Carly Smithson

We first saw Carly Smithson as the dark-haired, tattooed, powerful Irish singer on American Idol. Now over two years later, she's done singing pop cover songs and is back to her roots in rock with a new band. She gave TheCelebrityCafe.com a look into what it was like being a contestant on American Idol and how now her musical dreams are coming true with We are the Fallen.

Carly Smithson received a record deal with Universal at the age of 15. As a result of being signed at such a young age, she wasn't able to be the artist that she wanted to be. The record label marketed her in a certain way and wouldn't let her write her own music. It wasn't until twelve years later that she was able to get her voice heard in the music industry. She wishes that she would have fought harder for her own lyrics to be used. Her advice for those trying to make it in the business, "I would say to anyone that's starting out, you've got to start where you kind of want to proceed. Don't ever go to a place where you're unhappy."

What you heard on American Idol is not the real Carly Smithson either. She said, "I think that the misunderstanding is that what you are on Idol is who you are going to be when you leave." The 27-year-old always wanted to sing rock songs, but rarely had the opportunity to do so, whether it was because of the week's theme, licensing issues, or too many people choosing the same song. She said, "I always ended up with something that was not exactly what I would've picked, but was good enough for where it showcased my singing ability and it got me through to the next round." Even her appearance changed. She couldn't wear her usual tattoo shop and band t-shirts. Instead, she looked more like a "girly girl." She said, "I got married in like jeans and a t-shirt so for me to be on Idol in all of these like sparkly things. I felt like a disco ball half the time."

It's not only the changes in the contestants that viewers may not realize, there are other misconceptions about the singing competition that factor into the performances. She opined, "I think the thing that people misunderstand about the show is what arranging is. Arranging is making your song a minute and 30 seconds." She revealed, "We don't produce what happens in the background. The band, we have nothing to do with that and most of the time we don't even know who's doing it." She explained that "they kind of farm it out to people in Los Angeles and in the industry and you get to hear what the track is going to sound like two nights before the actual live show."

Given the challenges, American Idol was a learning experience for the talented singer. She realized that she doesn't want to be a solo artist. Smithson prefers having a band behind her onstage. She was able to get some pointers from established musicians while participating in the show. On her time with Mariah Carey, Smithson recalled, "I learned a lot from our mentoring session. She gave me different ways to sing, different tips."

Smithson believes that introducing Jennifer Lopez as a judge could provide a similar experience for new contestants. She said, "I think it's a great choice for a really high profile star, a major, major star to critique the people." She added, "I would like to get a critique by someone I know has really done their time, made it, and has a catalog and experience to show for it."

Smithson saw many opportunities come her way post-Idol, but as a vocalist, not an artist. Many people tried to tell her that because she was on the show, she wouldn't make it as a rock singer. The lack or women in the genre wasn't in her favor either, but all of the negativity didn't stop her. Following her Idol run, with her husband Todd's support, she moved to Los Angeles for a year to work on her writing. She said Todd told her "to go be up there by yourself and just make sure that you put all of your effort in because if it doesn't work out for you, at least you know that you've really really tried…that you put your best foot forward." Luckily for Smithson, her hard work paid off. She wrote songs and started to put a band together, but it wasn't until her friend Monique received a text message that her musical career began to upswing.

Last summer, Smithson and Monique were coming home from a concert at around 1:30am when a text came in from Monique's friend, Ben Moody, the co-founder of the band Evanescence. In the message, he said that he wanted to meet Smithson. He was putting a band together (with former Evanescence members John LeCompt and Rocky Gray, and Disturbed/Static-X's Marty O'Brien) and was looking for a singer. Moody's girlfriend had showed him Youtube videos of Smithson singing and said that she would be a great fit for his new band. They met and clicked right away, forming We Are the Fallen. Smithson said, "It was crazy because the album that I was making and the idea that they had for a record was so mirror in image of each other, it was insane." She added, "I finally met the people that understood me musically and I understand musically and we just like all finish each other's sentences. It's amazing."

It has been a whirlwind year since then. Smithson said, "I think we met in June. We were signed by the beginning of July." She added, "We finished the record by the end of November and then we went on tour just after Christmas. We've pretty much been out ever since. We just came home a couple of weeks ago."

Despite being consisted mostly of Evanescence, Smithson does not see any similarities to their music or the band's former front woman Amy Lee. She said, "Our fans never compare us. People that were actually a fan of Evanescence see how different we are. The only people that have compared us is the media. To be quite honest, I don't see the comparison at all." She believes that We Are the Fallen has more of a Pop music sound.

We are the Fallen's music is what Smithson considers to be "heavy orchestral, dramatic rock." Her influences come from among others, Marilyn Manson, Garbage, Annie Lennox, and her days in theater. The band's debut album, Tear the World Down is quite an eclectic mix, with piano ballads and pop songs. She described her post-Idol album intentions saying, "I really wanted it to sound like a mixture of kind of like a Tim Burton soundtrack, meets Braveheart, meets rock 'n' roll meets Romeo and Juliet." Tear the World Down did just that, providing dramatic music that "all run into each other." The new single is the title track off the album. Smithson said, "If I could define everything that I've ever always wanted to do in music, it would be this song." It features a live choir and stringed instruments.

Even though she has written many tracks for the album, including their first single "Bury Me Alive," "Tear the World Down" was written by drummer Rocky Gray. The song is about a person that is stuck in a situation that they can't get out of, like an abusive relationship.

Working with We Are the Fallen is like a dream come true for Smithson. She had some rough patches on her way to happiness, but acknowledges that the support from her fans helped her succeed. She said, "They supported me from day one all the way through and it's been really cool to have them there." In a message to her supporters, Smithson said, "To my fans, I just want to say thank you. I mean they've been so incredible. I really just hope that they love the record."