London, Jan 5: "X Factor" winner Melanie Amaro may have just signed a $500 million (US) dollar recording contract with Epic records, but she still wants to pursue her original career plan as well as her music career.
“To be honest I still do want to do nursing because I want to help people, but I think as of right now I want to pursue what I absolutely love which is my singing first and then or I'll just probably take classes while I'm on the road or something,” Amaro said in an interview Wednesday. “I don't know. Whatever comes my way.”
The 19-year-old beat out male singers Josh Krajcik and Chris Rene for the top spot on the show's debut season in the United States. She says she expected Krajcik to win.
“I kept thinking to myself I'm gonna hear ‘Josh Krajcik' so it was like when I heard my name I was in shock I was like, ‘did he just say my name?'” she recalled.
Mentored by Simon Cowell during the competition, Amaro will work with LA Reid at Epic Records, who is the label's Chairman and CEO; he was previously the head of Island Def Jam Music Group, where he oversee careers for Rihanna and Justin Bieber. Reid was also a judge on “The X Factor” and mentored the boys category with finalist Chris Rene. Reid may have been rooting for Rene on camera, but she says he always encouraged her too.
“He always told me like, ‘Girl, you can sing. You can sing.You really can sing.' He was like, ‘I believe in you,'” she recalled. “Just to hear words like that from LA Reid I think that's like that's really big for me, you know.”
