Last Thursday, local “American Idol” contestant Reed Grimm was voted off the show. That journey is over, but it’s a whole new world for him.
“I had some ups and downs,” Grimm said during a telephone interview Saturday not quite 24 hours after stepping off the plane from Los Angeles.
“I had some sort of feeling like it was the end,” the Ellsworth High School gradutes said of how he felt the night before the results show.
Grimm continued to appear as he did throughout the entire competition — upbeat, with no crying or angst. Whenever the camera panned the group, he was cheering and clapping for his fellow contestants.
“It went by so fast, I wanted to have fun,” Grimm said. “I’m OK that I didn’t make it through. I’m thankful for the experience and will just embrace the whole journey.”
Both Grimm and his mother, Colleen Raye, were overwhelmed by public support.
“It has been nice to get back to reality,” Raye said of returning to Wisconsin. “Reed did a great job. I am so proud of his performance and how he handled this whole thing. This might be a wonderful avenue to future things.”
Raye has received more than a thousand messages regarding Reed, some from as far away as England.
“It does the soul good,” she said. “Everyone comments that Reed has such a future in front of him.”
Grimm also was amazed at the support, the phone calls, emails and text messages.
“Everyone sent me so much love and positive messages,” Grimm said. “Now that journey is over I’m going to take time to reflect on how many people were affected by it.”
In less than two weeks of having a Twitter account, which “American Idol” set up for all the semi-finalists, Grimm has more than 9,000 followers.
“It is a new world,” Grimm said. “I hope to take this exposure and grow from here. I want to produce something of good quality. Not just musically but energetically and intentionally good.”
Time will tell how the “American Idol” experience will ultimately affect Grimm. In the meantime he said he’s is happy to be home.
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