Question- What were you thinking when Ben announced your name?

Theo Tams- I was just completely overwhelmed by emotion. It's just something I never really looked that far ahead. I think that's what kept me sane in the competition. I've tried to take it one performance at a time. Obviously this was the last one and I didn't have something else to look ahead to, so I had to wait to that moment. When he said my name I was ecstatic. Just to share that moment with Mitch (MacDonald) was incredible. Mitch has become a great friend of mine and he gave me a hug and said, "I love you. I'm so proud of you" and that just meant so much to me. And that meant more to me than winning just hearing the words from Mitch because he's just such a big person to be able to step up and . . . I mean, he wanted it so bad so for him to be able to come around and be so positive to me just shows so much about his character and the relationship we've built. And that's what music should be about. It should bring people together and making something so much more than just a single on the radio.

Q- Ten thousand people auditioned for this, you made it through. What would you tell people who think they shouldn't try out for this?

TT- I think the biggest thing I would tell people who are going to audition is you have to want it more than you have wanted anything. I think just throughout this whole experience there are some days where you're just "oh, I'm so tired" and you do have that voice in your head saying, "You can do this, just push it." For me that's what it is. It was my passion for it. I never wanted anything this bad. And I got it now so I'm just ecstatic!

Q- The judges have been so supportive of you week after week. But (when every) Tuesday night came, you were the most nervous. Did you think you were going home every week?

TT- I honestly… um, I don't know if I felt like I was going home, I just . . . I think I had no idea who was going to go, like no idea. Everyone was just so strong and had clearly built a great fan base, so every week it just felt like it was anyone's game. There were a couple of weeks where I knew I hadn't done my best and those were the weeks when I was the most nervous. The weeks I had really gone out there and done my best, I was still nervous, but I would have been OK leaving because I know there was nothing else I could have done. There was a couple weeks I knew I could have done better, so on those weeks on Tuesday I was "ohhhhhh!"

Q- The judges can also be kind of intimidating. Were you intimidated by them at all?

TT- I think Zack (Werner) was really intimidating from day 1. I know that my style of music is not his. And so I always felt that I just had something more to prove to Zack - and Sass, likewise. She's just a rocker chick and she's just really raw. And I felt every time I was going to do a slow ballad that I just really had to prove to her that ballads are cool too! (laughing)

Q- What is it in the water in Alberta that keeps producing Idol winners?

TT- I honestly think people do not realize that we have such a strong music industry there. When they think Alberta they think we're all miniature Garth Brooks running around and we're not at all. The folk scene there is unreal. We have a lot of great rock bands. How it was for me, was I knew that if I was going to be the little piano kid from southern Alberta that I needed to step up and prove myself because I wasn't doing country and I wasn't wearing Wranglers and I wasn't wearing a cowboy hat so I just knew that I had . . . I kind of felt going into the competition that I was already a leg back. Whether that actually was the case or not, I'm glad I felt that way because it gave me all the incentive to push hard and work harder and it was just that passion of really wanting it that propelled me to here.

Q- What was the best advice that any of the mentors gave you?

TT- I think the best advice for me was Bryan Adams, when I (asked), "How do you make your mark on the industry?" And he said to me you need to look inside your heart and you need to think of the most important thing that you want to tell people and every single song has to say that - whether it's a love song or a broken love song or just a fun song - every song has to circle around what you want to represent yourself as. And I know the things that I want to say and the things I really want to stand for.

Q- Your single is out now. Tell us what it's like to record a single.

TT- (laughing) My single is called "Sing." There could not be a song better suited to me. There's a line in that song that says "sing 'til tomorrow, don't let sorrows swallow everything" and for me that's what the world of music has been in my life. Everyone goes through valleys and rough times. For me music is what got me out of those valleys, just propelled me to a mountain. I just feel so grateful that that's my song. I'm just so excited to hear it on the radio.