"Idol" alum brings soulful sound to annual festival

The concept of "losing" is such an arbitrary thing when it comes to a juggernaut like "American Idol." After all, millions of people have not only heard you sing, they've seen you under pressure, they're aware of weekly changes in hairstyles and they've witnessed Ryan Seacrest talk smack about your shoes. And then, you're bumped off the stage because the fickle public can't figure out who's best, so they vote for the singer most like them.

It can be a gift, getting into the finals but not going all the way. America has seen you shine, and you don't have all that winner baggage clamped onto your back like Marley's ghost. Just ask Kimberley Locke. She came in "third" during the second season of "American Idol," the so-called last-girl-standing when it came to the scrappy duel between Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard. Locke still got to star in the Idols tour and record a couple of well-received soulful albums.

Plus much more. Locke is in Honolulu this week for the Hawaii Romance Festival, that annual salute to things that make your heart go thumppity. Along with the likes of Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, Boz Scaggs, Aaron Neville and a posse of other crooners, Locke will be doing what got her into the final rounds of "Idol" - singing.

Turns out Locke is what the tourism bureau calls a Frequent Island Visitor. "I love Hawaii!" Locke said, at the time readying for a gig in Washington, D.C. "I come out two or three times a year and chill out. From L.A., it's an easy thing to get there. It's beautiful, the people are so laid-back and friendly. You really feel like there's nothing pressing. Just sit beside the pool and read. Get RID of that daily sense of urgency!

"I travel alone a lot," Locke added. "Sometimes with just my mother. At the end of the day, I can't wait to be anonymous. Don't need a posse! I don't want to be around anyone THAT much! So it's generally just me, and whoever my handler is for the event."

Sometimes Locke tours with her band, sometimes it's a "one-off date" that may only require a few songs performed with a pick-up band or prerecorded tracks. "My agent gets the work, the manager books it. The end-all is money. Sometimes the site doesn't want to pay a whole band. At the 'Romance' festival, I'll be doing my standards like 'Band of Gold' and 'Over the Rainbow,' so we don't need the band this week."

Is she watching "Idol" like the rest of us?

"I was, until my man Chikezie got voted off. I'm not at home enough to see TV regularly. I have GOT to set up my DVR!"

Talent?

"Hmmmm, actually, not the most talented, but one of the most interesting groups. The Beatles nights didn't work, did they? I totally believe some of those kids had never heard a Beatles song before.

"American Idol seems so long ago. Five and a half years. When you're there, on the inside, so compressed, it seems like it takes forever; outside, you realize it's only been a couple of months out of your life."

The two rules of "American Idol," again, are: It's just a singing contest, and, it's not just a singing contest. Judge Simon Cowell, in his usual take-no-prisoners approach to being helpful, said that Locke didn't look like a star, she looked like an "overweight librarian."

Ouch.

"The first few times he said stuff like that, it really bothered me," said Locke. "But you can't focus on just that. There's such a huge distance between then and now."

Locke, using the Jenny Craig plan, has lost several pounds, something she thinks of as the cost of having a career. "It's all advertising, all about perception. Although I'm bigger than the average woman in Hollywood, I'm smaller than the 'average' American woman," said Locke, who second-careers as a "plus-size" model.

"In 'American Idol,' the fans have to feel connected to you. Relatability, that's what makes you successful. Sometimes, the votes don't make sense on a musical level - so it has to be your personality that's winning them over. I didn't make it all the way to winner, but being in third place was the best thing that ever happened. I became my own person."