Singing Neil Diamond through tears was Brooke White’s final performance on Idol (until the May 21 finale and the Idols Live Tour, of course). But the singer’s fans, who’ve grown to love the open, honest and emotional singer, would not expect her to leave any other way. Brooke spoke to reporters Thursday and reflected on how her Idol experience helped her with a struggle to find “inner confidence,” getting ready to cut her husband’s hair (he vowed not to get a haircut until she was kicked off the show), and why the guys have an advantage.
You said you struggled with your confidence in the past, how did you deal with on Idol?
Finding that inner confidence is something that has definitely been a struggle for me but I’m learning and I’m growing and [being on] Idol definitely helped me work on that. We always say this shows brings everything to the surface which might be an issue for you and that one is certainly one of them. But I worked through them and … in a very public way. That’s hard and a very vulnerable position to be in but it feels good to be honest.
When you were up on stage, you were obviously very emotional. What was going through your head?
I anticipated [going home] in a strange way. It was in my gut and I had thought I was strong, I really did. I felt so grateful and happy and then boom, it hit me: this is done, this is over. … It was emotional and I hoped so much that I could have been stronger but you know, I guess I’m just an emotional girl and I’m passionate and that I guess really came across on the stage because I felt very vulnerable every time.
Ryan Seacrest pointed out that you had the lyrics to the song written on your arm.
I had the word “palm” on the palm of my hand.
Are there any other tips that you’ve used throughout the show to help you remember the lyrics?
I had not had any problems with the lyrics up until “You Must Love Me” and all of a sudden it freaked me out. I started thinking, “Oh my gosh, what if this happens again.” You play head games, and when I was signing the song in my rehearsal I felt like “palm trees” wasn’t sticking in my brain so just the practice of writing it down on my hand helps me remember it. I didn’t even look at it because it was on the other side of my hand … But you know, we don’t use a teleprompter and I was playing an instrument and signing on two songs so it was a lot of things to remember in less than a weeks time.
Your husband seemed really supportive. Do you sing for him around the house?
He likes to hear me sing. He’s pretty great. He’s just a very laid back fellow with great perspective and he’s just 100 percent supportive of me. I feel really fortunate to find a guy who could hang with me through this.
Your husband pledged not to cut his hair until you were of the show is that true?
Yes, it’s true.
When is he planning on cutting the hair and are you going to do it?
I’ll be the one cutting it, but I’m just not sure when that’s going to happen. We’ll have to pencil it in somewhere. It will probably have to be at 3 a.m. sometime.
What happened with Paula on Tuesday?
It’s live television; anything can happen. Last week, I stopped and restarted my song. It’s just human moments that happen on the show and I don’t know exactly what happened with Paula but just stuff happens on the show … I’m sure she just kind of got lost in the moment.
Last week, Carly Smithson said that the girls struggle to get votes compared to the guys, Do you agree?
The boys are awfully popular this year and I know that because their fan mail came in great humongous stacks and girls got like three a day. But the boys are very talented and very charming. Oh, to be a boy this year! It would probably have been helpful.
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