EXCLUSIVE: American Idol Runner-Up La’Porsha Renae Talks Fame, Singing Because of Alicia Keys, Being a ‘Good Woman’, More

American Idol season 15 runner-up La’Porsha Renae is still getting used to her newfound fame. “I don’t really like the fame; I like meeting my fans and performing, but I don’t want to be put on a pedestal or idolized…All of that getting some used to,” she told Singersroom’s DJ JusMusic during a candid interview. La’Porsha wants to remain grounded, insisting, “I don’t want people to expect so much of me, and then I end up disappointing them. I just try to be as real as I can, as down to earth as I can.”

La’Porsha’s voyage into music started when she was 6-years-old. “Alicia Keys came out, and I was in love with ‘Fallin’ at 6-years-old. I was in my mom’s beauty shop, and I was singing, and they heard me and from then on my mom started making me sing.”

La’Porsha, who was a stay at home mom, substitute teaching at times, before appearing on Idol, never thought singing in front of family at an early age would turn into a career. “I wasn’t really on any career path; I was just married to an ex-military man. I wanted to work; he didn’t want me to work.”

Now, signed to Big Machine Records/Motown, La’Porsha recently released her first single, “Good Woman,” a gritty, soulful and heart-pouring mid-tempo record that pulls from her personal definition of what it means to be the quintessential good woman. The song is therapeutic for La’Porsha, and she wanted to give it to her fans as a testament of closure for her past abusive marriage. “‘Good Woman’ works as a closure and an anthem for other women.”

La’Porsha could have taken the route of Mary J. Blige, Keyshia Cole, or K. Michelle, but she personally believes that journey is not for her. “I feel like it’s giving him even power; this is supposed to be like a new leaf, a new chapter. I went through all of that hell during Idol, and I didn’t want to continue with that.

Watch our full interview with La’Porsha Renae below: