K-K-KIMBERLEY LOCKE OVERLOAAAADDDD~~
FROM OUT:
The singer chats about what she hated about American Idol, keeping Clay Aikens secret, and why the gay community can't get enough of her.
Kimberley Locke’s first came into the spotlight in 2002 when she appeared on the second season of American Idol, finishing third behind runner up Clay Aiken and winner Ruben Studdard. Since then she’s continued to make music (she’s had hits with songs like “8th World Wonder” and “Band of Gold”) and starred on VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club. Locke most recently signed a deal with Idol judge Randy Jackson's Dream Merchant 21 record label and dropped her first single, "Strobelight," in April.
We caught up with Locke to chat about what she hated about American Idol, keeping her Clay Aiken’s secret, and the reason the gay community can’t enough of her.
Out: You’ve dabbled in all kinds of different genres of music from R&B to adult contemporary to Christmas. “Strobe Light” is very dance. How did you end up moving in that direction?
Kimberly Locke: I’m actually working on my fourth project. So, I felt that it was very important for me to have a very specific direction in which I was going to go. I have a new manager, Jay Schwartz, and we started talking about this and he was like, “You know I’m working on a project with Randy Jackson with Gladys Knight…let’s just call him up, you have a relationship with him, and let’s just get his advice,” and basically, that’s what we did. I think an advisory meeting turned into “Hey Randy, why don’t you do this project with me?” And unbeknownst to me, at the time, Randy had just started a new label called Dream Merchant 21 and this is a strictly dance label. I don’t think I knew that Randy was so into dance music. One of our initial conversations, this is a question I don’t get asked very much, but he said, “What do you want to do?” And I said, “I don’t know.” I was like, “You know Randy, I just love to sing and I’ll sing anything.” So we bounced around a lot of ideas. He said to me, “Okay, then tell me where your fans are.” I said, “Well, obviously in the dance world considering I’ve had 3 number one dance songs already.” And he said, “Well, let’s make a dance record.” I looked at him and I was like, “Really, Randy? It’s that simple?” He was like, “Yeah. Listen, you already have a presence there, people love you. Let’s just take it to the next level.” So, that kind of scared me a little bit because the track that we got was already a dance track. So, this song, whereas my other songs, "8th World Wonder," "Change," "Band of Gold," and "Fall," had all been remixed from adult contemporary. "Strobe Light" is a straight ahead, out of the box dance song, and we’ve already got remixes on it. So, that’s kind of how it all came about.
I read something where you’re doing a singles deal instead of concentrating on an album. How did that come about?
My first contract with Curb Records was a six album contract. And six albums can equate to 20 years, at the end of the day. That contract expired. When I talked to Randy, I was so happy that he agreed that we should just do a singles deal. So my contract with Randy is based on singles only; it’s a new single every six to eight months. I think it’s genius. I think that for Randy’s label it’s great because if something isn’t working for them, then they get to drop it and say, “You know what, this isn’t working for us.” And as an artist I get to say, “You know what, I don’t like the way this thing is going. I gave you my single, I’m out of here.” I think it’s fantastic. And with the way the music world is going right now, listen, we all go to iTunes and download that one song that we want off of an album. And, besides that, if you have an album that comes out, they’re only playing one song at a time. So, that’s what’s in people’s heads. It’s not like they’re going and listening to the entire album and saying, “Okay, I like this, I like that…” What Randy -- and I love him for this, he said, “Let’s just give them a hit every time. And if we give them a hit every time and we get to the third or fourth single, and they’re loving it, then, of course, we’re going to do an album. But right now, let’s give them one single at a time.” And I love that idea. And I think, for new artists out there, I’ve already advised some people who’ve asked me, I tell them, “Do not sign long contracts, because I think those days are over.”
I totally agree with you. It makes sense for a lot of artists in a singles-driven world.
Randy explained it to me like this, he said, Randy in his own little way, “Yo, normally what happens,” and I know this, “what happens on an album is, you have four singles, that you think are going to be singles. They pick out the initial four. But then there are six other songs, for fillers." It’s like, why spend money on the filler songs when you’ve only got four hits? I think that’s fair to the label; it’s fair to the artist, and it’s fair to the consumer. We’re saying, “We don’t have any fluff. If you like the single, go get it. And if you don’t like it, we’ll try again or we won’t try again." And I think that that’s the whole idea of this -- to keep giving the hits instead of the fluff. We don’t need the fluff.
Who or what are some of your inspirations?
I find a lot of inspiration in a lot of different places. When I was a young girl growing up, Whitney Houston -- I thought I was going to be her. I wanted to be her! Let’s just put that out there. And even now, with all of her mess, I can’t listen to the negative things they say about her because, to me, I still idolize her. And, you know what, I don’t care; "Million Dollar Bill," I heard a dance mix of that, the other night, in the club, and I was like, “What!” I mean, I jumped up on my feet. Listen, no matter what she’s been through, she’s a phoenix. She has come through the fire and she is still doing it. And nobody can take away what she’s already done. She might be in a different place now but she represents something serious in our industry. I get a lot of inspiration from her. When I’m working out, one of my favorite songs that comes on my iPod is by Eminem -- "Collapse." When you go to the gym you’re purging, you’re thinking about everything that’s going on in your life. And when that song comes on, it makes me want to get out of the gym, and just go do something great with my career. It’s like, “I can do this.” Because this business is tough and when you’re fighting for anything that you want, it’s hard. Trying to find those little inspirations in the places that you can -- whether it be from songs or artists -- it’s so important. Listen -- I can find inspiration in a Frank Sinatra song.
Let’s talk a little bit about Anerican Idol. I promise I won't drag you down that road for too long. Do you think that the show is still relevant?
I think that American Idol is still a great way to find talent. I don’t know what happened this season, but it’s still a good way to find talent. I think that they’re going to have to go back to the raw talent. The other night, on the show, I think everybody except for two people, maybe, played the guitar. I don’t play an instrument. I love people who play instruments -- I think it’s great -- but American Idol is a singing competition and I think it distracts and it takes away. I think some of them are better musicians than they are singers -- if you really want to know the truth about it. When I was on American Idol it was about raw talent; you had a microphone, a microphone stand, a spotlight, and a track. We didn’t even have a band on my season! So, I do think it’s still a great way to find talent. I think they just need to get back to the basics of singing.
Were there things about the show that you didn’t like? I’ll tell you the one thing I can’t stand: When everyone has to do those cheesy group performances. Half of the people can’t dance and don’t want to be dancing -- it’s like a bad high school musical. Were there things that you had to do and just put a smile on but inside you were thinking I can't believe I'm doing this?
One of the things I didn’t like about Idol was the Ford commercials. It was like, “Come on.” For a lack of a better word they would whore us out, we did all these commercials for free, they got to use our image and our names. But the thing that upset me the most about it is that it took up so much time in our day. We were already exhausted running around doing press, people pulling us in a thousand directions, now we’ve go to do Coke and Ford and all these different spots for the sponsors. Those things would take, like, an entire day. Some nights we wouldn’t get finished from doing just that until midnight. It’s like, “Really?” And then they’re like, “Practice your song in your sleep.” I was like, “Really? Come on.” So, the Ford commercials were kind of annoying. And, we didn’t get a car. So, go figure.
Why do you think you have such a strong gay fan base?
When I first realized that I had such a huge gay following, it was so perplexing. Every Sunday, this is funny, in L.A., when I first moved out there, I’d go with all my gay friends and we’d have Sunday Fun-Day. I, finally, one day, after a pitcher of margaritas, I’m looking at them, I’m like, “Why do I have such a gay following?” And literally, we went around the table like, “Girl, you know.” And everybody kind of gave me their take on it. One person said to me, “We love a strong woman. We love a powerful voice and there’s a little black girl inside of all of us.” At first, I was shocked. Because when I was growing up in Nashville, I had one gay friend. He did my hair, he did my nails, he did my flowers for prom -- he did it all. If I had let him make my dress he would’ve made my dress. But coming off of Idol and seeing that, because it was very obvious, I was like, “Wow. This is interesting.” And I looked around and I was like, “Why are they not fans of anybody else? Why me?” I was very suspicious. But, after a while, I just stopped questioning it. Then, when I crossed over into dance music, I was like, “Now I get it.” I was like, “I totally get it.” Then I started going to the gay clubs, performing, and I was like, “Now I really get it.” Like, the light bulbs went off in the gym. Some of my most favorite performances are in the gay clubs; the energy is off the charts, they let me sing my face off; I can talk nasty to them. I’ve got my clean show and I’ve got my dirty show that I do for the gays. I love it and they love me. I’m telling you, my gay audience, they don’t know it, because they don’t see it, but on the inside, what they do for me, in the way of boosting my confidence -- it’s unbelievable. I would do a family show somewhere and just perform with my band and then I’d go do a gay club and I’m like, “I would much rather be here.” Because, sometimes, those shows are hard when you’ve got such a blend of people and so many different age groups and everybody likes R&B or they like country and you’re trying to please everybody. When you go to the gay club they’re like, “Whatever. We love you” And I love them.
Let's talk about one specific gay, Clay Aiken, your former roommate. Do you have any dirt? Did you ever see Clay surfing Manhunt?
[Laughs] I never saw Clay on Manhunt. I’ll be honest with you -- Clay shared with me that he was gay early on in the competition. We were hanging out together and he was like, “I’ve got something to tell you.” And I was like, “Good. Because I’ve got something to tell you too.” And so he tells me and I’m like, “Oh I knew that. Now let me tell you my secret.” It wasn’t really a secret to me but it wasn’t really my place to push him in any direction. That’s his thing. And that’s anybody’s thing who’s not ready to come out -- you’ve got to do it in your own time because your life changes after that. It’s not one of those things you can say and take back. You’ve got to answer a lot of questions for it. So, I did know and people grilled me about it and people asked me, every interview that I did, they were like, “So, is Clay gay? So, you live with Clay -- is he gay? So, you and Clay are really best friends…” And I’m like, “You know what, I don’t know. Ask him.” It’s not my place to tell. So, I kept his secret because that’s what friends do. They keep your secrets. My friends better keep my secrets!
What do you have coming up next and what’s on your list of things you still want to get done?
I’m working on a reality show now called Making the Curve. It’s about putting together a plus-sized singing group, which I know my gay boys are going to love. That’s kind of at the top of my list. I always want to continue to make music. I have a dream of performing at Carnegie Hall one day because I’m in love with Judy Garland and I am in love with the one-woman show; give me a microphone and an orchestra and let me just sing. I want to do a clothing line. I’m already working on that. I want to get back in the restaurant business. I’ve even thought about developing artists and trying to help some artists get their music out there or pave their way. I want to act. I want to be in a movie. I have a whole list of things that I want to do.
SOURCE
THEN ALSO HERE'S SOME INTERVIEW HER AND RANDY DID~
RANDY TALKS ABOUT PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW THE CONTESTANTS THIS SEASON PLAY THE GUITAR. "DAMN THEM FOR HAVING TALENT!"
BLAH BLAH DANCE RECORD THEN THEY PLAY HER SONG~.
SO BASICALLY I JUST WANTED TO POST THIS INTERVIEW BECAUSE OF HER RANT ABOUT THE FORD COMMERCIALS WHICH GIVES ME AN EXCUSE TO POST THIS LOL:
I STAN HER BOOBS TOO.
The singer chats about what she hated about American Idol, keeping Clay Aikens secret, and why the gay community can't get enough of her.
Kimberley Locke’s first came into the spotlight in 2002 when she appeared on the second season of American Idol, finishing third behind runner up Clay Aiken and winner Ruben Studdard. Since then she’s continued to make music (she’s had hits with songs like “8th World Wonder” and “Band of Gold”) and starred on VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club. Locke most recently signed a deal with Idol judge Randy Jackson's Dream Merchant 21 record label and dropped her first single, "Strobelight," in April.
We caught up with Locke to chat about what she hated about American Idol, keeping her Clay Aiken’s secret, and the reason the gay community can’t enough of her.
Out: You’ve dabbled in all kinds of different genres of music from R&B to adult contemporary to Christmas. “Strobe Light” is very dance. How did you end up moving in that direction?
Kimberly Locke: I’m actually working on my fourth project. So, I felt that it was very important for me to have a very specific direction in which I was going to go. I have a new manager, Jay Schwartz, and we started talking about this and he was like, “You know I’m working on a project with Randy Jackson with Gladys Knight…let’s just call him up, you have a relationship with him, and let’s just get his advice,” and basically, that’s what we did. I think an advisory meeting turned into “Hey Randy, why don’t you do this project with me?” And unbeknownst to me, at the time, Randy had just started a new label called Dream Merchant 21 and this is a strictly dance label. I don’t think I knew that Randy was so into dance music. One of our initial conversations, this is a question I don’t get asked very much, but he said, “What do you want to do?” And I said, “I don’t know.” I was like, “You know Randy, I just love to sing and I’ll sing anything.” So we bounced around a lot of ideas. He said to me, “Okay, then tell me where your fans are.” I said, “Well, obviously in the dance world considering I’ve had 3 number one dance songs already.” And he said, “Well, let’s make a dance record.” I looked at him and I was like, “Really, Randy? It’s that simple?” He was like, “Yeah. Listen, you already have a presence there, people love you. Let’s just take it to the next level.” So, that kind of scared me a little bit because the track that we got was already a dance track. So, this song, whereas my other songs, "8th World Wonder," "Change," "Band of Gold," and "Fall," had all been remixed from adult contemporary. "Strobe Light" is a straight ahead, out of the box dance song, and we’ve already got remixes on it. So, that’s kind of how it all came about.
I read something where you’re doing a singles deal instead of concentrating on an album. How did that come about?
My first contract with Curb Records was a six album contract. And six albums can equate to 20 years, at the end of the day. That contract expired. When I talked to Randy, I was so happy that he agreed that we should just do a singles deal. So my contract with Randy is based on singles only; it’s a new single every six to eight months. I think it’s genius. I think that for Randy’s label it’s great because if something isn’t working for them, then they get to drop it and say, “You know what, this isn’t working for us.” And as an artist I get to say, “You know what, I don’t like the way this thing is going. I gave you my single, I’m out of here.” I think it’s fantastic. And with the way the music world is going right now, listen, we all go to iTunes and download that one song that we want off of an album. And, besides that, if you have an album that comes out, they’re only playing one song at a time. So, that’s what’s in people’s heads. It’s not like they’re going and listening to the entire album and saying, “Okay, I like this, I like that…” What Randy -- and I love him for this, he said, “Let’s just give them a hit every time. And if we give them a hit every time and we get to the third or fourth single, and they’re loving it, then, of course, we’re going to do an album. But right now, let’s give them one single at a time.” And I love that idea. And I think, for new artists out there, I’ve already advised some people who’ve asked me, I tell them, “Do not sign long contracts, because I think those days are over.”
I totally agree with you. It makes sense for a lot of artists in a singles-driven world.
Randy explained it to me like this, he said, Randy in his own little way, “Yo, normally what happens,” and I know this, “what happens on an album is, you have four singles, that you think are going to be singles. They pick out the initial four. But then there are six other songs, for fillers." It’s like, why spend money on the filler songs when you’ve only got four hits? I think that’s fair to the label; it’s fair to the artist, and it’s fair to the consumer. We’re saying, “We don’t have any fluff. If you like the single, go get it. And if you don’t like it, we’ll try again or we won’t try again." And I think that that’s the whole idea of this -- to keep giving the hits instead of the fluff. We don’t need the fluff.
Who or what are some of your inspirations?
I find a lot of inspiration in a lot of different places. When I was a young girl growing up, Whitney Houston -- I thought I was going to be her. I wanted to be her! Let’s just put that out there. And even now, with all of her mess, I can’t listen to the negative things they say about her because, to me, I still idolize her. And, you know what, I don’t care; "Million Dollar Bill," I heard a dance mix of that, the other night, in the club, and I was like, “What!” I mean, I jumped up on my feet. Listen, no matter what she’s been through, she’s a phoenix. She has come through the fire and she is still doing it. And nobody can take away what she’s already done. She might be in a different place now but she represents something serious in our industry. I get a lot of inspiration from her. When I’m working out, one of my favorite songs that comes on my iPod is by Eminem -- "Collapse." When you go to the gym you’re purging, you’re thinking about everything that’s going on in your life. And when that song comes on, it makes me want to get out of the gym, and just go do something great with my career. It’s like, “I can do this.” Because this business is tough and when you’re fighting for anything that you want, it’s hard. Trying to find those little inspirations in the places that you can -- whether it be from songs or artists -- it’s so important. Listen -- I can find inspiration in a Frank Sinatra song.
Let’s talk a little bit about Anerican Idol. I promise I won't drag you down that road for too long. Do you think that the show is still relevant?
I think that American Idol is still a great way to find talent. I don’t know what happened this season, but it’s still a good way to find talent. I think that they’re going to have to go back to the raw talent. The other night, on the show, I think everybody except for two people, maybe, played the guitar. I don’t play an instrument. I love people who play instruments -- I think it’s great -- but American Idol is a singing competition and I think it distracts and it takes away. I think some of them are better musicians than they are singers -- if you really want to know the truth about it. When I was on American Idol it was about raw talent; you had a microphone, a microphone stand, a spotlight, and a track. We didn’t even have a band on my season! So, I do think it’s still a great way to find talent. I think they just need to get back to the basics of singing.
Were there things about the show that you didn’t like? I’ll tell you the one thing I can’t stand: When everyone has to do those cheesy group performances. Half of the people can’t dance and don’t want to be dancing -- it’s like a bad high school musical. Were there things that you had to do and just put a smile on but inside you were thinking I can't believe I'm doing this?
One of the things I didn’t like about Idol was the Ford commercials. It was like, “Come on.” For a lack of a better word they would whore us out, we did all these commercials for free, they got to use our image and our names. But the thing that upset me the most about it is that it took up so much time in our day. We were already exhausted running around doing press, people pulling us in a thousand directions, now we’ve go to do Coke and Ford and all these different spots for the sponsors. Those things would take, like, an entire day. Some nights we wouldn’t get finished from doing just that until midnight. It’s like, “Really?” And then they’re like, “Practice your song in your sleep.” I was like, “Really? Come on.” So, the Ford commercials were kind of annoying. And, we didn’t get a car. So, go figure.
Why do you think you have such a strong gay fan base?
When I first realized that I had such a huge gay following, it was so perplexing. Every Sunday, this is funny, in L.A., when I first moved out there, I’d go with all my gay friends and we’d have Sunday Fun-Day. I, finally, one day, after a pitcher of margaritas, I’m looking at them, I’m like, “Why do I have such a gay following?” And literally, we went around the table like, “Girl, you know.” And everybody kind of gave me their take on it. One person said to me, “We love a strong woman. We love a powerful voice and there’s a little black girl inside of all of us.” At first, I was shocked. Because when I was growing up in Nashville, I had one gay friend. He did my hair, he did my nails, he did my flowers for prom -- he did it all. If I had let him make my dress he would’ve made my dress. But coming off of Idol and seeing that, because it was very obvious, I was like, “Wow. This is interesting.” And I looked around and I was like, “Why are they not fans of anybody else? Why me?” I was very suspicious. But, after a while, I just stopped questioning it. Then, when I crossed over into dance music, I was like, “Now I get it.” I was like, “I totally get it.” Then I started going to the gay clubs, performing, and I was like, “Now I really get it.” Like, the light bulbs went off in the gym. Some of my most favorite performances are in the gay clubs; the energy is off the charts, they let me sing my face off; I can talk nasty to them. I’ve got my clean show and I’ve got my dirty show that I do for the gays. I love it and they love me. I’m telling you, my gay audience, they don’t know it, because they don’t see it, but on the inside, what they do for me, in the way of boosting my confidence -- it’s unbelievable. I would do a family show somewhere and just perform with my band and then I’d go do a gay club and I’m like, “I would much rather be here.” Because, sometimes, those shows are hard when you’ve got such a blend of people and so many different age groups and everybody likes R&B or they like country and you’re trying to please everybody. When you go to the gay club they’re like, “Whatever. We love you” And I love them.
Let's talk about one specific gay, Clay Aiken, your former roommate. Do you have any dirt? Did you ever see Clay surfing Manhunt?
[Laughs] I never saw Clay on Manhunt. I’ll be honest with you -- Clay shared with me that he was gay early on in the competition. We were hanging out together and he was like, “I’ve got something to tell you.” And I was like, “Good. Because I’ve got something to tell you too.” And so he tells me and I’m like, “Oh I knew that. Now let me tell you my secret.” It wasn’t really a secret to me but it wasn’t really my place to push him in any direction. That’s his thing. And that’s anybody’s thing who’s not ready to come out -- you’ve got to do it in your own time because your life changes after that. It’s not one of those things you can say and take back. You’ve got to answer a lot of questions for it. So, I did know and people grilled me about it and people asked me, every interview that I did, they were like, “So, is Clay gay? So, you live with Clay -- is he gay? So, you and Clay are really best friends…” And I’m like, “You know what, I don’t know. Ask him.” It’s not my place to tell. So, I kept his secret because that’s what friends do. They keep your secrets. My friends better keep my secrets!
What do you have coming up next and what’s on your list of things you still want to get done?
I’m working on a reality show now called Making the Curve. It’s about putting together a plus-sized singing group, which I know my gay boys are going to love. That’s kind of at the top of my list. I always want to continue to make music. I have a dream of performing at Carnegie Hall one day because I’m in love with Judy Garland and I am in love with the one-woman show; give me a microphone and an orchestra and let me just sing. I want to do a clothing line. I’m already working on that. I want to get back in the restaurant business. I’ve even thought about developing artists and trying to help some artists get their music out there or pave their way. I want to act. I want to be in a movie. I have a whole list of things that I want to do.
SOURCE
THEN ALSO HERE'S SOME INTERVIEW HER AND RANDY DID~
Click to viewRANDY TALKS ABOUT PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW THE CONTESTANTS THIS SEASON PLAY THE GUITAR. "DAMN THEM FOR HAVING TALENT!"
BLAH BLAH DANCE RECORD THEN THEY PLAY HER SONG~.
SO BASICALLY I JUST WANTED TO POST THIS INTERVIEW BECAUSE OF HER RANT ABOUT THE FORD COMMERCIALS WHICH GIVES ME AN EXCUSE TO POST THIS LOL:
I STAN HER BOOBS TOO.