Caleb Johnson Says He's 'Really Bummed' He WON American Idol

Singer Caleb Johnson is glad to have the support of millions of fans, but he’s also “really bummed” that he won season 13 of the Fox reality singing competition “American Idol.”

Although the singing competition has launched the careers of Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood, and Adam Lambert, there are some winners, like “Soul Patrol” star Taylor Hicks, that have faded into obscurity.

One of those performers, Caleb Johnson, is speaking out about his first single, “As Long As You Love Me.” The song has no relation to the 1997 Backstreet Boys hit of the same name, and, in Caleb’s words, is “a cheesy piece of crap.”

The song “As Long As You Love Me” was written by Justin Hawkins, frontman of the British rock band, The Darkness. In a recent interview with Insider, Caleb said that the song’s producers gave him the song to sing upon his Idol victory, but he was not a fan.

“I knew that, by de facto, if you won you had to sing the song, and the song was just utter crap,” Caleb said. “Like, it was just the worst song ever.”

Caleb said he was pretty vocal when he won back in 2014 that the uptempo pop song didn’t fit his vibe, but says that both the show and his record company, Interscope Records, ignored him.

“I pitched a fit about it to the management company and all this stuff, and they were like, look at this as kind of a graduation present or something,” he added.

Apparently, the song was so bad, that Caleb called it a “nightmare” to perform on the “American Idol” tour with the other contestants. Apparently, it was so ill-received that it was eventually removed from the line-up halfway through the tour.

“We did at the beginning, but they switched it,” he explained. “They switched it about halfway because it just wasn't working. It was not working, and it was a nightmare.”

Back in 2014, Caleb told Entertainment Weekly that he was looking forward to putting out his new album.

“I really want this record to be an amazing experience,” he said at the time. “I want it to be a full deal, that front to back every song is awesome and tells a cohesive story and it culminates me stylistically and vocally and has all these facets to it.”

“I'm a rock singer, but I love soul, I love blues, and I love theatrical stuff too, like theatrical rock like Queen and Meat Loaf,” he continued. “But I want this to be deep and heavy and soulful and convicted and have a lot of depth to it and hit people right in the gut when they hear it.”

However, Caleb told Insider that Interscope Records put “absolutely no support” behind his debut album. “The label wouldn't release the single, there was no single that came out after the record was done,” he alleged. “There was no music video. There was nothing.”

In hindsight, Caleb Johnson says that he is “really bummed” that he won the show, given all the complications that came with trying to establish himself as an artist. Caleb left Interscope Records as soon as he could and formed the group Caleb Johnson and the Ramblin’ Saints. In 2019, the group released their debut album, Born from Southern Ground.

Fortunately, it seems that Caleb is happy to finally be able to produce his style of music on his own terms!