“I’m Going To Sing Like I Never Sang Before!”: An Interview with Fantasia Barrino

In the telephone conferences I’ve done with most of the Top 12 this year, one of the recurring topics of conversation seems to be Fantasia Barrino. None of the contestants have had a bad thing to say about her, in fact, diametrically opposite, but the viewers seem to have come to some strong conclusions about her. Two surprising things came up in this telephone conference; she doesn’t seem to match the charges against her at all, and she knows all about them.

The first thing I noticed about Fantasia is that she is surprising soft-spoken and utterly guileless. While Jon Peter Lewis would deftly avoid saying anything he didn’t plan to, Fantasia was an open treasure chest. She sounded a little hoarse (that could be from recording the Idol single this weekend). The second thing was that she is one of those people who are almost absently funny. She’s funny even when she doesn’t intend to be.

Reporters were warned to keep their questions down to one, and an opportunity to follow up would be provided later. That edict was immediately and summarily ignored. Fantasia didn’t help with that – she’s an engaging interview subject. She’s been through a lot, and she’s not afraid to talk about it.

First, the finale. She is incredibly excited about that, but almost immediately a surprising fact came to the surface. She was asked whether the rumors about her being deluged with contract offers – causing Clive Davis to offer her a deal on the spot – will affect the amount of passion she has for the songs she sings in the finale. Fantasia, maybe absently, confirmed this, saying, “I still have to get out there and give my best. I feel like I accomplished a lot to come this far out of 70,000.” She acknowledged that a lot of people gave up a lot for her to be there, and she owes it to them to see it through. “I’m going to sing like I never sang before!”

That said, she can’t help but feel like she has done what she set out to do. Is winning really everything when you know you’ve turned the number of heads that she has? “I made it to top two, which was a blessing, man. It doesn’t matter right now; if Diana wins I’ll be crying, like I do every week – I’m a big crybaby. If she wins it or I win it, I’m sure she doesn’t care either at this point.” (That may have been the first inkling that Diana has been offered a record deal as well. Diana may have let have that drop as well as she mentioned in her interview that she plans to record an album quickly.)

How does she see her competition? With some awe. Many are thinking it’s a slam dunk for Fantasia on Tuesday. Fantasia doesn’t see it that way at all, “There are times I see Diana open her mouth (we’ve learned that’s her euphemism for singing) and I’m like Good God Almighty, here she comes! Big mouth DD!”

“She reminds me of Christina Aguilera and Britney, and she’s more powerful! She has an unbelievable voice to be sixteen years old, I mean, I could turn on the radio and say, ‘yup, that‘s Diana!‘ There’s no one out there like her! Sweet girl, very humble, I love her, she’s like my little sister.”

Fantasia was charged with seeming arrogant when she had her sassy waltzes with Simon, which kind of surprised her, “The people who are backstage would say ’you’re so silly’ and that was it at the time. I’m the same person as people see on TV as off, but I understand people were taking it a different way, so I decided to shut up! It’s not like I was being smart, it’s like when somebody says something to you, and you say, ’aw shuddup!’ That’s all it was, but I don’t want people to take me that way so I shut up.”

She made it sound simple, but it really bothered her that she was so misunderstood. She carried that weight into her performance of “Summertime,” which Randy Jackson said may have been the best performance in Idol history. I’d definitely place it top five easily. There was a lot more to those tears during the song than we knew. “I was going through some stuff and I was hearing people thought I was arrogant and talking back to judges so I’m going to go out there with no shoes on… On TV! And I gotta hope people see me for what I am!”

“I’d never heard that song before in my life… (one of the music directors) started playing that song on the keyboard and I said ‘what is that?’ – something about it moved me. I had this message I wanted to send out, and when I read the lyrics, it was mother talking to her child and I said I’ve got to sing that one!”

The questions about raising the age of Idol contestants came up again. Should it be raised? “Maybe (American Idol is) just looking out for them. All of the younger people in the competition, I have to salute them, because they are in school and they have to learn new songs and all the other stuff we have to do, it was hard! I think it’s just looking out for them, but I don’t think it’s fair.”

Then came the questions about the voting. Should the system be changed? Fantasia said she doesn’t give a lot of thought about it. Maybe some lines were tied up and everybody should get a chance to vote, but she surrenders that all of that is over her head. Being in that Idol contestant bubble, she doesn’t hear much about it.

Fantasia said she teared up at every single elimination. All of them were hard because she liked the whole Top 12 so much. She admitted that the pace and the grind of an American Idol contestant was far worse than she imagined, but she manages because it’s all about Zion, her three-year-old daughter. “She pushes me to go farther, to work so very hard. She’s a joy, she’s a blessing God gave to me! Sometimes, I get tired and I get weary, and I think ‘I’ve got a child to take care of so I got work to do!’”

Was she expecting to be pushed by LaToya in the finale? “I was sad that week, every week is sad. In fact, I was preparing myself because I thought it might be me! But, you know, after the show, she looked at me and said, ’Fantasia, I’m all right!’ She was just moving on to something else, so if she’s all right, I’m all right!”

Why is Simon always winking at her? She said that may be her fault. “I always wink at him because I know he’s going to come with it! Simon’s always got something to say, so I wink at him like, okay, give it to me, I can take whatever you got! Simon’s the bad guy on television, but when he’s backstage he always looks at everybody, says to stay humble, and be true to yourself.” She said that she has a genuine affection for Simon, even when he hurt her feelings, like with the famous Donald Duck comment.

So what do we have to look forward to Tuesday night? Fantasia said it as only she can: “I’m gonna go out there and show! my! butt!” If she meant she’s taking it up another gear, we’d better strap ourselves in for a Tuesday we may never forget!

Sting7 has been a respected published writer for 16 years, as a music editor, entertainment critic, columnist, and interviewer. He also has a curious love for pro-wrestling! You can email Stinger at stingseven@yahoo.com.

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