CT ‘Idol’ Nick Fradiani Mentoring Hopefuls, Releasing New CD

PASADENA, Calif. — A year after his own stressed-out season, which he eventually won, Guilford’s Nick Fradiani is back on “American Idol,” advising others in the final season.

He’s one of a number of past “Idol” winners and finalists to appear as special mentors for singers in the show’s 15th season who hope to repeat his feat.

One of the pieces of advice he has to offer, courtesy of his mother, is to simply take time to enjoy the moment.

“My mother always said that,” Fradiani, 30, recalled at the TV Critics Association winter press tour in January. “She’d call me every week. She’d be like, ‘Are you slowing the moment down? Are you realizing how great this is?’ And I’m like, ‘No, I’m just stressed out, Ma.'”

Still, there were luxuries associated with being on the show, like his hotel.

“I lived in a dump back in Connecticut,” Fradiani said. “Me and my band, we had this, like, really crappy apartment, and so I was just pumped to stay at the Sunset Marquis for another week. We had this sick hotel. So I was just like, ‘Oh, yes!’ …That’s all I could think of every week. I’m like, ‘This is a nice bathroom.’ I loved it.”

More than that, he learned how much it meant to people at home that he did so well in the competition.

“My hometown in Connecticut was, like, insane,” he said. “And to see that, it was really incredible. And you meet these people when you go back. I did a couple shows back home, and there are people that almost start crying because they felt this connection to you and your family. And it’s just such an overall great show for people just to come together and watch. And when you get to see it like that firsthand, it’s really amazing.”

“They win when you win,” said Ruben Studdard, who was part of the same press conference and had the same thing happen to him when he won season two of “American Idol” as a resident of Birmingham, Ala. “They feel like they win.”

“Yeah, totally,” Fradiani said. “They feel like they’ve won. It’s really cool.”

“Idol” judge Harry Connick Jr. kidded Fradiani about the band, Beach Avenue, that he left behind in that “dump.”

“Oddly enough, Nick’s band is still at that place,” Connick said. “You should call them sometime. That’s all I’m saying.”

Getting a hard time from Connick at an “Idol” press conference was expected, as Fradiani says the musician was also his toughest judge.

“They all had their moments where they’d be tough on you, I guess,” Fradiani said. “But I think, musically, Harry would be the most in terms of pitch, or he’d say, ‘This chord could be, maybe you could add.’ … He would get really in depth with his critiques.”

Then Fradiani brought up that duet they attempted with a Katy Perry song.

“Remember when you came up and sang with me when we did ‘Teenage Dream?'” he said to Connick. “Do you remember that?”

“Oh, yeah,” Connick said.

“That was terrible,” Fradiani said.

“That was awful,” Connick concurred. “One of my worst.”

Next Up: Debut Album

In addition to mentoring on “Idol,” Fradiani is busy finishing his debut solo album, due out early this year.

“We’re putting the last little finishing touches on the record,” he said after the press conference. “It’s totally Top 40 pop music. I’ve been into a lot of Nick Jonas and Maroon 5, stuff like that, so it has that vein, but I kind of put my own vibe to it that I feel happy about.”

It wasn’t easy to decide on an approach for the solo debut, Fradiani said. “It took me a minute. You know, it’s hard when you come off the show to find your sound. We messed around with a lot of different songs.”

Working with Scott Borchetta of Big Machine records, who is the main “American Idol” mentor again this year, Fradiani said, “I’d show him songs, and he’d say, ‘It’s close, it’s getting there, it’s getting there.’ And it took some time, but it’s getting there.”

Borchetta, who is executive producer of the album, said, “We wanted to make sure that when we came with that proper first single that it could compete. And absolutely he can compete. I’m so excited about the first single.”

The track, “Get You Home” was written by Fradiani with a quartet of songwriters, including Nolan Sipe, who wrote “Honey, I’m Good,” the Andy Grammer hit Fradiani sang on the finale with the artist, and Jaden Michaels, who has written with Carly Rae Jepsen and Lea Michelle.

“Get You Home,” which Fradiani is hoping to debut on an episode of “American Idol” this season, is currently getting a mix from Grammy winner Serban Ghenea, who has worked on tracks for artists from Adele to Taylor Swift.

“We’re really pumped about it,” Fradiani said.

The album release will follow shortly after, Borchetta said. “We want to make sure we get traction with the single and then go on with the album.”

Other songwriters who contributed to the album include singer Jason Mraz; Kevin Kadish, who co-wrote “All About that Bass,” at hit for Meghan Trainor; and David Hodges, the former Evanescence member who has written hits for David Archuletta and Kelly Clarkson.

Fradiani also mentions “a guy from Sweden that’s up and coming” and, because Fradiani recently moved to Nashville, “a ton of great Nashville writers.”

“I’ve been doing a lot of writing in Nashville,” he said. “But I’ve been here [in L.A.] a bunch too. I’ve been back, between New York, here and Nashville, pretty much.”

The album, he said, has “kind of been recorded all over the place, the way it works now. Back in the day, you’d just write it and go to a studio and do all your songs. Now it’s kind of [based on] who you write with, and some of them are producers and they’re all over the place.”

“I was lucky enough to have Scott let me be a major part,” he said. “He could have just thrown 12 songs at me and said this is what you’re doing. And he didn’t do that to me. He gave me the opportunity to be really creatively involved, which to me means everything. And I think in the long run, that was the right move.”

In the mean time, he fit in some live performances. “I went on tour for two months with the Top 5 and did a radio tour where I played with a bunch of great artists, did a bunch of great shows I enjoyed,” he said.

But he had to stop and return to the studio.

“It’s kind of weird,” he said. “You’re building the record and thinking: Why aren’t I out there [performing]? But you’ve got to make the record. That’s what’s got to happen first.”

Of his former Guilford band, Beach Avenue, Fradiani said, “They still play live with me. They weren’t able to do the record but they still played a lot of the radio shows I’ve had and stuff they were able to be part of it. I see them all the time.”

In fact he said, “one of the songs I wrote with Jason Mraz, my guitar player wrote on as well, so he was able to be a part of something, which is pretty cool.”

Once the record is out and the final “Idol” season is over, he said, Beach Avenue members will “be able to be part of my band at some point.”

“AMERICAN IDOL” is broadcast this week 8 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, and 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4, on Fox. Check local TV listings for remainder of air dates for season 15 or americanidolnet.com