In Her Reach: American Idol's Carly Smithson

Imoved to Georgia in late 2003 and I decided to be a waitress. I had worked really hard to try and break into the music industry and I just wanted to get away from it and love it again.

It started to become something that was out of my reach for so long. I needed to leave it to love it more. I left for a while and was a waitress from 2003 until I moved to San Diego and started working at a bar in 2005. I started singing at the bar and I started to want it really bad again.

I never told anyone I worked with that I sang, I was just the waitress. I had so much fun that I was like, ‘I need to do this again. I miss music so much.'

Music to me is everything. Whether I’m singing in my living room or on stage for Idol, I love every minute of it. It’s a great gift I’ve been given, and Idol has given me the gift to show the world.

Facing The Backlash Of My Previous Recording Experience

I think I started out on the show with some bad press, and I don’t think it helped me much. I think early on people accumulate their fan base. Every week I gave all I could, and I enjoyed every moment on the show I really did.

Women vote for this show, and they vote for the boys. The boys are adorable. I definitely feel that the girls had more of a struggle this year getting the popularity vote. I think the boys are definitely charming the females.