Fantasia gets ready to take flight with her headlining gig at L.A. Pride

by Ross Von Metzke

Few people can work a crowd like Fantasia Barrino.

From her soul-stirring final performance on season four of American Idol—the one that damn near made Simon Cowell cry—to the raves New York theater critics showered on her performance in The Color Purple (coming to L.A. in 2010), when Barrino opens her mouth to sing, get ready.

In the studio recording her third album, Barrino took a break from laying down tracks to talk to Frontiers in L.A. about working her headlining performance at L.A. Pride on June 13, what it means to be free and why her gay fans better get ready for her to come out of her pumps on stage.

FRONTIERS IN L.A.: You are a busy lady.

FANTASIA BARRINO: Good. Busy is good, right?

Usually. You are in the studio today, I understand.

Yes. I'm working on an album, working on a VH1 show, getting ready for The Color Purple. So yes, busy is good.

Plus you have a kid. How do you balance it all?

Idol taught me a lot. It trained me for a lot of stuff. It's just about balancing out my time and getting people who understand family, who understand work. I have to get home and get my mommy time (Barrino's daughter Zion is 7 years old). Sometimes I can get in the studio in Charlotte (North Carolina, where Barrino lives) and get the producers to come to my house. I cook for them.

So now, even with all of this going on, you are still making time for Los Angeles Pride. Why was it important to you to fit that in?

First of all, it is the biggest gay Pride ever, and I could not miss it. I can't miss it. I have done a lot of gay Prides —they love and support me so, so much. To me, this in an honor. When they asked me, [my manager Brian Dickens] was like, “Guess what?” I was like, “You're lying.” I'm also performing with Deborah Cox, who is a diva and a soulful singer—I love performing with the soulful singers. I couldn't miss this. This is like history and it will go down in the books. All those big women—Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle, Cher, Madonna ... I feel like I'm on their level now.

This is a really political time for gay people, and there's a lot of talk about homophobia in hip-hop. Have you encountered that, or is it not a part of your world?

It's not, babe. Let me tell you something: My world consists of being free, and what I mean by that is being myself and living life. It's your life—live it the way you want to live it because you only have one life to live, and I'm not going to let nobody stand in the way of that. That's how I feel for everyone. Life your life.

It's time for the obligatory American Idol question. Who's your favorite—of all the seasons?

I remember this: I was in L.A., I went out to eat with Simon Fuller (Idol's executive producer), we all sat down, and I said, “Carrie Underwood is the one.” She has the voice of an angel and she's different for Idol—she was the first country singer that did American Idol. I love her. She has a beautiful voice. She used to come to my shows. She would come, faithfully, sit right in the front row. She would come to the back and say, “I want some soul. I want that.” I said, “All I'll tell you is you just go in there and give it your all.” Now when I watch her—on the Grammys, I was sitting in the front row, and she came out and did [Sings] “Don't even know my last name.” When I saw that act —excuse my language, I said, “OK, bitch. You got your soul now.”

What can we expect from your Pride performance? What are you going to bring?

I don't even know what to say. First of all, I'm gonna come out in my fly shoes. My manager tells me to keep them on, but of course, I come out of my shoes. And when I come out of my shoes, that means I'm in my zone and I'm ready to kick ass. The stage is my private place—whatever I'm going through, I let it all out right there.

You know, Patti LaBelle kicks her fly shoes into the crowd sometimes.

I don't kick 'em off in the audience because they're usually like my favorite pair. But I know what she feels when she comes out of those shoes—she feels like she could take wing and fly. Those pumps might stop the process. When I see Patti come out of her shoes, I always say, “OK, be ready. She's gonna go there.” When we come out of our shoes, nine times out of 10, it's time for everybody to go—we're going there.

More info: fantasiabarrinoofficial.com