Newly crowned 'Idol'
looking forward, not back

updated 11:10 a.m. ET May 31, 2004

RALEIGH, N.C. - Fantasia Barrino, the newly crowned “American Idol,” says her greatest desire now is to simply get a good night’s sleep.

After the adrenaline rush of the show and the media blitz after her big win, Barrino said she needs a little rest. Once that’s out of the way, the 19-year-old plans to hit the studio to record her first single, “I Believe,” and start working on her debut album.

“It’s gonna be hot,” she promised in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.

Barrino said she hopes her first album will showcase all types of music and is looking forward to writing some of her own material.

“I always said I have a story to tell, and now I can do it through my music,” Barrino said.

That story includes coping with teenage motherhood and learning to provide for her 2-year-old daughter, Zion.

After winning the “Idol” title on live national television Wednesday, Barrino made brief appearances at post-finale parties, but said she was soon back on “mommy duty,” and watched “Shrek” with her daughter.

Barrino also said she doesn’t speak much with Zion’s father: “I don’t bother him, and he doesn’t bother me.”

And just how did Barrino resist the standard “Idol” makeover, like the ones underwent by last year’s finalists, Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard?

“I just always tried to be myself,” she said.

Barrino will go on the road with the 11 other finalists for “American Idol Live,” starting July 14 in Salt Lake City.

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