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By Krista

Interview with Tate Stevens of "The X-Factor" on FOX 12/21/12

I was on this call, but unfortunately didn't get a chance to ask a question. Sometimes they have too many people on the call, and a limited time. It was very enjoyable to listen to, though.

Final Transcript
FBC PUBLICITY: The X Factor
December 21, 2012/12:00 p.m. PST
PRESENTATION

Moderator Welcome to The X Factor Conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session; instruction will be given to you at that time. As a reminder, today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your first speaker Ms. Hayley Hindinger.

Hayley Hi, everybody. Welcome to The X Factor conference call with Season 2 winner Tate Stevens who took home the $5 million recording contract prize and a Pepsi commercial that will air during the live telecast of the 55th Annual Grammy Awards this year. During last night finale Simon Cowell’s group Fifth Harmony was first eliminated from the competition leaving Tate to beat out runner-up Carly Rose Sonenclar with the most votes from America. Joining us now is your new X Factor winner Tate Stevens.

Tate Hello.

Hayley We’ll take our first question.

Moderator Our first question comes from the line of Reg Seaton with Deadbolt.com.

Reg Hey, Tate; congratulations on your win.

Tate Thank you, sir.

Reg Since the show has a lot of younger fans and you went back and forth with Carly Rose in the rankings did you feel you had a legitimate shot at winning?

Tate A couple of weeks ago yeah. I mean I was set number one for a couple of weeks on the top. Then went to two and she was at one, and then when I went back to one that’s really kind of when I thought you know what I have a shot. I have a shot at winning this but yeah up until then really it was anyone’s game.

Reg And when LA Reid said that he didn’t want the over 25 group did you feel that you were at a disadvantage from the start? How did you deal with that?

Tate You know what it was a little disheartening at first, but I think he realized that he had a really talented group of older, you know, the overs. And so I don’t think I was at a disadvantage.

Moderator The next question comes from Paige Feigenbaum with Entertainment Tonight.

Paige Hi, Tate; congratulations again. It was a pleasure to meet you after the big show last night.

Tate Thanks.

Paige I was wondering you had a wonderful duet performance on the performance show the night before last. How did you choose your duet partner? Was it selected for you or did you request them?

Tate We had a bunch of artists and we chose Little Big Town and obviously they just had a big hit with Pontoon, and we thought it was the right fit. Personally I love the song; I think it’s a lot of fun so that’s how it happened.

Paige And on the same note a spinoff of that do you think Carly’s duet with Leann Rimes had any bearing whatsoever on the final outcome or do you think the results still would have been what they are?

Tate You know I don’t know. I’ve been asked that question a couple of times. I have no idea what happened with their duet but I believe the fan base—she has her fan base and I don’t think it would have swayed really any. I just can’t see that. If you’re a fan of someone I don’t think that you’re going to change because of one thing. I sure would hope not anyway.

Moderator The next question comes from Joanna … with Your Daily News.

Joanna Hi, Tate; congratulations.

Tate Thank you.

Joanna I was wondering, what was your favorite performance, and what you thought was your best performance on the show?

Tate My favorite performance honestly was with Little Big Town, that was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun doing that but I think really my best performance probably was the week before when I did “Fall,” the Clay Walker song.

Joanna And on kind of the flip side to that what do you think was your most difficult or scariest performance?

Tate The most difficult one was the Bon Jovi tune, the first song we did, “Wanted Dead or Alive.” It’s such a like huge anthem song and everyone knows it, and if you screw something like that up then it’s not good. I think that was probably the scariest one just because of the song. Yeah I would have to say that one.

Moderator The next question comes from Ingrid Sheaffer with U.S. Weekly.

Ingrid Hey, Tate; how are you?

Tate I’m fine. How are you?

Ingrid I’m great. Congratulations first of all.

Tate Thank you.

Ingrid What advice would you have for anybody auditioning next season because your audition was so great? What would you tell people?

Tate You know what be yourself; go out and do what you do and be yourself, and just you can’t do anything else. Don’t try to be anything else because you can’t do it well. Just do what you do and be yourself.

Ingrid When you were standing in line for the audition did you ever think that you would be here now?

Tate No not at all. Not at all really. I mean there were thousands of people and just I’m like, “Oh my God. I’m the only guy in a cowboy hat, and this is not probably going to be good for me.” But I mean I can’t say anything besides I’m blessed and I’m honored that people liked it enough that I get to talk to you guys today.

Moderator The next question comes from Russell … with Hollywood Life.

Russell I was hoping to find out now that you have the $5 million contract and this new celebrity, how you’re going to thwart the bad people coming in that are all of a sudden going to start calling you and being like, “Hey, Tate, I need a few bucks.”

Tate You know what … I don’t know. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get there but I don’t know that will happen honestly. I don’t think—I don’t know. I have no idea.

Russell And you obviously got your name on the water tower and you got some really cool things back in your home town. Is there something that you’d like to see your name on as the future comes like a car or something like that?

Tate You know what I would love to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry. If I can accomplish that, then I’ve done something.

Moderator The next question comes from Christina … with Life & Style Weekly.

Christina Hi, Tate; congratulations.

Tate Thank you.

Christina So $5 million is a lot of money to have all of a sudden. What’s the first thing that you’re going to buy?

Tate I haven’t really thought about it much. I’m sure I’ll make some dumb purchase in the near future, but I keep scaring my wife with buying a Harley so we’ll see. We’ll see what happens.

Christina And what’s the first thing you’re going to do now that you’re kind of free from taping every week and all that? What do you look forward to?

Tate I’m flying home today, and we’re going to spend the holidays with my family. I’m going to lay in my bed that I haven’t been in in a couple months with my wife and my kids and my dogs, and we’re not going anywhere. We’re just going to chill out and spend the holidays at home with each other, and then I fly to Nashville on the 2nd of January and we start recording my album.

Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Kathleen Montero Ok Magazine.

Kathleen Hi, Tate; congratulations on the win.

Tate Thank you.

Kathleen So we’re wondering on the show LA wasn’t too happy with the over 25 group so how did that make you feel, especially now today as you are the X factor? You have the X factor.

Tate It was like, “Wow!” It’s kind of weird that he would respond that way but I think he realized shortly after—he realized what he had in his group, the older group. We had a really talented group of people, and so I think he changed his mind pretty quick, and I was happy to get to work with him honestly. He’s a great guy. He’s a great judge of great songs so it worked out well for me.

Kathleen What do you think set you apart from the rest of the competition? What is it that gave you that X factor?

Tate You know I’m amazingly handsome. Nah, I’m just teasing. I don’t know. I’m a real person. I’m just a real guy and I don’t know. I think honestly I really believe that country music fans showed up in a big way, and I believe that they’re the reason I get to talk to you guys today.

Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Beth … with Reality TV World.

Beth Hi, Tate; congratulations, again.

Tate Thank you.

Beth So right after the top 16 were revealed Simon had said that LA Reid and his over 25 category had “No chance to win whatsoever.” Did you hear about that comment when Simon made it and what were your thoughts at the time, and I guess if this is the first time you’re hearing about it what’s your reaction?

Tate I didn’t hear that comment, and so yeah this is the first time to hear it, but you know what I think in the beginning they didn’t know. As the competition worn on I think people started seeing that our olders group had a lot of talent in it.

Beth Great. And it was made very clear that LA kind of knew nothing about your country music genre and people have been saying his mentoring therefore couldn’t have played that much of a role in your winning. Do you think maybe the importance of mentoring on The X Factor has been exaggerated? Like that maybe some contestants just don’t need the extra help or what are your thoughts on that?

Tate I don’t think that’s true at all. I think L.A. hadn’t had a lot of knowledge in the country world, but he did have a number one hit in the country world with Who Says You Can’t Go Home with John Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland. A lot of people don’t know that, but yeah that was his. L.A. and I really kind of came to the understanding that we listen to each other, picked the best songs, and tried to figure it out from that perspective. He really let me have a lot of creative control as far as the song, and then he would pick. You know we’d come in, he’d have a group of songs, I’d have a group of songs, and we’d get the best one, and we’d work up the best one. Yeah I don’t think that the mentoring thing is not a big deal. I think it’s a very big deal.

Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Michelle … with Hollywood Reporter.

Michelle Tate, congratulations.

Tate Thank you.

Michelle Congratulations. All the best to you and your beautiful family; you are like the world’s greatest family guy. Yeah it was very, very sweet ever week. It was nice to watch. I have a question for you; when you do get to Nashville do you have a wish list of writers that you would like to work with? There are a whole lot of great guys in Nashville like Zac Maloy of the Nixons and like all these guys. Do you have a wish list of people you want to work with?

Tate Well, I don’t know if it’s a wish list. I know there are some guys that I want to get in a room with and see if we can’t pin some big hits. You know the Luke … and the Kim … and those kind of guys. The list is huge. There are some many great writers in Nashville, and I think when I get there we’ll see what happens. We’ll see where things go and kind of who fits and things like that, but yeah there are definitely some guys I’ve got to get in a room with and write.

Michelle Do you have any originals of your own?

Tate Yeah I sure do. Yep I sure do, and hopefully a lot of them will make the record. At least I’d like to write half the record. At least to write half the record, you know, on my first album anyway because I think it’s better but we’ll see. We’ll see what happens with the label thing and how things play out.

Moderator Our next question comes from Kathleen Montero Ok Magazine.

Kathleen Hello, again. I just had a quick question; you’ve been talking about how you and L.A. got along so well as your mentor. Did you wish that you could have worked with Britney or Demi or Simon at all? Do you think it would have changed the game for you in the season?

Tate I don’t know. That’s hard to say honestly. I really don’t know. Yeah I have no idea.

Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Todd Betzold with Realitywanted.com.

Todd Hi, Tate; congratulations.

Tate Thank you.

Todd I was just wondering speaking of your album is there anyone that you would like to sing with on that album?

Tate I don’t know maybe not on my first one. You know it’ll take a long time to get out and show myself, and then later on yeah start collaborating, and there’s a huge list of people that I’d love to collaborate with.

Todd All right. Then you were in the older category but was there anything that you did learn about yourself over the season?

Tate Yeah definitely. There are a lot of things I learned about myself. From the beginning I just—I love performing. I love everything. I didn’t know how much I loved doing it on a big scale like this show is, and I realized that that’s what I want to do. I mean I knew all along but it really came clear during this competition. It was really like yeah this is definitely what I need to do. This is definitely who I am and what I want to do, and there are a lot of other ways I’ve kind of growing as a person too.

Moderator The next question comes from Brian Cantor with Headline Planet.

Brian How’s it going, Tate?

Tate Good. How are you, sir?

Brian Doing well. Obviously you won the contract. You won the show. Those are great things you’re going to be enjoying for a little while, but you’ve got to look towards the future and some of the challenges there. One of which I think obviously right now you’re the brand ambassador for The X Factor and your success or failure is going to really reflect on the show to some extent. Do you feel any pressure to really perform as a recording artist in order to sort of maybe give back or help build the brand that really put you on the map for so many people?

Tate Definitely, man and I’m glad to carry it. They’ve honestly—I mean they’ve changed my life. They changed my family’s life, and this is a huge opportunity, and I want to do well anyway. Who wants to go out and not do anything that’s just not why you do this, but yeah, man I would love to carry the torch and take that X Factor brand and do well with it. That’s my goal.

Brian And then also a lot of the pageantry and a lot of the group song selections that’s not always necessarily country performers’ wheelhouse. Was there any sense of discomfort or maybe awkwardness kind of adapting to sort of a pop mainstream show while still trying to be yourself through those performances?

Tate Yeah definitely you know because X Factor honestly it wasn’t geared towards country at all. It is a very pop and urban show so yeah there were some times that I was like, “Oh this is definitely—” I think Simon—I did a Bon Jovi song and he said it’s kind of like taking a gold fish for a walk you just can’t do it, and so there were a lot of times I thought that here I am taking a gold fish for a walk but it all came down to the end and so it was worth it.

Moderator Our next question comes from Deanna Decosta with Twist Magazine.

Deanna Hi, Tate. Twist Magazine is a younger reader … 14 year olds and one of the frequent questions we get is how do you get the confidence even if you like singing to get up on stage and perform in front of a whole bunch of people? Do you have an advice for them?

Tate Yeah definitely. There are a whole lot of tricks that you can do but you just act like—a lot of people say they’re not there. I don’t do that. I think you feed off the energy of the people that are watching that you’re performing for so I don’t know. Just get out and do it. If that’s what you love to do and that’s what you want to do you’ve got to try it. You might fail a few times. I’ve sure failed my share, but you’ve got to get out and do it.

Deanna That’s great advice, thank you. Did you get a chance to meet One Direction while they were there?

Tate Yeah I sure did. They’re great guys and, in fact, my daughter is a huge Harry fan. I have an 11 year old daughter and she got to meet him and get her picture taken with him and stuff and yeah she was so excited.

Deanna That’s great. Thank you.

Tate Yeah. Thanks.

Moderator Our next question comes from Joanna … with New York Daily News.

Joanna Hello again. My question is what would you say is the most valuable lesson you learned from LA Reid on the show?

Tate He told me —like the first week or two of the show he said, “Stars don’t have confidence issues” and he said, “You need to get rid of all the confidence issues that you have. Be very confident in who you are and what you do and people will see that and it will shine.” And so I tried to do that and I’m still trying. I’m still worrying but I think I’ve gotten a lot better.

Joanna And is there a song that you didn’t get to perform on the show that you wish you had or that you had wanted to perform?

Tate I don’t think so. I mean there were a couple songs that I kind of wanted to see if they would work but yeah I don’t know. I think everything played out kind of great at the end.

Moderator Our next question comes from Michelle … with Hollywood Reporter.

Michelle Hello again, Tate. I talked to a few contestants and the running theme was that you were the …. CeCe said that. How did you bond with all the other contestants backstage in the competition setting?

Tate We all got along. They were all great people. I mean I really believe that everyone was—we all got along. Everybody was cool and the younger ones they would—I don’t know I guess talk to them like I talk to my kids sometimes and gave them a little advice if they were down or whatever. I mean I don’t know nothing that I wouldn’t normally do any other time, but like I said we all got along great and we had a lot of fun, and I like cooking so I cooked for everybody a lot.

Michelle You cook; what do you cook?

Tate Anything. I don’t know if you noticed I kind of like to eat.

Moderator Our last question comes from the line of Christina … with Life and Style Weekly.

Christina Hi, Tate. I was just wondering was there ever a point during the season where you really missed your family and it was kind of hard to stick it out. Did you feel that at all?

Tate Oh definitely. Definitely. We had been here like three weeks and I was like I don’t think this is—I don’t know if I can do this, and my wife she talked to me, and she’s like this is an opportunity that will never come again. You can do this just stick with it and we’ll get through it. It’s not like it’s going to be forever so just hand on and keep doing great and you’ll be fine.

Christina Thank you.

Tate Thank you.

Hayley Thanks, everybody. That concludes our conference call with Tate Stevens. Have a great day.

Moderator Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude your conference for today. Thank you very much for your participation and for using AT&T Executive Teleconference. You may now disconnect.

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