Anthony Fedorov placed fourth on season 4 of American Idol, and he’s been in the public eye ever since. Blessed with a great voice, we should be hearing from Federov for years to come. Anthony took time out of his busy schedule to talk with us at BuddyTV recently. We discussed this season of American Idol, as well as his time on the show and what he’s up to currently.
BuddyTV: Have you been following American Idol at all this season?
Anthony: Actually, I have been. I’m doing this column for EW.com, Entertainment Weekly.com, and I’m judging the judges. So I have to watch it every week and make comments on their comments.
Anything that has stood out to you so far?
Well, the one thing that has stood out to me so far is the fact that the judges are being a lot more constructive this season, which is something that I wish they would have done a lot more of during my season. This season they’re actually taking some time to speak to the contestants and tell them some valuable advice. They’re not just throwing one or two liners out there for you. So, I think it’s great that they’re being a lot more constructive, I think it will help them in the long run.
What do you think of the contestants so far?
It’s definitely shaping up to be a very interesting season. To me personally, the competition really starts when it gets to the Top 12. So I am very excited to see what happens this coming week and you know, once the Top 12 hits, that’s when the fun stuff is going to start to go down.
Do you have any favorites so far?
I do, but I would not want to say. I don’t want to say any names because you definitely want to keep it as fair as possible and I don’t want to sway any votes, so let’s just keep it fair and see what happens.
This season it seems like the girls, for the most part, have been a lot stronger than the guys. It seems like some of the heavy favorites are indeed girls. Do you have any thoughts on the way things have been shaping up so far?
Well, every season they always have a favorite where they say “Oh, the girls are more dominant or the guys are more dominant.” You know, when our season started they said that our guys are going to win because the guys are just so strong. You know, you had Carrie win, and rightfully so because you never know when things are going to turn or where a true star is going to emerge.
How do you think this season compares to your season?
Well, you know, I have to be a little bit biased when it comes to that. You know, obviously my season I feel closest to. But it’s all going to come down to diversity, to see how diverse the singers are. The one great thing about my season was that we had so many different singers and they were so good at what they were doing and that made the competition very interesting. So, if this season people are going to really focus on the diversity of the material, I think it’s going to be a good thing.
Maybe you can tell us a little bit about your experience on Idol. You came in fourth place and polls on the American Idol website after the show showed that you were the second most popular contestant behind Carrie Underwood. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about your experience on the show; some of the highlights or challenges?
Well, my experiences on the show…where do I start? It was definitely a rollercoaster. I mean, I know it is a cliché and everybody says it, but it really is in every sense of the word. The biggest plus for me was the fact that I got a crash course on the music industry in less than a year. Being on that show gives you an idea of how your life can be like if you succeed as an individual artist when you become a superstar. While you’re on the show, I mean, you’re exactly that; you’re a star, you’re one of the most famous people in America, everybody watches you. So, it taught me a lot and I mean I grew up a lot by being on the show. I really didn’t have a chance to observe myself while I was on the show because you’re so busy and every second of your day is accounted for, you really don’t have a chance to reflect on how you’re doing. So I would have to say that I learned about my highs when I got off the show, when things died down a little bit. I definitely became a more experienced person when it came to the business and the aspect of handling yourself in the music business world.
And just all the places that I’ve been and the hundreds of thousands of people that I’ve performed in front of live. I mean, the tour was just absolutely phenomenal, I mean we sold out almost every venue that we went to. Just having that fan base and performing in front of people is great. Some of my low end challenges I’d have to say were definitely in my song selection process because a lot of the time I felt like I didn’t choose the right song and I felt that I should have been eliminated a lot earlier than I was and that’s why I am so grateful to my fans for pushing me as far as they did because the sad thing is, I never really had the chance to show how good I could be. I just never had a chance to show it on the show because I always ended up choosing the wrong song or something, something never clicked for me on the show. Every time I watch the show back I’m like, “This is not me. I’m a different artist than this.” So I had a chance to really observe that fact when I got off the show. One of the things I’ve also had to struggle with is singing itself because on the show there’s a wrong misconception that singers get when they get on the show because it’s all about you hit your high notes and that’s what gets you ratings but when you get in the studio – I’m working on my record right now – all that stuff doesn’t really matter because you really have to put your heart and soul into your music because unless you do that nobody is going to buy your stuff. Nobody is going to believe that you’re the real thing. You hit a high note where it matters. I’ve struggled to understand that since I got off the show because my mentality was all about I was just singing and I was listening to my voice. When you start to discover things about yourself as an artist and you stop singing other people’s music and you start singing your own, you learn that it has nothing to do with that. That’s kind of a mindset that I’ve been getting recently and learning more about it and it’s really tough. I think that’s one of the reasons why it’s tough to really become successful for those that don’t make it on the show.
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(Photo by Lisa Sullivan)
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