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FEAT OF CLAY
« on: November 15, 2003, 01:52:11 AM »
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Feat of clay
His Claymates might disagree but American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken shies away from any talk of him being a sex symbol
By Jill Alphonso
BEFORE you write a letter spilling your intimate desires to Clay Aiken, note that his mother gets to read his fan mail first. And what does she think of some of the raunchier letters that some Claymates, or fans, have posted so far?
'Actually, she thinks they're funny,' says Aiken, laughing, over the line from a studio in Los Angeles on Wednesday. He is rehearsing for an appearance at the American Music Awards there on Sunday.
He's a nominee for Favorite Male Artist in the pop and rock category, going up against Kid Rock, Justin Timberlake and John Mayer. Once, a fan wrote to this year's American Idol 2 runner-up, giving him a graphic account of what she and her husband did while watching one of his performances on television.
Aiken, who turns 25 at the end of the month, says it fazed him momentarily, but he soon laughed it off. 'I passed the letter around my circle of friends so we could have a giggle about it,' he says cheerfully.
His mother, he reveals, answers his fan mail, and sometimes even takes telephone calls from fans.
She must be a busy woman then, for her boy has done very well with his debut album, Measure Of A Man. It sold 613,000 copies in its first week in the United States and 10,000 copies in Singapore since its October launch.
Latest reports say the album has gone platinum, selling more than a million copies in the US. His latest CD single, which features the songs Invisible and Solitaire, will not be out till Dec 9, but is already No. 2 on Amazon.com's bestseller list.
When told that he has a huge fan base here, he reacts with little surprise because he has already heard about it. The fans here range from students to mothers. When a mention is made of Ms Fynn Cheng, a Singaporean risk analyst who flew to New York in July to see Aiken perform and get his autograph, he swears that he remembers her.
'Didn't I take a picture with her?' he insists, even though he does not remember her name. There are no concrete plans yet for him to take to the stage in Singapore, but he says that he would like to visit.
NO PLANS TO BE A SEX SYMBOL
He says he will not change the dorky image that fans find so appealing and which has arguably helped sell records. The former choirboy who sang in church and at weddings has refused to 'pander to the masses', as he puts it, by doing a Ricky Martin and boosting his sex appeal by wearing tight trousers and shirts.
Aiken, whose fuzzy hair and loose shirts have a certain little-boy-lost appeal, admits that he is not exactly the world's biggest style icon.
While he is happy to take advice, there are things that he will not compromise on. 'I just always have to feel like me. What you see on the stage is what I am,' he says firmly.
Family is also important to him. He has just spent a week visiting them in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina, he says. Aiken, who was raised by his mother and stepfather who died last year, had a childhood haunted by an absent biological father and a half-sister's suicide. But he has come to terms with his pain by focusing on those who remain to support him.
'I just visited everyone I possibly could. I saw my grandparents, and hung out with friends from high school,' he says, adding wistfully that the break was a good one from 'all the craziness'. When asked what his mother thinks of his rise as a sex symbol, he recoils.
'Please don't use that term on me,' he says, irritation apparent in his voice. When 'heartthrob' is instead offered, Aiken relents, politeness creeping back into his tone: 'Well, my Mum thinks it's cute. She's happy with the attention that I'm receiving.' But he turns curt when asked how his life has changed in his post-Idol days.
'I've become very busy,' he says. The crooner is to perform on Sunday's American Music Awards, but will not say what he is going to sing. From there, he will fly to New York to perform on the David Letterman show, and appear at the famed Macy's annual Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov 27. All this in the span of two short weeks.
'Sometimes, I miss anonymity,' he says, sighing.
Before American Idol 2 shot the lanky, 1.85m tall Aiken to fame, he was majoring in special education at the University of North Carolina. At the time, his dream was to be the principal of a high school by the time he hit 50, but that doesn't seem to be what Aiken wants these days.
'I'll be in the music industry for as long as it will have me,' he says.
After that, he says he will concentrate on running the Buble/Aiken Foundation, which he set up after his American Idol run to help children with autism and other disabilities.
His roommate these days is former Idol competitor Kimberly Locke, the 25-year-old African-American who finished third in the contest. He says 'we're all genuine friends', referring to the eight final contestants, who have reportedly claimed that they have remained chummy with one another, even after the contest ended.
'I get to talk to Ricky sometimes, and Carmen's coming to visit and stay with me and Kimberly for awhile,' says Aiken, referring to Ricky Smith and Carmen Rasmusen. And what about Ruben Studdard whom Aiken lost out to by a mere 130,000 votes?
'He's supposed to be at the American Music Awards,' he says. 'We'll catch up then. If he ever decides to show up.' Studdard is late for rehearsals whereas Aiken says he is waiting to go on stage. As if on cue, there is a flurry of noise in the background. 'I've got to go, they're calling for me,' he says in his most apologetic tone. 'But it was really nice talking to you.'
He waits politely for a response before hanging up, and before being hustled onto the stage to continue his day in his so-far whirlwind life.
No wonder his mother has to answer his fan mail.
