Phillip Phillips unlike other AI winners

MANILA, Philippines - For many a singer, the first public performance would probably count as the most unforgettable memory, and Phillip Phillips, American Idol Season 11 winner, remembers his own experience very well.

Talking to the media in his charming southern drawl during a presscon at the Manila Hotel last Tuesday, the 22-year-old singer from Georgia said that his singing was an accidental discovery. Phillip and the rest of the Season 11 finalists, including Fil-Am first runner-up Jessica Sanchez, are in town for a concert tonight, the final and only overseas stop of their 45-date American Idol Live Tour.

“I started playing guitar at 14. I played guitar for my sister, her friend and my brother-in-law in a band. We’d go around churches, playing a lot. I never said no,” he began. “I remember in one practice, they heard me singing, and they go, ‘Are you singing?’ I said ‘No!’ Then they made me sing, and they said, you’re going to sing this Sunday at church, and I said, ‘No, I’m not.’”

He eventually yielded to their request, thinking Sunday mornings are not packed with churchgoers anyway. “But that particular Sunday, it was. (Seeing the crowd,) I thought I was going to pass out. I was 18 at that time.”

Now, performing live before a crowd makes him really feel alive. He admitted, “I’m more of a live (performance) guy, I like playing out loud. I’m scared, too, but (playing live) is where I feel at home.”

Also, playing live and all the time is what he thinks is key to sustaining if not improving one’s talents. “Before American Idol, I was playing three to four gigs a week, and that would last for three to four hours, I would be singing all the time, and my voice would be fine. Then when I’d get sick and everything, I wouldn’t be able to sing as much. When the show started, when I was singing some (songs), my voice would go away, because I wasn’t like practicing enough or singing enough, (for me), you definitely got to sing all the time for your voice, to get strength for that,” he related.

Commenting on the latest season of show, which now has three new judges in Keith Urban, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj with original judge Randy Jackson, Phillip said, “I’m excited to see how the judge panel is gonna be this year. It’s gonna be interesting.”

“It’s a whole new crowd, you know, besides Randy. There’s gonna be a lot of different opinions going around,” he added.

Didn’t he feel luckier not to have the acerbic former AI judge Simon Cowell around during his time? “I would have liked Simon,” Phillip said.

Queried on his thoughts on the so-called AI curse, which pundits coined to refer to the examples of runners-up doing better than the winners post-AI, Phillip appeared genuinely confused as he reacted, “Curse? What’s that?”

Obviously, it was something he had no idea of, as his fellow AI finalists had to explain the question to him, with the group’s resident jokester Heejun Han even feigning a terrified reaction on the mention of “curse,” to the laughter of everyone.

Phillip then said, “It’s cool to me how people really believe in all those things. It’s funny but it’s what really makes the world go round. Some people like me, some people don’t. Some people like us, some people don’t. That’s the beauty of it.

“I just play music because I love it. I don’t want to do anything but play music. I just want to have fun every night (I’m on stage). That’s what I did (on AI). I’m not worried about (the curse).”

While his victory was noted as a trend of sorts, him being the fifth consecutive guy with a guitar who won in the show, Phillip feels he is unique. “Some people might think I’m different, some people think I’m the same. But I feel different from the past winners.”

Phillip, who said in a TV interview that he was nearing full recovery from his recent kidney surgery, will return to the recording studio to work on his debut album, planned for release in December, after they wrapped up the AI Live Tour with tonight’s concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.   

And just because he is the winner, it doesn’t mean he is enjoying special treatment in the tour.

Phillip said, “Every one of us will get the time (on the stage). I don’t think anyone of us will make another one feel uncomfortable or make the other one feel more special because something happened or anything. We’re all really close, and we want the best for one another. And in our last show, we really had a lot of fun in each other’s set. It’s good we have this relationship.”

Joining Phillip and Jessica are Joshua Ledet, DeAndre Brackensick, Elise Testone, Erika Van Pelt, Hee Jun Han, Skylar Laine, Colton Dixon and Hollie Cavanagh.