posted by AINews on Jun 21
‘American Idol’s’ Sanjaya Malakar let some of his feelings be known in the June 20 issue of Steppin’ Out magazine.
“At a certain point all the judges just gave up,” said Malakar. “[The judges] realized the fans are going to do whatever they’re going to do, and they’re always going to vote for whomever they want. They didn’t have the power to change the way the fans felt. In fact, if anything, the more [Idol judge Simon Cowell] was mean to me, the stronger the fan support got. That’s why all the judges got frustrated and just gave up… I didn’t take it personally because I was just thinking what I needed to do.”
Sanjaya said he thinks Simon Cowell was the one who was “trying to get a certain reaction out of the fans” through his criticisms. However Malakar added he actually has “respect” for the sharp-tongued Brit due to his “unbiased honesty.”
“I actually kind of like Simon. He was really mean to me — but he’s also really honest — and I was searching for that,” Malakar told Steppin’ Out. “Not a lot of people are like that anymore. Especially in this business. He doesn’t say things the way you might want to hear them. He says what he feels with every speck of sugar off of it. It’s complete raw and brutal honesty. I really think that’s important to hear. You need at least one person telling you that stuff so you can learn from it.”
Malakar said he had “no idea” how he was able to capture the country’s attention and added he had a “very limited idea of what was going on” because he was “focusing on the show.”
“I just was myself each week. I think a lot of people picked up on that. They liked the fact that I didn’t care what people thought. I was just myself. I was just me. I think people could relate to that,” Malakar told Steppin’ Out. “I didn’t do anything special in my opinion. I just had fun. I think it’s important to not take yourself too seriously. If you take yourself too seriously you forget to laugh at yourself. Sometimes it’s okay to fall on your butt and laugh at it. And I definitely fell on my butt more than one time on that show in front of millions of viewers. But it’s good that it happened. I learned from it.”
Malakar said the popularity he gained from Idol is only now starting to resonate, but he still described it as both “weird” and “surreal.”
“I don’t know how to explain it,” he told Steppin’ Out. “It’s been the most life changing experience I could imagine. It’s really weird because everything has happened so fast. I really don’t even have time to realize what is happening.”
“I’m going to try to legitimize my music,” he told Steppin’ Out. “That’s the most important thing. I think a lot of people just see me as some kind of joke. I know that I’m not a joke. That’s all that really matters to me. Other people are entitled to their opinion and that’s cool. The way I make myself feel better about it is to prove those people wrong.”
Sanjaya is currently readying himself for the American Idol 2007 summer tour, which kicks-off Friday, July 6 in Sunrise, FL.
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