One of your best moments on the show was when you sang “Everybody Knows” by John Legend. What inspired you to choose that song?
Alex Lambert: It’s usually a song that I do on ukulele and it’s a song that I was completely comfortable with and I knew I could play it on the guitar pretty easy. I knew that I could do it without being nervous, and it meant a lot to me. That song was my favourite for a long time because stuff was happening in my life that really related to it.
You said that there was a lot you were still hoping to show the judges and America. What specifically did you have in mind and do you have any regrets looking back now?
AL: Every time I got up there I couldn’t even sing my best because I was so nervous. I have a whole other series of songs that I can sing that sound so much better than what I sang on the show. I don’t regret anything because this is the beginning of my career. I have never really been on stage before so I think I did great for not having any experience.
Your nerves seemed to be your biggest hurdle. Do you think that you can get past them to build a music career?
AL: I feel like I’m already past it and I feel like I just needed a few more weeks to have a little bit more experience on that stage. It wasn’t a nerve thing because I would get up there and I would be comfortable and it felt right, but I didn’t know how to look at the cameras. I didn’t know how to act with the audience because I had never done it before.
Who were your closest friends on the show?
AL: My best friends would probably be Siobhan and Andrew and Lee. I’m going to miss those three so much, especially Siobhan. She’s such a nice person and she didn’t think I was going to go home at all and I think that’s why she was so upset. All day she was like, Alex, you’re not going home, dude. And when it happened she was like, ‘Oh my God, I didn’t ever think that he had the chance to go home.’
When you were eliminated, you seemed pretty upset. Did the judges approach you at all?
AL: They pretty much told me that I need more experience and it’s true and stuff, but I don’t know. I felt like vocally it was my time, but I didn’t have enough experience on the stage and that’s pretty much what they were telling me. They all know I have a good voice and they told me I have a future ahead of me.
There’s a lot of talk this season about what kind of artist everybody wants to be and whether or not you know yourself. Do you know what kind of artist you want to be and what kind of music you want to make?
AL: I know exactly what kind of artist I want to be. I really would like to do a bunch of acoustic stuff, but I would also like to be on some R&B tracks and like a whole bunch of different stuff.
You clearly grew as an artist over the course of the show. What was your main source of encouragement to improve on stage?
AL: It was all me. The only person that was going to help me overcome my stage fright and my nervousness was me. In my head I was thinking about nailing the song vocally and I wasn’t really worried about performing. I wanted my vocals to be so much better than everyone else’s, and I guess I lost track of the fact that it was a television show.
How does it feel to leave Idol with millions of new fans?
AL: I feel sorry. I wish I could have stayed on the show because I know I had a lot of fans and I wish I could have at least gotten on stage and enjoyed what I was doing out there. I really wanted to show everyone that I love it.
What are you going to do next?
RL: I need to go back to North Richland Hills to finish high school. But, I’m going to be on Ellen on Wednesday so that’s the first thing I want to do. And I really want to focus on my music and go take vocal lessons and try to go somewhere because this is the first thing I’ve ever done with my music and I got pretty far.
You’ll see me again. This isn’t the last of me at all. This is just the beginning.
American Idol airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET and Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CTV/Fox
Follow TV Guide Canada on Facebook