La’Porsha Renae on Using ‘American Idol’ As a ‘Platform for Good'
La’Porsha Renae had probably the most emotional journey on American Idol this year, auditioning for the show’s final season shortly after escaping an abusive relationship with the father of her young daughter. She was very open about her experience, even speaking at a women’s shelter during her hometown visit and drawing on her past struggles when tearfully singing Mary J. Blige “No More Drama.”
Speaking to Yahoo Music’s Reality Rocks the day after she placed second on the Season 15 Idol finale, she explained she “didn’t want [the show] to just be about singing. Yeah, I know it’s a singing competition, but it’s also a show where a lot of times they shed light on certain things. Having such a big platform, I wanted to use it for good.”
La’Porsha said, “I get messages all the time from different women – survivors, sometimes victims of domestic violence who are still going through those types of situations. I’ve even gotten messages saying, ‘You’ve helped me want to try and get out.’
“I’ve also gotten messages from men and women who are not the most attractive in their minds, or are self-conscious about their weight. They’re thanking me for doing songs like ‘Proud Mary’ and shaking a tailfeather, because they say I seem real comfortable in my skin and it made them want to be comfortable in theirs. And I get a lot of messages about my hair, because people want to of course express themselves but are afraid to because they’re scrutinized by society. So in a lot of ways, I’ve been an advocate for a lot of different things on the show. And in my heart, that really made me a winner inside.”
La’Porsha, who just signed to Motown Records (making her first Idol runner-up since Jessica Sanchez in 2012 to also receive a post-show label deal), cites inspirations like Luther Vandross, Patti LaBelle, and Michael Jackson when discussing the sort of inspirational music she would like to make. “Those people really wrote songs that meant things, and it made you feel whatever they were talking about,” she said. “I want to bring that old soul back, the meaningful lyrics and all of that. And I can’t think of a better way to do that than through Motown.
“Today, not to take away from any of the present artists, but music has gotten a little shallow, in my opinion. Everybody’s talking about the same thing: sex, money, clothes, cheating… I want to open up not necessarily better conversations, but in my opinion more important ones, and touch on things that are actually going on.”
UPDATE: Unfortunately, shortly after this interview, La’Porsha participated in a media conference call, during which one reporter asked her a question about a new anti-LGBT law that just passed in her home state of Mississippi. While she said she was unaware of the law and stressed that the LGBT community should be treated with respect because “they are people just like us,” her next comment – “I am one of the people who don’t really agree with that lifestyle. I wasn’t brought up that way” – raised the eyebrows and ire of many fans. Her team has yet to comment on her ill-advised wordage, and a later a (presumably well-meaning) tweet from La’Porsha – saying, “We don’t have to agree with each other’s life choices to love/respect one another. Live and let live” – didn’t quite smooth things over, since she controversially implied that the “gay lifestyle” is a “choice.” But hopefully the backlash her comments elicited will be a learning experience for the young singer.
