Felicia Barton - Interview
Patrick Blood interviewed Felicia Barton yesterday -- and she loves Rickey.org! Woohoo!
Thanks Patrick! Thanks Felicia!
You can follow Felicia on Twitter or MySpace or Facebook
Listen to the interview here:
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Alright, so I had the pleasure of getting an exclusive interview from one of our most beloved contestants, Felicia. Many feel this talented singer was robbed in the competition but her outlook on her Idol experience and her future is bright and hopeful.
Felicia Barton admits she loves Rickey and Rickey.org and reads it all the time. She most enjoys that Rickey pumps up contestants and is so positive. I discussed her Idol journey as well as what the future holds and also which contestant she is secretly rooting for. Do not miss it!
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Read the full transcript here:
Felicia: Well I really appreciate you doing the interview for Rickey.org and stuff, I am very grateful
Pat: Firstly, thank YOU so much for the interview for Rickey, he’s super excited and all the fans at Rickey.org are super excited, we all love you so much
Felicia: Aw. I appreciate it, I really appreciate it. It’s been a fun ride and I’m always looking at Rickey.org. It’s one of my favorite Idol site
Pat: It’s kind of a go-to place I’ve found; I visit a lot of website
Felicia: And it’s pretty positive too so you know, some of the other sites tend to be a little more negative and I like to stay around positivity.
Pat: Rickey’s definitely all about the pumping up of the contestants and building their fan bases that’s one of the reasons…
Felicia: We are all grateful at least I am.
Pat: So, I just have a couple questions I want to ask you, so to start was it your idea to audition for American Idol or did your friends and family kind of push you into auditioning?
Felicia: I actually auditioned for American Idol the season before, the season David Cook won, so it was my second time auditioning, but I didn’t even make it through the first round the first time I auditioned. No, it was my idea, I’ve always wanted to be a singer, and American Idol kind of gives you the biggest platform possible to be able to sing in front of 30 million people is huge so I was like, hey why not ya know? This year was really good timing for our family and my husband is really supportive and so we were all like ya, let’s do it, let’s go for it.
Pat: As I understand, when you went home to Virginia Beach after not making the Top 36, you gave yourself a makeover and a whole new style. You looked great before but you sort of transformed yourself into a superstar when you came back. Do you think this helped you out when you came back on the show having just put yourself through a complete makeover; you looked like a superstar up on that stage.
Felicia: Aww thanks. Ya know that was all about becoming the best me possible cause, I, over the past however long I’ve been working on the inside but I really wanted to work on the outside because that’s the first thing people see. I definitely, when I got kicked off the show, came home, at the Top 50 when they already picked the Top 36, I came home and wasn’t ready to quit. I decided I was going to just kind of do what you said, get a makeover and I started working out, I got a bunch of dental work done, I got my hair done, ya know all kind of things like that and a lot of support locally. I had a trainer that donated her time, a dentist that donated like $6-7,000 worth of work for free just because people actually believed in me and wanted to see me succeed. So, ya all that stuff happened and as it was happening, unbenounced to me, my husband had been actually e-mailing all the Idol producers and stuff with letting people know this is what she is doing and if you are ever gonna think about bringing anyone back whether it’s for a wildcard or anything, please consider my wife and I never even knew about that. And then after all the stuff I had kind of gone through as far getting my hair done, I did a photoshoot, I actually emailed them the pictures and I said look, I’m still working on it so please if you are thinking of bringing anyone else back please bring me back. So, it was an amazing transformation for me personally. Ya know, just to become the best me possible.
Pat: Well we were all so thankful you did come back. I know on the forums and blogs everyone was like “Yes!” “Thank goodness” We did like Joanna, she was a great singer but she did have her opportunities out there which everyone really knew about so they understood her disqualification but you coming back everyone was so thrilled.
Felicia: Well it was kind of cool to come back as like an underdog; it was a comeback story and I think everyone likes that kind of underdog story.
Pat: Post Idol, how has your experience with fans been? Has it been overall positive? Do you get recognized on the street or…how has that been for you in your transition now you’re not on the show?
Felicia: The fans have been…I seriously have the BEST fans ever and I’ve never really, I guess before idol, I never really thought about the fact I would have fans, I guess. It’s been amazing. They have been completely supportive and it’s so weird to get recognized like I’m in Target or at a restaurant and I’ve had my meals paid for since I’ve been back and it’s just been pretty crazy. But everyone’s been so supported and telling me oh you got robbed, and stuff like that but ya know, I feel like I had such a great opportunity and it put me out there and my name out there so when I do come out with a record ya know it helped me build that fanbase I really needed. But the fans, you guys are awesome, that’s all I can say.
Pat: We all know you have an adorable son; does he understand that you were on this huge television show, does he comprehend that, does he understand any of that?
Felicia: Ya know what, I am not sure how he understands that. He knows Mommy was on American Idol, he always says Mommy American Idol and if you asked him who the next American Idol was he would tell you that it was his mommy. It was so sweet. But ya know he has seen the videos and he’ll look at it and say “Mommy’s on American Idol” and now that some of my friends are still on the show, whenever we watch on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I’ll say “Who’s that” ya know and he’ll say “There’s Danny” or “There’s Lil” so ya, it’s really cute.
Pat: Now, I can only imagine how hard it was spending time away from Malachi when you were on the show in the audition processes, now you are home with him, are you guys inseparable?
Felicia: Ya, we’re really close and he’s the coolest little kid ever. We’re definitely pretty inseparable. We like to bring him along with us on the journey. And one of the things I’ve said since the beginning, with auditioning for American idol, is the reason I wanted to do this is to show my little boy how to chase dreams. If Mommy can chase her dream, then so can Malachi. That’s what I really hope he’s getting out of this. And now that I’m going about getting and making a record and making and doing this whole professional singing thing another way other than Idol it’s been really cool because whenever we go travel, he comes with us and every once in a while we leave him home with his grandma and grandpa but we love to bring him along with us and let him experience it. I think it’s pretty cool and I would have loved it.
Pat: Ya. Well you kind of just touched upon it which was my next question, I know a lot of fans want to know, do you have any CDs or are there any current projects currently going on? Are you looking to get in the studio and lay down some tracks, or take a little time off and then go for putting out an amazing record? Basically, what is next for you?
Felicia: Well right now I’m traveling back and forth to Nashville a lot, writing with some amazing writers out there. I am working on a record, yes. My husband is actually an engineer so we have a studio back here in Virginia Beach that we’re kind of working out of. Right now, it’s finding those hit songs so we’re working on some songs right now and hopefully we’ll have at least a single out on Myspace so everyone can be listening to some new stuff in the next few weeks. That’s my goal right now. The other stuff I’ve done in the past, I’ve led worship at my church back home, here in Virginia Beach, and we put out a couple praise and worship type records in the past. But besides that, I’m really looking forward to putting out a new pop record that’s totally my style and it’s gonna be really good. The more I work on it, the more excited I get.
Pat: Good, because I am super excited for it, I cannot wait. I’ve seen clips and heard things you’ve done before Idol and have always been such a huge fan so I am looking forward to that. Now you are following Idol, which it sounds like you are, who was your favorite from entire the Top 13?
Felicia: I really can’t say who my favorite is, I just love them all. And again, they are good friends so it is hard to pick a favorite so I am rooting for all of them right now…it will be interesting to see.
Pat: So you do not secretly have somebody you want to win the whole thing?
Felicia: Ooooh….do I secretly have somebody…hmmm….
Pat: I know there has to be someone!
Felicia: Nope! Nope! I mean, I love Danny, I love Adam’s voice. Adam is crazy; I don’t know where that range comes from. Danny is just an amazing person; I got to know him really well on Idol. Lil’s a good friend, she was one of my roommates for a while and so ya know I’m rooting for all of them though. They’re all really good singers and have the potential of doing really well. I’m really proud of everyone.
Pat: Alrighty so this week as we know it’s going to be a double elimination since the judges used the save last week. How do you think this is going to shake things up because fans are going to have to vote like they’ve never voted before knowing that there’s a double elimination.
Felicia: So there’s some people that need to step up their game if they wanna roll with some of the big dogs still in the competition. I think it gets tougher and tougher as the numbers start to go down. And I thought the whole judges save thing last week was kind of cool. I am glad they used it on Matt. It was kind of neat. People are going to need to vote, vote, vote for who they think should win.
Pat: Now I happen to know you’re on Twitter. Do you want to let everyone know where they can find you?
Felicia: Yes absolutely. It’s twitter.com/feliciabarton.
Pat: And what about myspace?
Felicia: Same thing! Slash feliciabarton. And on Facebook! I am on Facebook all the time.
Pat: I know, I see your statuses on Facebook! We’re facebook, twitter and myspace friends…
Felicia: Yes, we sure are, we keep in touch!
Pat: Exactly! So, that is all the questions I have unless you want to say anything to the fans, to Rickey, to the Idol community at large…
Felicia: Ya know, definitely to Rickey and Rickey.org people, I just wanna say a big thank you for all your support. I guess over the past six months or nine months you guys have supported me from getting kicked off to put back on and you guys are the best, I am very, very thankful and to everybody else out there, seriously, continue to keep in touch with me on my myspace and facebook and twitter. Be listening for new songs and a new record out really soon. Monday is our day off!
Pat: Well it was lovely speaking with you and thanks so much.
Felicia; It was great speaking with you too, thanks so much. Tell Rickey I said what’s up!
Pat: I will! Bye
Felicia: Buh-Bye.