As popular as American Idol is, winning it doesn’t guarantee a lasting career in music. Sure, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood went on to become megastars, but the other 12 winners are much tougher cases to place, at least in terms of “success.”
Phillip Phillips is successful. The Georgia native won the show’s 11th season despite battling debilitating kidney stones and has gone on to become one of its most recognizable acts. His song “Home” has provided the musical backing to American Family Insurance commercials since 2012 — so chances are, even if you’ve never heard Phillips’ name, you’ve heard his music.
Isthmus caught up with Phillips in advance of his Aug. 27 show at the Memorial Union Terrace, where he will be playing on a temporary stage near the Union Theater. (Show up early: Capacity will be capped significantly smaller than usual, and Terrace access will be restricted to the North Park Street entrance.)
When you were starting out after American Idol, was there any stigma that came with that show?
To me, it’s always just been about playing what you feel inside your heart and your soul, what feels right, but also learning when you’re writing songs, or learning from other musicians or other artists. My band is just incredible, and I learn something from them all the time. After American Idol, it’s kind of hard, in some cases, to play certain shows because, “Oh, he’s from Idol.” It’s very pop, you know?
You’ve had a much different career arc than a lot of people. Is there any other artist that you want to emulate moving forward?
Of course, every band or artist or musician wants to gain fans and be known for making great music. Even the ones who say that they don’t want to “get big” and all that kind of stuff, that’s just nonsense. I don’t know why you’d want to be a musician if you didn’t want people to know who you were. It’s about gaining fans all around the world, and even though I get scared to death — you know, it’s terrifying when I get up on stage, but I love it.
That’s kind of what it is for me. I just want to keep gaining fans for years to come and be able to tour like Bruce Springsteen. I remember watching him in Sao Paulo, and he’s just crowd surfing. I mean, he’s what? Sixty-one or something like that?
Yeah, he’s up there now.
Yeah, and he’s still killing it! That’s definitely the dream.
People know the song you’re probably best known for because it’s in the insurance commercial. But they wouldn’t necessarily know you. What is it like having a song like that?
A lot of people know my music, but they can’t really put a face to it, which is fine, as long as they want to buy the music besides the insurance. I guess I’m not really a flashy kind of guy.
On the surface, your musical style doesn’t seem to gel with Idol. Did you have to fight to keep what you were going for?
I don’t think it was really fighting. I just kind of did what I felt was right. For me, if I was going to [be eliminated from the competition], it was going to be for something I did, not for what somebody told me.
There’s a lot of sincerity in your music that people can really get behind. Is it tougher to keep that sense as you get bigger?
I’ve been writing a lot for this next album, and it’s different from the other two. The first album I did in three weeks, and a lot of the songs were older songs. I still love all those songs that I’ve written but I didn’t get to produce, just because it was so fast. Greg [Wattenberg, producer on Phillips’ The World from the Side of the Moon] and I are still very proud of it, and it’s done amazing.
The second one I’m even prouder of because it’s more technical, and it’s a little more rock driven, which I really love. This one is even getting more technical, in some weird cases too, but in a good way. It’s still early, though, so I might listen to it a month from now and be like, “Screw that, I don’t want to do that anymore!”
