Don’t cry for ‘American Idol’s’ Jacob Lusk
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It probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone who watched Jacob Lusk’s ‘American Idol’ run, which came to an end last week, that the spa concierge from Compton has no intention of slinking away from the spotlight in defeat.
‘My primary focus obviously is definitely doing an album,’ he told reporters during a conference call Friday, noting that he sees himself continuing in a ‘traditional R&B’ vein. ‘But I definitely want to look into doing, definitely some theater, maybe some Broadway as well as some film.’
Though Lusk said doesn’t yet have any specific offers, he has ‘heard some things through the grapevine’ that there may be interest in his work. He said feels ‘confident’ about the future.
In the meantime, he said, he’d like to make sure his fans don’t feel sorry for him. That’s why he continued to sing long past the time the cameras stopped rolling on Thursday night. ‘I didn’t want it to be a sad, crying moment,’ he said, though he did allow that he ‘did cry after the show was over.’ He wanted his final moments on ‘Idol,’ however, to be joyful.
After all, Lusk is quick to note, he has come far. He’s a child of divorce who suffered the death of his father when he was only 12. ‘I’ve been through a lot. I’ve been through a lot of different schools. I was picked on real bad when I was younger and beat up and really getting stomped on at the playground,’ Lusk said.
After he moved out of his mom’s home at the age of 17, he said, he became homeless for a time. ‘There have been times when I didn’t have any money, didn’t know what was going to happen or what I was going to do,’ he said, part of the reason he broke down after his performance of ‘God Bless the Child’ during Hollywood Week.
‘I don’t know if anyone noticed, but I changed one of the lyrics in the song,’ he said. ‘When I ended, I said, ‘God bless the child that’s got his own, I need my own. My momma may have, my poppa may have, but I need my own’ ... I was tired and I ... didn’t want to go back home to my normal life. ... And that’s really where I sang it from. I didn’t want to struggle anymore. I didn’t want to have to wonder where my next meal was going to come from. I didn’t want to wonder where I was going to live or if I was going to have enough money to pay rent.’
He added, ‘And now I don’t have to worry about that ever again.’
Check out Lusk’s performance of Marvin Gaye’s ‘You’re All I Need to Get By’ on ‘Live With Regis & Kelly’ on Monday. Yeah, I think he’s going to be OK ...
‘American Idol’ results: Jacob Lusk eliminated
‘American Idol’ recap: The top 5 do something old, something new
Full Show Tracker coverage of ‘American Idol’
-- Amy Reiter