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Aiken finished
second in the television singing competition
to Ruben Studdard of Birmingham, Ala.
Since the "American Idol" finale on May 21,
Aiken has been in the Big Apple, making
appearances on numerous television programs,
including the "CBS Early Show," "Regis and
Kelly" and "Larry King Live."
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So what has Aiken to say about the controversy
over phone voting?
"The controversy concerns me, because being
part of the show for as long as I was, I'm
very aware of how difficult it was for people
to get through, but that's because so many
people were voting. People were voting for
Ruben, too, and I'm 100 percent confident --
115 percent confident -- that everything was
done fairly. Ruben got 130,000 more votes than
me and that's perfectly understandable. It was
hard to get through in Raleigh because,
hopefully, most of Raleigh was voting for me,"
he said with a big smile.
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BEFORE Makeover |
AFTER Makeover |
What he has trouble believing is all the
support has -- from the 8,000 fans who watched
the final show at the RBC Center -- "I was
completely blown away" -- to the hundreds of
well-wishes sent in to WRAL.com.
So what is next?
Aiken is headed back to New York City where he
and Studdard will perform at Giants Stadium
Sunday. Then the duo is off to Toronto to help
promote the Canadian version of "Idol." The
they head back to Los Angeles to start
recording their respsective albums, which are
scheduled for release in August or September.
"It was going to be "This is the Night," then
the response was so good for "Bridge Over
Troubled Water" that we decided to change it,"
he said.
Aiken and Studdard became close friends during
the competition and that friendhip continues
to strengthen despite their busy schedules.
"I talk to him every day," Aiken said. "I
talked to him last night as I was headed to a
movie and I said, 'I called you this afternoon
and you didn't call me back.'"
Aiken returns to Raleigh August 6 with
Studdard and other "Idol" finalists for the
sold out "American Idols Live!" tour at the
RBC Center.
Not bad for a guy who did not win the title,
but ended up with a whole lot more.
"I'm perfectly happy with the outcome. I've
turned out OK myself," he said.
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