.

A. Blyth I wanted to ask about your tattoos as well. How many do you actually

have in total?

M. Corkrey I have seven, if you count my sleeve as one.

A. Blyth Wow, and what are they, and how long did it take your sleeve to

complete?



M. Corkrey My sleeve isn’t complete, but it’s taken two years up to this point, and it’s

a castle and my fairytale, and then I have my son’s name on my wrist.

And I have two stars on my back for me and my mom. I have my middle

name, Joy, on my hip, and I have just like a jumble of things I love on

both of my feet.

A. Blyth Nice. Well, it’s good to talk to you, and best of luck. I’ll speak to you

soon, I’m sure.

M. Corkrey Thank you very much. Okay.

A. Blyth Bye.

M. Corkrey Bye.

Moderator We’ll go to Alex Dobuzinskis with Reuters.

A. Dobuzinskis Hello. How do you think the judges would take a performance of a Bjork

song, because I think it’s sort of outside of the mainstay of what they

expect on the show?



M. Corkrey I think they would probably criticize it a lot. It would have to be the right

song. It couldn’t be anything too crazy or weird. It’d have to have, you

know, a pretty solid rhythm, and some of the songs don’t.

A. Dobuzinskis Great. Thanks. Good luck.

M. Corkrey No problem. Thank you.

Moderator Next is Scott Pierce with Deseret News.

S. Pierce You’re kind of the antithesis of David Archuleta from last year, and I’m

just wondering if people react to you knowing where you’re from, that sort

of thing.

M. Corkrey I really haven’t had a lot of people comment about Utah and David. Yes, I

really haven’t heard anything about that.

S. Pierce Which is kind of a good thing, I suppose.

M. Corkrey Yes.



S. Pierce And do you feel – I mean, from the auditions here, through – I mean, what

did you really think when you went to audition? Did you ever imagine

that this would end up like this?

M. Corkrey No, way. I didn’t think I was going to make it through the first thing. I

mean, I never even made a solo in choir in high school, so I didn’t think I

was going to go anywhere.

S. Pierce Really, which high school?

M. Corkrey I want to Taylorsville.

S. Pierce Well, thank you very much.


Moderator We have Mike Hughes with TV America.

M. Hughes Yes, actually, continuing on Scott’s question, we kind of, in other states,

have this image of Utah as being kind of a closed place, a kind of place

that Roseanne Barr used to complain about. And yet, here you’ve come,



and you’ve got this very wide-open personality and the wonderful tattoos

and so forth. Do we misunderstand Utah? Is it a much more open and

allowing place than people think?

M. Corkrey Utah is so beautiful and friendly. It’s such a family place. If you want to

raise a family and feel safe, Utah is the place.

M. Hughes Also, with the name Joy tattooed, I understand you used to go by Megan,

and how you prefer to go by Joy. Tell me kind of when did you make that

change and why do you … like that?

M. Corkrey I just decided that, I mean, Corkrey is my ex-husband’s name, and I just

kind of want to get past all that and start new, so I just decided to go by

Megan Joy, which is my middle name.

M. Hughes So Joy is sort of like your last name, in a way.

M. Corkrey No, well, it’ll kind of be, but—

M. Hughes Cool. Thanks a lot.




Moderator Next is Rodney Ho with the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

R. Ho Megan, do you play any instruments?

M. Corkrey I don’t, sadly.

R. Ho Do you plan to learn any once you get further into this whole journey

here?

M. Corkrey I would love to. If anybody is down to teach me, I am in.

R. Ho Any particular instruments that appeal to you?

M. Corkrey Sorry. What was that?

R. Ho Any particular instruments that appeal to you?

M. Corkrey I would love to play the piano or guitar.



R. Ho I’m sure you’ve got a lot of musicians there who could teach you.

M. Corkrey If they want to.

R. Ho Yes. Thanks.


Moderator We’ll go to Matt Mitovich with TVGuide.com.

M. Mitovich Megan, congratulations.

M. Corkrey Thank you very much.

M. Mitovich I’m curious. What music theme would scare you? What would give you

pause and make you shiver in your shoes a little bit?

M. Corkrey Well, I’m not really scared, but I’m a little unsure, and I don’t know what

I’m going to do with country week because I don’t listen to a lot of

country.



M. Mitovich But you think you could pull it off?

M. Corkrey Yes, I’m going to do it though. I’ll tear it up.

M. Mitovich All right. Cool. Thanks.


Moderator Thank you. We’re out of time for Megan. Do you have any closing

remarks?

M. Corkrey Just thank you.

Moderator Thank you. Then, ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude this portion.

We have one interview left. We ask you to please hold while we get Matt

Giraud to the phone. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. We’re back for our

final interview, and that’s with Matt Giraud, American Idol contestant.

Our first question will come from Monica Sotomayor with Flash News.



M. Sotomayor Hello, Matt. Congratulations.

M. Giraud Thank you so much, Monica.

M. Sotomayor Yes, of course. So I wanted to ask you, what did you think of Simon

dishing out fashion advice last night to you on the show?

M. Giraud I don’t know why he’s always hating on me. No…. You know what? I

trusted the wardrobe people with that one. They said, hey; just go for it,

and who takes fashion advice from Simon anyway? Come on. Really.

M. Sotomayor Exactly. That’s what I was thinking. No, let me just ask you. I was

looking at your Q&A on the Idol Web site, and I love how you said that

you would love to be talented at sports because you’re really bad at them

in real life, so what’s that all about? Tell me what you’ve tried to play and

just can’t.

M. Giraud I used to play soccer in high school. I think I was like third string

benchwarmer. It was a great time. I think I did it just to get a workout at

practice, but I never really played in the games. It was fun. I used to



always kind of wish I was good at sports, but definitely music is the thing,

and athletics is definitely not.

M. Sotomayor Yes, well, you’re a great singer. Best of luck in the competition.

M. Giraud I appreciate that very much, Monica.

M. Sotomayor Thanks.

Moderator Next is Marnie Brodersen with AmericanIdol.com.

M. Brodersen Hello, Matt. Congratulations.

M. Giraud Hello, Marnie. How are you doing? Thank you.

M. Brodersen I’m doing well. Thanks. I was just curious because you had mentioned

that you are really into pop music, and the judges are so all about your,

you know, bluesy, soulful side. Do you think you’ll attempt pop music

again?



M. Giraud I definitely will attempt – you know, I mean, I’ve heard some rumors of

some certain weeks, certain theme weeks coming up that I can definitely

pull off some pop stuff, and I definitely know how to sing pop music. I

just, you know, picked the wrong type of rock song, I guess.

M. Brodersen Sure.

M. Giraud Yes, I definitely want to get back into it, and maybe I’ll even do a JT song

one day in the future. Who knows?

M. Brodersen I’d love that. I love that. And what about, you know, who would be a

dream mentor for you?

M. Giraud Man, dream mentor? I’d say the Piano Player just because he’s a musician

that I just love. Billy Joel would be ridiculous.

M. Brodersen Yes.

M. Giraud That’d be amazing if he came in and taught me how to play and sing

something of his. That would be a dream, so yes, definitely….



M. Brodersen Great. Thank you so much.

M. Giraud Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

Moderator We’ll go next to Victor Balta with Comcast.net.

V. Balta Hello, Matt. How are you doing?

M. Giraud What’s up, Victor?

V. Balta Not too much, so I wanted to ask you about, you know, obviously this

unique style that you have. I mean, can you just talk about the balance

because I think it was Kara said that it was just a little bit over the top at

times. I mean, obviously it’s sort of coming from within you, but are you

thinking about how you’re going to keep going forward without too much

of that sort of style thing coming through? Yes.

M. Giraud Yes. You know what? It’s American Idol, man. What the heck, you

know? And it’s just like … I love the blues style, and I love … gospel and

soul and all that stuff. Sometimes it’s a little bit over the top, but last night



I was singing for my life, so I definitely was … bring it, man. If I go over

the top a little bit, that’s all right. They’ll understand.

V. Balta Right.

M. Giraud There definitely is a balance. I try to mix all the different styles, so yes.

V. Balta Cool, and should we count on seeing you behind the piano most of the

time now that you’ll be able to, or are you going to balance it?

M. Giraud I’m going to take the chance if I can, but I’m not going to be back there

every time, definitely not, but I definitely want to try to get out there and

work the crowd a little bit too. Pull out the keyboard. Maybe I’ll do a

keyboard for the first half of the song and then stand up and rock it out for

the second half. Who knows?

V. Balta There you go. There you go. Right on. Good luck, Matt.

M. Giraud Thanks a lot.



Moderator Your next question is from Earlene McMichael with the Kalamazoo

Gazette.

E. McMichael Matt, hello there. We’re cheering for you here in Kalamazoo.

Congratulations. What I’m interested in is, I see that you’re from

Ypsilanti, which is really near the Detroit area, and I was most interested

in what some of your music influences were at a young age.

M. Giraud At a young age, I was listening to like artists like Kirk Franklin, a lot of

gospel stuff. I love like the country like Shanai Twain. I listen to ‘N

Sync, and that type of pop type of music. But also, as I grew up, I really

got into jazz music and Motown music as a young man and really got into

that type of stuff.

E. McMichael Okay. And I’m trying to think what else I could ask you. If there was

someone that you could work with and collaborate in the future, who

would that be?

M. Giraud I think I’d love to work with Billy Joel, maybe Elton John, some of these

like heavy, heavy iconic piano singers, you know, maybe even Alicia

Keys. Definitely that’d be cool. I heard somebody call me like the white



boy Alicia Keys. I thought that was pretty funny. No, I’d love to work

with some of the iconic piano performers.

E. McMichael Thank you, Matt.

M. Giraud Thank you so much.

Moderator Next we have Rodney Ho with the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

R. Ho Hello. I was wondering, what happened after you sang the Coldplay song

last week? Did you feel like you blew it, or did you feel like the judges

were a little too harsh on you?

M. Giraud I felt a little harsh, but I definitely could not sleep that night. I felt like….

R. Ho No.

M. Giraud …disappointment. I felt like, you know, because people thought I was

going to do well, and I kind of felt I let everyone down, and just wasn’t the

right song, but that’s behind me, and this week I’m going to pick the right

song, and I’m going to bring it back and make them forget about it.



R. Ho How did you dig up the Jackson 5 song? How did that come about?

M. Giraud That’s like that song that I just forgot about, but it’s in my bones. I’ve

been singing it for years. I’ve done a couple competitions with it, and it

went well, and I was like, I can sing this song. You know, it’s just like, I

don’t even have to practice. It was just there for me. I don’t know why I

didn’t think of it.

R. Ho The first time, right? Thank you.

Moderator We have Rhonda Cloutier with the Walton Sun.

R. Cloutier Matt, how are you?

M. Giraud How are you? I’m great.

R. Cloutier Congratulations.




R. Cloutier I’m originally from Ypsilanti. I am pulling for you in northern Florida.

M. Giraud I need that.

R. Cloutier I wanted to ask you about the Hollywood group round, and your group,

the White Chocolate, that was probably the best group song we have ever

seen during Hollywood. How did it come about and who choreographed

it? How did you decide who would sing what?

M. Giraud It was a group thing. I think me and Chris Allen definitely kind of took

the reigns on the vocal part, and then we all kind of came up with the

choreography. We wanted to keep it simple and make sure that our

harmonies were really cool, but there was no drama in our group, so we

didn’t get that much airtime, so we just kind of worked real hard, and we

just said, you know what; let’s just work and get it out. But I came up

with White Chocolate because that’s what people used to call me when I

was a little kid, so….

R. Cloutier It … together really well.



M. Giraud Thank you. That was great. We had so much fun, and people, and we still

talk about it, like, White Chocolate.

R. Cloutier What judge has given you the best advice, and what has it been?

M. Giraud I think that Kara used to give me the best compliments, but now it’s

getting into advice where it’s like stick to what you’re good at, and Paula

and Kara both say that. Stick to what you’re good at and make sure you

nail what you’re good at. Sometimes you try different things, and you

might like it, but if you can’t nail it, then it’s probably not worth it.

R. Cloutier Right. Good luck on the piano next week.

M. Giraud I appreciate it. Maybe I’ll get back on the keyboard. We’ll see.

R. Cloutier All right. Congratulations.


Moderator We’ll go to Gary Graff with United Stations.



G. Graff Matt, congratulations on things.

M. Giraud What’s up?

M. Graff And I am based in Detroit, so I was curious. I heard you talk about your

influences earlier, but what music around Detroit, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti

were you into either growing up or do you feel made some impacts?

M. Giraud Some areas?

G. Graff Yes, from that area when you were growing up.

M. Giraud You know, I definitely played a lot of piano in the lobby down at the

Marriott in Ypsilanti as a young, like 19. I just played by myself for free

just sitting in the lobby. Definitely at the Detroit … outreach church in

Redford, I played drums and sang there, and also at my high school,

Lincoln in Ypsi, doing a lot of choir work and stuff like that in my senior

year, so those are pretty much my three major spots playing in worship

band and playing in choir and playing piano, and pretty much all from

myself at that time.



G. Graff Tell me a little more about that playing in the Marriott. You would just go

in there and sit down, and did they ask…? Go ahead.

M. Giraud What’s that?

G. Graff I was wondering. Tell me about how you did that, and also, did you ever

get unsolicited tips for just playing the piano?

M. Giraud No, I never got tips. I was just learning. People would encourage me and

say, I like the way you play. I had only been playing for a year, so I

couldn’t play that much, but I’d just kind of come in and sit down at this

kind of out of tune piano, and I’d just get lost and play. It was just strictly

passion. It wasn’t anything else.

G. Graff Do you come from a musical household?

M. Giraud Yes. My grandfather was a singer, but as for my immediate family, no. I

just kind of had it in me.

G. Graff Good luck … well there.




Moderator Next we have Adam Graham with the Detroit News.

A. Graham Matt, how are you doing?

M. Giraud What’s up, Adam?

A. Graham I’m good. You mentioned that White Chocolate was a nickname as a kid.

Why? How did that come up?

M. Giraud Because I was like one of the only lighter kids in the gospel choir in

Detroit, and they used to call me White Chocolate because I learned how

to sing like that, and I love that type of music, and I’d sing that soul type

of stuff, that church music. I tried … church last night.

A. Graham What are you leaving behind in Kalamazoo right now? Is there a day job?

Is there a girlfriend? Is there anything…?

M. Giraud Yes, I have a girlfriend back home.



A. Graham Sorry?

M. Giraud I have a girlfriend back home. I have a girlfriend back home, you know,

holding me down and giving me good advice and keeping me grounded,

so … and the Radisson and my little brother … I’m a mentor for Big

Brother Big Sister, and so he’s back there. But he told me. He said, you

know, I miss you, but don’t come home for a while.

A. Graham Nice, nice, and real quick. Have you been an Idol fan in the past, and is

there any Idol’s whose career you’d like to kind of emulate or any

contestants who you’ve really taken a shine to or would like to…?

M. Giraud You know, last season I started watching it. I watched the whole season

last season, and I liked kind of like David Cook’s kind of swagger and

how he did things. I’ve also kind of liked the rocker guys. I don’t know.

It’s not even my style of music, but I always remember buying his videos

on iTunes and stuff, and … was pretty good. I liked Brooke White a little

bit too. I never really had any particular Idol that I was just like, oh, I love

them. Fantasia was definitely on the list for me and Carrie Underwood.

A. Graham Thanks, White Chocolate. We’ll be pulling for you.



M. Giraud Bringing back memories.

A. Graham Right on.

M. Giraud Thanks, man.

Moderator Our final question will be from Julie Hinds with the Detroit Free Press.

J. Hinds Matt, congratulations.

M. Giraud Thanks, Julie.

J. Hinds I wanted to ask if you could share any of your family’s reaction to last

night since they’re here and wonder what they thought of what happened.

M. Giraud I called my dad first, and I just remember him screaming, and his

girlfriend screaming and screaming. They’re just so proud, and they’re

like; you killed it. You killed it. You know, it was just like that feeling of

redemption. My mom was just so excited. She was just flipping out. She

was like, can I tell my fiends this? Can I tell my friends that? She’s just,



they can’t contain it. That’s probably one of the best parts of the show is

making your family so happy.

J. Hinds Yes, and since you’re from around here, I just wanted to ask, does your

family have any connections to the auto industry?

M. Giraud Auto industry, no. My dad is a truck driver, but that’s it.

J. Hinds Great. Thanks a lot, Matt.

M. Giraud Thank you.

Moderator Matt, do you have any closing remarks?

M. Giraud No. No, that’s all. I guess, just appreciate you guys, and thank you for

your help.

Moderator Then, ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today.

Thank you for your participation and for using AT&T Executive

Teleconference.

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