There were a ton of really interesting behind the scenes tidbits from TV Line’s interview with American Idol season 14 runner-up Clark Beckham. It’s nearly 40 minutes long, so I teased out some highlights from the wide ranging discussion. It’s worth a listen. Clark is a total music geek, and gets deep into explaining why he chose particular songs and how he arranged them.

He was also pretty candid about what went on behind the scenes at Idol. I found it fascinating.

Clark almost auditioned for Idol when he was 18. But after praying about it, he decided to go to Lee University instead, where he “grew so much.”
Clark was the first auditioner on the first day in the first city (Nashville).
Michael McDonald was the first artist he covered on Idol that was still alive.
When Clark played “Sunday Morning” for Scott Borchetta and the team, they felt he should do something “bigger.” Somebody also suggested there were “too many chord changes” in the song and that the average Idol viewer wouldn’t get it. Clark remained confident. (14:40)
Clark worked up the keyboard arrangement to “Every Breath You Take” at the last minute–because the contestants don’t have keyboards made available to them for jamming or practicing (which seems insane, to me). (19:31)
On Harry Connick Jr. telling Clark that he was the only musician left in the competition, while Joey Cook, Nick Fradiani and the rest looked on. After the finale, Harry apologized to Nick for the remark. “It was live TV, I didn’t mean it. Right when I said it, I said ‘Why did I say that?'” said Harry to Nick. Clark thought Harry might have meant that he “thinks like an instrumentalist.” Musician and instrumentalist aren’t necessarily the same thing, says Clark. (21:40)
Clark got a ton of flack for playing the guitar on “Superstition.” But again, he stuck to his guns. Because the song has been performed on Idol many times, he really wanted to put his own stamp on it. (20:14)
He interpreted “Yesterday” as a song about death. (25:15)
The themes weren’t explicitly spelled out for the contestants. For instance, they knew they were singing songs that were sung in an arena or by artists who performed in arenas. They didn’t find out the theme was actually called “Arena Anthems” until they read it on the teleprompter on the day of the show. (27:02)
On the tiff with Scott Borchetta: He and Scott had hashed out disagreements over “Your Man” behind the scenes, but then it was rehashed again during the mentor shoot. “I thought we were through,” said Clark. “Lights, camera, mentor…let’s attack Clark.” The director asked him to repeat “If this loses me the competition, playing this kind of music, I don’t want to win it” over again, because a light went out as he said it the first time. He feels choosing “Your Man” was a good idea, but didn’t execute it well on stage.” However, everybody else behind the scenes loved his idea. He saw the video package in dress rehearsal. (28:03)
Right after the clash, Clark began to wonder if winning would be the best thing for him. He was really scared, until Scott assured him that if he won, he would be able to remain who he is as an artist. (32:00)
Clark didn’t connect at all to either “Beautiful Day” or his coronation single. When it became clear that “Champion” was his only option for a single, he got by connecting to the lyrics, which he loved. (34:15)
Clark realized that Nick was gaining ground. “He had ended the show, for like, the last four weeks or so, and I started it every week.” AAAAND this is where I would have asked him how he felt about the way Scott and the producers favored Nick for the win–in other words, how he felt about being thrown under the bus. But at that point, the conversation shifted to future plans. (36:05)

Watch the interview here. I posted timestamps for the bullet points.

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Clark Beckham “I Knew Nick Was Gaining Ground” (VIDEO)