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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Idol winner changes tune about his popular tune
Phillip Phillips (CP)
NEW YORK -- Phillip Phillips says he wasn't that excited about performing his debut single, Home, when he won American Idol this year. That's because he didn't have any creative control over the tune.
"I was trying to fight to get my song (I wrote) on there, but it just wasn't happening," said Phillips, who tried to persuade Idol producers to let him sing the song Drive Me, which he co-wrote with his brother-in-law.
"It was hard for me at first because I didn't really have any input with the song," he said in an interview Thursday from Baltimore.
But now, the 21-year-old says he's "starting to grow a connection" to the song, thanks to its use in the 2012 Olympics.
Home has been used in commercials for the "Fab 5," the five American female gymnasts who scored gold in the all-around team competition last week. As a result, the song's digital sales have jumped, selling 228,000 in the last week, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Home also leaped 80 spots to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week. It's sold 844,215 tracks since its June release.
Phillips said he's delighted to have his song played on millions of TV screens via the London Olympics. He says initially he didn't want to get his hopes up about the song's potential, but that the sales boost is "exciting."
"I just tried to let the song go about its business. I'm not trying to make people buy it if they don't want to," he said.
The song's reach doesn't end there: Home is also in Clint Eastwood's upcoming film Trouble with the Curve, which stars Justin Timberlake and Amy Adams. It's in theatres on Sept. 21 and is about a retiring baseball scout and his daughter.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 11, 2012 G2
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