It has been two months since American Idol Season 8 finalist, Anoop Desai released his debut album, All is Fair and with the preparations underway for the re-release of the album, I was able to catch up with Anoop to discuss the creation of the album and more.

Did you always know that you wanted to be in LA after American Idol to make the record?
Actually, I didn’t. That’s part of the reason why I am not in LA anymore. I was in Hollywood, had a nice place right off Melrose but decided that I wanted to make the record at home in North Carolina. I love LA but for me it was more important to be close to my friends and family and really include the people that I had known for years and have supported me for years in the process of writing, recording, and producing. I did write a lot of the album in LA but then I re-settled back in North Carolina.

So you wrote most of the tracks for your debut album but when did you begin songwriting in general?
During the Idol tour, so I am still new at it. I never wrote before Idol. Fortunately, the people that I have worked with since then have been amazing teachers and amazing collaborators. I have people that understand my style and I understand them and a lot of the people that I have worked with have been friends, so that has helped a lot.

Who have you learned from the most when it comes to songwriting?
When I was living in LA, Brandon Rogers (Season 6) was the first person I really sat down with, worked with, and he really showed me the ropes.

What was the most challenging song to write or record?
“All is Fair” wasn’t hard but it was interesting because I wrote it with my best friend through G Chat. We were sitting on our laptops throwing ideas back and forth and what came out was this song. I love it and we are getting great feedback from it so that’s great.

Did you decide to have a re-release for the album before the May 4th release of the debut or after the release and seeing the responses?
After we got the album out, we were able to take more meetings as the album was our “in.” So we continued with meetings and have continued to progress and grow as a team. So we hope that the re-release will be the major release. Right now, All is Fair is an EP, which has 8 tracks. The re-release will have 12-15 tracks.

Did you know what you wanted your sound to be on Idol or did you find it afterwords?
I think it evolved. I have always been a fan of pop music and that is definitely what you hear on the album. But working with different people, you take in some of their sounds. The songs we are writing right now are different from what we have written in the past and I think that style will always evolve.

Where is your favorite place to write?
I love writing in LA because it is the first experience I had with writing and I feel like I am always productive there. It’s wonderful to be around the industry and you are writing with people who are striving just as hard to come up with something great.

How does it feel to have Ellen DeGeneres and Keith Urban as fans of yours?
Yeah, when I was on the show, they were big supporters of me and…it’s awesome. You know, it’s great having fans at all. I have a really loyal legion of fans who follow what I do and get the word out there about it. It’s amazing that people care and it makes this project what it is right now.

Own the album, All is Fair today.