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Interview with the once rich and Jewish Sanjaya

Sanjaya: Forget the hair. Let's talk tattoos!

By Dalia Wheatt
Published July 6, 2007

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ADVERTISEMENT [AP Photo] 'Idol' spinner: Sanjaya Malakar, whose performances generated a lot of buzz, has moved on from the hair.

American Idols Live! Tour 2007

With the Top 10 finalists from the sixth season: winner Jordin Sparks, runner-up Blake Lewis, Sanjaya Malakar, Chris Sligh, Chris Richardson, Gina Glocksen, Haley Scarnato, Lakisha Jones, Melinda Doolittle and Phil Stacey. 7 p.m. Saturday at the St. Pete Times Forum, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa, (813) 301-6600; www.stpetetimesforum.com. $39.50-$70.

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For all the energy he exuded on the American Idol stage, Sanjaya Malakar sure sounded sleepy during our early-morning phone conversation.

And understandably so. The Federal Way, Wash., native whose constantly changing hairstyles gave the country somethin' to talk about has been talking ever since - to the Today show, Tonight Show, People magazine, even Rachael Ray.

Jordin Sparks may have won Idol, but the 17-year-old Malakar has done countless interviews to discuss his experience on the show, his venture into "acting, modeling and possibly Broadway" (as he told MTV News) and, unavoidably, the hair.

During our chat with the media-jaded Malakar, we tried to cover new ground. But we couldn't resist throwing in one question about those lionized locks.

What are you tired of talking about?

I'm kind of tired of talking about my hair, but I figure it's inevitable. It's gonna happen, so it doesn't really bother me. But it's just kind of an old subject.

I'll ask you the one obligatory hair question, and then we can move on. What's the one hair-care product that you can't live without?

Water.

Really?

I use hair products if I'm going somewhere nice or something, but for the most part I kinda wet it and let it air-dry. My hair's really low-maintenance. I'm lucky like that.

You're turning 18 on Sept. 10. How will you celebrate?

I kinda want to get a tattoo, but I don't want to get it while I'm on the road because I want to get it from somewhere that's clean, and I want to be sure that it's clean, 'cause I'm not about to have some nasty rash on my body.

What would you get it of, and where would you get it?

I was thinking of on my arm, and my Chinese astrology (sign) is a snake and I love snakes, so I'd get a snake and somehow incorporate a treble clef or some kind of musical symbol and possibly somehow incorporate a Virgo, but I don't know. I haven't really thought about it enough to get it yet.

What was the strangest thing that a fan has sent you?

I think the strangeness comes with what they say in their letters, 'cause there's a lot of people that don't necessarily censor themselves in their letters, and it's kind of interesting to read.

Can you give me an example?

Someone said that when I sing, it's like hot chocolate with a lot of mini marshmallows.

What do you think that means? Is that a compliment - that you are a warm beverage?

(laughs) I don't know. Hot chocolate's yummy, and little mini marshmallows never hurt.

So is the tattoo an effort to get rid of the mini marshmallow image and move to something a little more mature?

No, I think it's - I wouldn't get it somewhere that's really obvious. I'd get it somewhere that I can hide it very easily. It would be more for myself.

If you were a superhero, what would you want your superpower to be?

Psychic abilities.

Why's that?

I think that everyone's psychic, but they just don't listen, and I've kind of gotten to a point where sometimes I can listen to my instinct and be right, and so I like to call myself psychic. I don't know that it's necessarily true, but I think it's a cool concept, and so I think it would be really cool to genuinely, actually be psychic.

If someone wrote a biography of you, what would the title be?

Back When I Was Rich and Jewish.

Are you Jewish?

I was once. My mom was married to a Jewish man, and we celebrated all the holidays and all that. And he was rich.

Did you have a bar mitzvah?

No. They broke up before I turned 13.

It's never too late if you decide you want to do that.

That's true.

 

[Last modified July 5, 2007, 16:58:13]

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