Lee DeWyze: Sweet serendipity and optimism help him along

“AMERICAN Idol” season 9 winner Lee DeWyze suffers from the curse of odious comparison.

“I won right after David Cook and Kris Allen, and there was a lot of talk about how I was no different from them, and how only brown-haired guys who played guitar could win ‘American Idol,’” he laments.

And then there was the unfortunate timing of his Manila visit, organized for him to play two free concerts and promote his album, “Live It Up.” The first was held on one of the most sweltering evenings of the year; the second was rained out.

A lucky man

But DeWyze is an optimist. This explains the relative brightness of “Live It Up” and its uplifting first single, “Sweet Serendipity.”

“I’m a lucky man to do what I love—to write and tell stories through my music,” he said at the press conference before the shows.

The 25-year-old former paint salesman can’t help but see his current album sales bump—a result of his early appearance in “Idol” season 10—as a harbinger of things to come. “Album sales are not necessarily indicative of artistry, or even quality of music,” he said, giving indirect reference to his ignominious position as the “Idol” winner with the lowest-selling debut album so far. “When you come off a show like ‘American Idol,’ people have certain expectations. They think you’re going to sell a million albums no matter who you are. And even when you have the built-in fans that you get from the show, with all the options available right now, sometimes people don’t buy the whole album, just the one song they like.”

So he’s bringing the music live to his fans by touring. It can be a pain, since he admits to having a girlfriend (which led to an audible sound of disappointment from the mostly female crowd at the press con). “[Dating while touring] can be pretty difficult, but so is [maintaining relationships with] everything—family, friends, pets. They wanna talk, they wanna see me, and I’m on the other side of the world. But if you’re close to someone, and it’s a good relationship, it doesn’t matter how far you are.”

Counting blessings

He’s also counting his blessings—and no amount of crazy sudden rain can dampen that. “Back when I was on the show, they made a big deal out of my being a paint salesman,” Lee said. “But you know, everybody has a job, and we all struggle … to make a living. But now I’m here, and I’m performing for you guys, and from the moment I got off the plane, everybody’s just been so generous and awesome. It’s an amazing experience, and I’m living it.”