‘As long as you stay in the game… it’ll always come back around’
Twenty years ago, Justin Guarini was the runner up from the inaugural season of a surprise hit show called American IdolHe thought that all his showbiz dreams would come true. He’d just released his debut album, which featured contributions from industry heavy-hitters like Babyface, Justin Timberlake, Gregg Alexander, Carole Bayer Sager, and executive producer Clive Davis. He’d just starred in a major motion picture that bore his name, From Justin to Kelly. But by the end of 2003, it was all over — or so it seemed.
“Oh, just say it: My album was a flop. The movie that I did after that was an absolute flop,” Guarini blurts out. He chuckles now, but confesses that at the time, “It was really painful. It was something I can still remember being. Crushed Because I always wanted to get a record deal. I wanted to be a recording artist since childhood. … But I have benefit of 20 years of hindsight to be able to see that oh my goodness, this business is truly cyclical.”
As it turned out, Guarini’s career wasn’t ending — it was just beginning, albeit in a different way from how he’d once envisioned. He’s since become “arguably the most versatile person, career-wise, to come off of American Idol,” branching out to theater, TV hosting, and even commercial acting: For instance, he has played Dr. Pepper’s hair-metal spokesrocker Lil’ Sweet for going on seven years now. And in his latest career twist, Guarini is taking on the even campier role of Disney villain Cat Burglar, an opportunity that he describes as a “dream come true,” in the new animated series SuperKittiesPremiering Jan. 11, on Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney+ and Disney+
Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment, however, Guarini admits that “there were definitely times when I felt like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want to get out of bed; I don’t want to go do the Hollywood thing’” and “I could’ve given up and it could have shrunk,” as he remembers his “lowest point” back in 2003. Thankfully, that humiliating moment ended up being a “catalyst” that changed the direction of his life.
“One night I was watching Saturday Night Live. I was living in Beverly Hills in a large home and didn’t want any of the excitement that comes with Hollywood. I was just looking to chill out, so I switched on SNL,” Guarini recalls. “It was back when Tina Fey was reading the news, and I will never forget sitting in my beautiful room, in my 1 billion-count Egyptian-thread-sheet bed. … And all of a sudden, right next to her head, my face pops up. I then stand up. After having been put through the ringer, being made fun of for my hair and hearing many late-night jokes about me, I finally stand up. KnowIt wasn’t going be anything positive. It was a profound experience that I didn’t know existed.
“And so what [Fey] said was something to the effect of: ‘This week, former American Idol Justin was dropped from his record label, RCA.’ And then they flipped the picture and said, ‘And now he looks like this,’ and it was a picture of Art Garfunkel, another person who has big hair, but significantly older and grayer. And that was the joke,” Guarini continues. “And it would’ve been really funny — had I not found out, with however many other million people that were also watching SNLI had been dropped! That was the moment that I found out that I had been dropped from my record label.”
Guarini says that when he found out that RCA had dropped him — just six months after the release of his self-titled debut album (which sold 143,000 copies and peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard 200) — in such a public and impersonal way, he “stayed in bed for quite some time. I felt embarrassed and couldn’t stand to get up. And I wondered why I did this. … I had the fame, the fortune, the cars, the clothes. I was living in a house where I could take off my clothes in my walk-in closet, put them on the floor, and they would be washed and folded back in the drawers — all the things that I thought I wanted, all the things that we Think We want what we want. Yet, I was miserable. I was over 3,000 miles from anyone who loved me and cared about my well-being.
“And so, that was a huge catalyst for me … to then say, ‘What am I going to Do?’” Guarini explains. “Eventually I just got over myself and I said, ‘OK, either I’m going to allow myself to be defined by this experience, or I’m going to define this experience.’ And that set me on a journey of just doing what was required: putting myself out there, failing, trying again, failing again, trying again. Continuing to audition, continuing to work — and work and work and work.”
Guarini has been working practically nonstop ever since, and he has a “good attitude now,” but he freely admits that his positive outlook has been “hard-won. … I mean, when you have that level of success — like, that first season of American Idol had 30 million people [watching] live every single week — and then all of a sudden on the back end of that, you have an album that flops, a movie that flops, and all those expectations that in my own mind weren’t met… well, that’s a big, big letdown.”
Of course, Guarini didn’t have Any Expectations when he signed-up for Idol People believed that 2002 was the year of the future. SuperKitties star was “crazy” when he chose to appear on the little unproven reality show over playing the role of another Disney feline. He took the chance and, as with many of his career choices, has no regrets.
“So, the story goes that I had for years been auditioning for The Lion King [on Broadway]. For years and years and years, I auditioned,” Guarini begins. “I did master classes, which is like the step that you take before you get onto the actual stage. And everyone in the company management was like, ‘Look, we want you, but we just don’t have the place for you right now. Just hold on, hold on.’ I held on for years… and then all of a sudden, a show that nobody’s ever heard of called American Idol Comes along. I get this yellow piece of paper that says, ‘You’re going to Hollywood!’ They called it the ‘Golden Ticket’ back then, but it was just a yellow piece of paper; it was goldenrod ticket, maybe! And I remember sitting in my car, and it was about a week before I had to go to L.A. — a place I’d never been before. And I get this call and they’re like, ‘Hey, we finally have the role for you. We want you. How soon can you start?’”
Guarini said the Lion King producers that he was about to head to California for “this show I’m supposed to be in,” but “might get cut,” and he asked if he could touch base in a week. He had already advanced. American Idol Season 1’s top 30, and he had to make a tough decision. “I looked up at the stage. I saw the American Idol logo, the smoke and the lights, the dais that houses the judges, and I just started Crying,” he recalls. “I’m tearing up and I’m trying not to let anybody see that I’m weeping in the middle of the aisle. And this little voice said to me, ‘Go with this.’ I looked up at the stage and I’m not kidding, it sounds fantastic, but it’s so true; I remember it so vividly. I just thought, ‘Oh my goodness, this stage that I’m performing on at the Pasadena Civic Center is the same stage that Michael Jackson first did the Moonwalk on at the anniversary of Motown [TV special]. This stage has been home to so many of my heroes. It’s not clear why, but I do. You can find it here to go with this.’”
But since so many aspects of Guarini’s career have come full-circle, he ended up becoming a Broadway star anyway, despite making the seemingly risky and potentially bridge-burning decision to turn down The Lion King. “The bow on this story is that 10 years later, after my season of American IdolAfter the auditions were over, I would be opening my first Broadway show in New York City. Our opening night party would take place in the hotel’s conference room. American Idol,” he says with a smile. “I feel so lucky to be a part of the Broadway community, because there has been no community that I’ve been a part of that’s been more accepting, more loving. They don’t care where you come from — as long as you show up, you do your job, you’re kind, and you tell the story, they love you. And I love them for that as well.”
Guarini also doesn’t regret starring in “cult classic” From Justin to Kelly — unlike his co-star, Kelly Clarkson, who once told Yahoo Entertainment that she “cried so hard” over the movie musical, fearing that it would “ruin” her career, that she even hoped that she would lose American Idol so she wouldn’t be contractually obligated to appear in the film. “She has some pretty strong opinions about it,” Guarini chuckles. But he says he was “100% into it.”
“I mean, where did I come from? I came From musicals. I came From that theatre world. Kelly didn’t. At the end of it all, Kelly had a strong opinion about wanting her record career to be her main focus. You can see that her instincts were right. My opinion was also strong about wanting more theater, more musical and theatrical things. You can now see how it paid off, with seven Broadway shows under my belt. At the end of it all, I am a happy man. You are welcome to do it. And I loved the idea of it,” says Guarini. “There were things to be desired from the script, yes. … But no matter what the box office numbers were [the film debuted at No. 11 in its opening week, and only domestically grossed about $5 million of its a $12 million budget], I’m proud to have made it.”
Clarkson’s fears that From Justin to Kelly would hurt her professionally obviously proved unfounded, but Guarini — who actually still has the unreleased From Justin to Kelly soundtrack on “an original iPod somewhere” — dismisses any speculation that it hurt him. He intuitively thinks both his album, and From Justin to Kelly simply got “lost in the shuffle,” because 19 Entertainment and RCA were understandably focused on promoting Clarkson’s debut album and the second season of American Idol The show premiered on Fox four months after Season 1 ended and was even more popular. “It’s just what my place was in the system at the time,” Guarini says with a shrug. His time on The From Justin to Kelly Set proved to be a valuable experience.
“I was there for the experience. “I was there for the experience. I couldn’t have been in my trailer. I was in Video Village. [Studios], and watching and learning, because I’d never been on a film set like that before,” Guarini explains. “I learned what I needed to learn. I got what it gave me. It was a box-office flop but it still served me 20 years later. … And so, it was this sort of bittersweet experience where I didn’t have what I wanted, but I got what I Required — which was all the experience in the industry. It was a blessing that the record failed, and that the movie did not succeed, as I got to work alongside amazing people like Babyface. I got to be in Video Village. From Justin to Kelly Listen to the producers and directors talk. I was a sponge throughout that whole experience.”
Guarini is a post-modern entrepreneur, just like Katharine McPhee, Queen frontman Adam Lambert.Idol success on his own terms— he points out, “Many of us from that show have had success in so many different facets of the entertainment business, and no other show of its kind can say that.” And he still describes competing on Idol as one of the greatest experiences of my life” that opened so many doors.
“I just feel lucky that after 20 years I’m still able to be a part of wonderful projects like SuperKitties and play really fun characters like Cat Burglar,” Guarini, now age 44, asserts. “I’ve kept my eyes open, and I’m willing to just have fun and see what happens … As long as you stay in the game — which is one of the hardest things to do — you’re kind to people, and you do good work, it’ll always come back around.”
Watch Justin Guarini’s full, extended Yahoo Entertainment interview above, in which he talks about SuperKittiesHis time is now American Idol, playing Lil’ Sweet, his friendship with Kelly Clarkson, and what’s next for him.
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