Jeremy Bradley- Joining me now is American Idol's Chicken Little. Hello, Kevin Covais. How are you?

Kevin Covais- I'm doing well. How are you today?

JB- A little bit snowy here in Canada. Where are you right now?

KC- I'm actually in sunny California, so I can't sympa... [cuts off the word]…I can't understand what you're going through right now.

JB- I don't expect you to sympathize either, geez.

KC- (laughing)

JB- I did refer to you jokingly as Chicken Little. Let's start out with that name. It was explained while you were on Idol. How did that whole nickname start?

KC- Chicken Little came about as a result of one of my good friends on the show - still one of my good friends - Paris Bennett, who made it pretty far during season 5. Paris and I, along with Lisa Tucker, on the Top 12 were all the youngest ones from that year and we all did school together. So we became three best friends on the show, and from the moment she met me, one of the first things that ever came out of her mouth when she spoke to me was, "You look like Chicken Little." So I said, "OK, that's good to me." I wasn't too familiar with Chicken Little at that time. I hadn't seen the movie, but of course now it has taken on a life of its own, and the past two years I've become very familiar with it. So she started calling me that, and the show got a hold of it and started to use it. It was all in good fun, so we had a good time with it.

JB- How would you describe Chicken Little the character? You're quite familiar now.

KC- Chicken Little, you know, after getting the chance to look at the movie, he's a little guy who wasn't given a chance at first and then he gets his moment. I guess that's me. I don't know. Besides looking like him I really didn't see that much. I guess I'm kind of like him a little bit.

JB- So that's solely appearances?

KC- Yes, I suppose so. Yes.

JB- How overwhelming was it for you to be on the number 1 show on the U.S.? I mean, it's a pretty fast-paced life once you're in the finals. As you mentioned, you took class together. I guess for people unfamiliar with show business, if you're under 18 you also have to do a certain amount of hours a day for schooling. So being so young and going through all this stuff, were you able to handle it with ease? What were you going through? How did you feel?

KC- You know, in a sense it was all really overwhelming. For me, it was really surreal for the first part of the experienc -- "Is this really happening to me?" I was a big fan of the show and frankly - not that I had a lack of self confidence in myself - but I went to the audition for Idol anticipating getting some experience, maybe figuring out what the process would be like to come back when I'm 19 or 20. To make it that far, being that young, it was a little overwhelming at first. It was just something that at first it's a little scary, a little nerve-wracking, and then once you become acclimated to it you get a better feel for it in the coming weeks. Getting to be on the show for a little while. It definitely became easier for me as it when along, but it was such a whirlwind. The experience was so much fun, and it just went so fast. It still feels like yesterday.

JB- Would you do it again?

KC- I wouldn't do anything over. I would love to do it again the way I did it, but people ask me, "Well, what would you do differently if you had to do it?" and I tell people, "You know, I was a 16-year-old guy embracing an incredible experience and I did the best I could, and made it pretty far." So I tell people I probably wouldn't change a thing, but I would love to do it all over again the way I did it. Definitely.

JB- You wouldn't change a thing, but was there one moment or one critique that the judges gave you that had an impact that maybe changed the way you view the way you perform or the way you look at music?

KC- I guess Randy and Paula were pretty big supporters of mine. Randy always managed to give me that constructive criticism even if he didn't like the song or say something positive about me or about what I was doing. The same with Paula. Paula was like - if my mom was up there supporting me - Paula was a very motherly figure on the panel for me. Simon seemed to be a really big fan of me as a person, but as a singer I don't think he was a fan of mine at all. That's fine, and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think every time he brought criticism to the table - and he usually did every week for me - it definitely inspired me to work that much harder. Definitely.

JB- You mention Paula. How many times was Paula drunk at the after parties?

KC- (laughing) What people don't know, well, a big misconception is that contestants and judges have a lot of access to each other. It really didn't work that way, at least my year. We saw the judges maybe entering the studio on performance night and on elimination nights and leaving the studio and we would see them, like you said, at the occasional finale for the Top 24, for the Top 12. I never saw her with a drink, so no comment on that. I don't know.

JB- Would you have a drink with her?

KC- I, myself, don't do too much drinking. (laughing)

JB- You're not old old enough. Are you old enough now?

KC- I am 18 years old now, so I'm not of legal drinking age.

JB- See, this is why you need to come to Canadian Idol, because in most provinces here you can drink at 18.

KC- Oh. (laughing)