Anoop Desai: Inspired by Eve Carson and Go Heels!

Anoop Desai, the last contestant in to the Top 13, is missing North Carolina, from March Madness to the one year-anniversary memorial for slain UNC president Eve Carson, during his American Idol journey. Read about that and more in his Wild Card Show interview.

You were utterly shocked last night, how did you deal when you thought you were eliminated?
It was the difference between having all your dreams dashed and seconds later they're alive again. It was a genuine shock for me and... I'm still here!

What did Ryan tell you afterwards? Did he apologize?
The producers and Simon and all the judges sort-of apologized that they had to do that.

You were talking about how much you like Kanye. How do you feel about the fact that he's coming on the show?
Actually, I found out from Ryan on his show this morning. Hopefully I'll get to meet him and we can talk about some collaborations in the future. [laughs]

What are you majoring in in graduate schol and what was your undergraduate degree in?
My undergrad degrees were in Political Science and American Studies, and my grad program is in Folklore. I think the nearest thing that people know is Cultural Anthropolgoy.

Speaking of Cultural Anthropology, were your parents born in this country?
My dad was born in India and my mom was born in South Africa. There is a huge Indian population in South Africa.

I understand you were a good friend of Eve Carson.
Yeah, I was lucky enough to know her for our time in North Carolina.

You've said she inspired you to audition. Has she inspired your performances?
Every time I go out on stage I go out to make her proud. When we graduated in May, they passed out these big buttons that just say "Eve" in Carolina Blue letters and I carry that in my pocket every time I go onstage to remind myself that I'm doing it for her.

You gave the shout-out to Chapel Hill last night. Has it been difficult to be away on the anniversary of her death?
I've been thinking about it since they told me I was going to be back on the Wild Card. I was lucky enough to see the memorial streamed online.

Can you talk about how it's been interacting with the judges? How have they helped you?
I think they are 4 very experienced voices in the industry, so I'm grateful for that. We don't really have much contact with them outside the show. I do feel that they say everything for a reason, especially Simon. He says things to elicit a reaction, so if something wasn't good enough, he's going to say so because he wants you to do well.

I wanted to find out a little more about your decision to sing the Bobby Brown song again. Obviously it worked out, but just talk about the chance to give people something new and not taking it.
That song, in particular, has become sort-of an anthem for me since Hollywood Week. I thought it was especially appropriate for the Wild Card round. Go out and say "This is who I am and I'm going to have fun. It's my prerogative." [laughs] Like the judges said, I think I did a better job of it this time and I was really happy to be able to do that song with an audience.

What else can we look forward to seeing from you?
I don't want to typecast myself in that I'm always going to sing a fast song, or a song where I can jump around. I want to think of myself as a singer, as an artist. I'm  not going to limit myself to that type of songs. I like to sing ballads. It really depends on the theme.

What's been the most surprising thing to you about the Idol experience?
I guess the whole process of it and I know that's really vague, but when you watch it on TV, the number of people and the resources that go into one of these hour-long results show is incredible and that was furthered by our press experience last night. Looking into all these flashing cameras... I knew that it was a juggarnaut, but it's really something else to experience it.

You're going to miss March Madness in Carolina. Does that bum you out?
The last Carolina-Duke game, we were sitting in our hotel room, me and Ricky Braddy, who is a big North Carolina fan, and suddenly ESPN blacked out. I was pacing back and forth in my room for two hours. I don't know what I'm going to do about not being in Chapel Hill for March Madness.

Any closing remarks?
Thank you all for all your support and Go Heels!