JB- So you go from rejection to now . . . let's just talk about the show. You took on the big names: Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand, Christina Aguilera, Aretha Franklin. That's darin', girl! How did you choose such big names, and how did you manage to pull them off?

VS- You know, when I chose the songs I wasn't thinking about "I'm going to tackle Aretha this week" or "I'm going to do Whitney this week." Whenever we were given a genre or a category for each week, I was just thinking of the best song for me and I don't know. I would ask my family sometimes, and the vocal coaches would give me ideas and I would pick what I could. Because some songs, even though it might be the category songs from the '90s, you can't sing every song from the ''90s, because every song won't be cleared to sing from the artist or whoever came up with the music. So I'd have a list of 10 songs I'd want to sing, and none of them would be cleared, so sometimes that's what happened and I'd just end up picking what is cleared and what is available to sing on the show. So I don't know. I know that some of them are my favourite artists, and I really look up to Aretha and Whitney and Christina, so and Barbra Streisand, I was like, "Oh, my gosh." I love that song People, so I don't know. I was hoping I'd do them justice.

JB- I think so. When did you realize that you had a voice that you could compete - I don't want to say compete - pull off songs by, we'll call them divas.

VS- Like I said, when I would sing down in Naples, I would deliver the mail during the day and then I would get off from work, I would rush home and get myself together and do my hair and makeup and whisk down to Naples, Fla., which is 45 minutes away, and I'd sing for four hours sometimes by myself in a restaurant. So it built up my stamina. I would sing for hours and hours, and not bruise my vocal chords or not lose my voice. That's how…I started singing all these songs, and people would request Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin, so I had to learn these songs, so I could sing them for my audience and they would just keep cheering me on. I would sing I Will  Always Love You by Whitney Houston and get a standing ovation at the end of the song, so when I go to Idol I was trying to sing Whitney Houston songs and songs that I knew that I could do and be OK with performing them.

JB- So the first time you auditioned, the people that said, "No" to you, were they there the next time around?

VS- No, they weren't. I didn't see them the next time.

JB- Interesting. You came back and they didn't!

VS- Right.

JB- Who won that one?

VS- I was so excited. I couldn't believe it, every round I was calling my dad. Sometimes in the beginning, because they start auditioning in the summer and the show is not on until next year in January, and you can't publicly say "I'm the Top 24 for America's Idol next season." You have to keep it on the hush-hush. You can't put it on your website or on MySpace, so I would call my dad and be "But you can't tell anybody." So it was like the hardest secret to keep. It was so hard, because my mom and dad were so happy and proud of me and I was so excited. I just wanted to tell everyone. That was really hard.

JB- You describe the experience and everything. Were you prepared for it? Was that what you were expecting it to be? I'm sure you watched the show prior to auditioning, yes?

VS- Yes, I watched it before I auditioned, but I tried out in 2002 and I didn't make it. I passed the first round.

JB- Well, what did they tell you at that point?

VS- Well, they wouldn't give me an explanation. In the preliminary round if you're really like, more so it's a big cattle call and it's not like they're going to sit down and say, "Well, you didn't put enough soul in the music." They're just going to be like, "Well, we're going to take numbers one, two, three, but four you're going to have to come back and try again some other time." Something like that; they don't tell you why or anything.

JB- So did you get to the actual judges, Paula, Simon, Randy, or no?

VS- No, I didn't make it past the first round, which is just the big cattle call. Thousands upon thousands of contestants, and you're like in a big auditorium. It was crazy, and I was all bummed out, and my dad who's been my manager since I was a little girl, we drove two hours home, because I tried out in Miami, and we drove two hours home to Fort Myers, Fla., and he gave me the whole speech about, "You got to pick yourself up. We're going to try again next year." And I was like, "Yeah, right, dad."

So two years later I came back after singing every weekend. It was my second job, I'd go to Naples, Fla., 45 minutes away from here and I would perform at restaurants, and then people would see me at the restaurants and they would hire me to do private events. I had time to really hone my skills and get it together and step it up a couple of notches, and I went back in 2004, and I kept making it and making it. I didn't tell anybody in 2004, because when I tried out the first time and didn't make it, everybody kept asking me, "How'd you do? How'd you do?" I felt so bad. It was like reliving the rejection all over again, so I didn't tell anybody except the postal service, because I needed time off, so when I kept making it I was just, "Oh!" I couldn't believe it. It was fabulous.

JB- You mentioned a lot of things that you experienced while you were on the show - photo shoots and a lot of other stuff. Did you learn a lot about the music business from Idol? Like you've watched the show, so being a viewer and then being a contestant on it, what is it that you pick up along the way in the process?

VS- Well, watching Idol and then being on the show, I think viewers don't understand that there are so many other things that are happening on a day-to-day basis. My parents, they thought for a while that I was just learning my song all week, and that's it. No, I'm not calling home as much because I've done photo shoots, I'm rehearsing, I'm doing the Ford commercial shoot that we do every week. It's so many things happening at once, and then you have to get up and perform your song on Tuesday in front of Simon and everybody. So I think that people don't know there's a lot of stress and it's really a competition, but behind the scene - I don't know about any other season - but season 4 there were no cat fights, nobody at each other's throat. It was really a family thing, and I think it's just because everybody's away from home, and we're going through the same thing and we can relate to each other about being tired some days and being frustrated about not being able to pick the song that you really wanted to sing. Or you might really have the perfect song for you, but when you cut it down to a minute and a half for the show, it's really not the same, and you don't like your hair, or you can't find the right outfit, or just frustration, and aggravation. So I think we became really close.

A lot of the interviews, while we were on the show, everybody wants to know who's fighting on the show and who's doing this. But it was really a family environment, so I think those are some of the things people wouldn't know about just watching the show. And people always ask me, "How's Simon in real life?" We never got a chance to hang out with the judges or talk to them backstage. We always saw them on show days when the cameras were right on us and we were performing on stage. We never hung out with them.

JB- So you never had a drink with Paula?

VS- Oh, no. (laughing) I'm not even sure she drinks. Look at you trying to get me caught up! (laughing)

JB- I've asked every Idol contestant, because I want to know who parties with Paula. Because we got to get down to the bottom of that story, don't you think?

VS- Well, from my experience I don't think that was ever the case with anybody ever hanging out with Paula, because we're never ever allowed to be around them, hanging out or anything like that. I always say Simon has a good heart, and I don't think he's this mean guy all the time.

JB- It's for show, I think. Don't you?

VS- I think so. It's a TV show, so he gives it a little spice.