American Idol Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken returned to the reality competition series that made him a star this week to perform his new single “Rewind.” He also reprised a song he sang on the show when he competed on it, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” paired with Top 5 finalist Braden Rumfelt.
TV Insider caught up with Aiken right after his live performance to chat about his experience on Idol, what it was like enduring caustic remarks from then-judges Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson, and more.
You said that the show has changed since you were on it. Is the studio audience bigger now?
Clay Aiken: Oh no, the audience actually might be smaller.
So, what’s bigger?
The production is bigger. I think we had two producers and three associate producers back then. Gosh, now, it’s so big. There’s 150 people [here]. There may be hundreds of people who work here. I think there were 50 people who worked on my season.
When Season 3 contender and EGOT winner Jennifer Hudson was here a couple of weeks ago, she was saying that that whether you win or lose, your true journey begins when the show ends.
She’s not wrong. You cannot stop working. You can’t assume that what happens on the show is going to do it for you. I was among the luckier ones because [Ruben Studdard, who won Season 2] and I were told before the announcement that we were both getting a record deal. But you still have to work, and yes, it also means that you don’t have to win this show in order to “win.”
Jennifer Hudson is probably the best example of this, no?
Yeah, but you can look at many others. Chris Daughtry is one of the Top 5 selling artists [and he didn’t win]. I think of the Top 5 top-selling artists from the history of the show, I think only two of them are winners. Carrie [Underwood] and Kelly [Clarkson] are at the top.
What’s coming up next? You’ve got a new single out.
I am hoping to be able to tour. It would be lovely. We’ll see how it goes. My kid is old enough, now. He’s almost 18. In the early days of my career, the label gave me what songs to sing. They told me what concept to have on an album. I had to do an album of covers. I had to do an album of 50s and 60s songs. I didn’t get the opportunity to choose stuff. I was kind of waiting for something to just jump out at me like “Rewind” has. I just knew immediately that this is not only a killer song, but it’s about the urge for nostalgia. The need to remember better times.
The judges are much kinder than OG judge Simon Cowell, and, to a lesser extent, Randy Jackson were. Simon wasn’t always wrong, but the way he delivered his remarks were instrumental in the show’s success.
[WRYLY] He called me ugly. Is that what you’re saying?
He did not!
Absolutely! He said I was ugly. Go look it up. It’s in there. You can watch the footage. I remember. [WRYLY] Are you saying he was right then?
No! But…why should looks have anything to do with a person’s ability to sing anyway?
Simon came from a world where it was all about the image, not necessarily looks. It was all about the image. In my audition, he said that I didn’t look like a pop star, but that I had a great voice. I think there was an interesting quandary about whether or not America was going to vote for the best singers or are they going to vote for the people who look like pop stars.
Courtesy of Everett Collection
So, it you looked at [Season 2’s] Top 12, you know Carmen Rasmusen – gorgeous! Trenyce, gorgeous! Kimberly Caldwell, gorgeous! And then you had me, and well, Ruben, who was a big guy. Kimberley Locke was a full-figured girl, who was not necessarily a pop star [in terms of looks], but arguably, a good singer.
What was it like being part of the American Idol phenomenon?
Well, we, Ruben and I, didn’t know that it was, you know? Season 1 had done fine. It had done well in the summer, and we had all auditioned without any knowledge of what was going to be, right? (Editor’s note: Season 1’s finale drew close to 23 million viewers.]
It wasn’t a big show when we signed in. It became a big show while we were on it, and we weren’t aware of that. I didn’t know people were watching it until I got home [when I was in] the Top 3, and they flew me back to Raleigh, [North Carolina] and I was like, oh s**t, people are watching this! I thought maybe they’re just watching it in my hometown, right? I did not realize that it was a phenomenon until we were off it. [Editor’s note: Season 2’s finale reached over 38 million viewers.]
What’s your relationship with Simon like now compared to when you were on the show?
I watched some old clips last year. That’s how I remembered he called me ugly. I listened to some of the things he’d said, and I thought, “Holy, s**t!” Did I block it out psychologically? I don’t remember if he had said some mean things. But [the contestants] had a good relationship with him.
I think Simon knew what made good TV in the [early] 2000s. He’s totally changed. We didn’t get to see him very often backstage. They kept us pretty separate. I don’t know how much [the contestants] get to see [the judges] now, but we’d get to see [Simon] after someone got cut. He’d come back and give a hug and say goodbye. [The judges] were all always very warm. [Simon] was very supportive of people. I think we knew he wasn’t making [things] up. He said what he really felt, but that’s why he’s a TV genius, right? He knows how to make TV and he knew exactly what was necessary in terms of pushing buttons like nobody’s business.
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