'Duets' finale: J Rome and Jennifer Nettles react to their win

In an expected, yet promising end to ABC's first season of "Duets," amateur J Rome was chosen by American audiences as the star of the show, earning him a contract with Hollywood Records and the chance to turn his musical ambitions into a career.

"I didn't have any thoughts [when I won], it was an out of body experience," he tells Zap2It following the Thursday's (July 19) finale. "But it felt good. It felt really good and I'm just happy that I got to be up there with John [Glosson], and I'm grateful to Jennifer [Nettles] for everything."

As far as his creative aims, J Rome hopes to simply "make music," but will likely gear his sound in the direction of R&B and pop. His partner, country star Jennifer Nettles, agrees with the idea.

"I loved those vocal performances that were big, long soaring melodies," the singer remarks on J Rome's best sets of the series. "For me, I appreciated 'How Am I Supposed to Live Without You,' 'I Will Always Love You,' and 'God Bless the Child'... Those ones, to me, showcased the real depth of his talent."

"Kristian [Bush] and I are very supportive of each other in that way," says Nettles. "He's been off and writing with everybody on the planet, and obviously I don't have anything on the books right now as far as scheduled to go in, but I hope to be able to do that one day. And we both do actually, so we'll see."