The American Idol winner is performing with Mayer tomorrow night at the One Splendid Evening benefit for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation aboard the Carnival Splendor cruise ship in Los Angeles. And she'll also be hitting the road in June to tour with the JoBros.
I caught up with Sparks earlier today just before she began her first rehearsals with Mr. Mayer...
Have you performed with John before?
I haven't, but I have been a huge fan of his music for a really long time and a huge fan of him and his lyrics and the way he writes. I was really excited to find out that he wanted me to be a part of this, so I was like, "Yes! Sign me up please!"
I've read that you're working on your second album with Jesse McCartney and Leona Lewis.
I went on tour with Jesse McCartney last year and we had a lot of fun and we have been talking about writing together. Same thing with Leona Lewis. I talked to her and it would be really cool to do like a big female-empowerment duet.
Who else would you love to work with?
I would love to work with John, whether he'd be playing on the track or if it was a little like a duet kind of collaboration. I love Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Jason Mraz and Fergie. I want to expand. I wanna go maybe do some country stuff with someone like Martina McBride.
Now the Jonas Brothers. You're going on tour with them. How exciting!
I am so stoked. What I've got confirmed so far are the U.S. tour dates, and it is a pretty long tour. I think it's close to 50 dates, and they keep adding more. I met them a couple years ago, and they are really great people. We've kept in contact and our paths have crossed. I am very excited to go on tour with them. It'll expose me to a whole bunch of other fans.
Are you ready for the romance rumors to start? Because you know they are going to.
That is so funny, because I have had so many people tell me that, and I am like, "Oh great, here we go." It is really funny but I am ready…Bring it on!
So which one would you prefer to have the rumor with?
I don't know, because I think it would be scandalous on either side, because I think Kevin and Joe are taken at the moment and Nick is a lot younger than me. [Laughs]
Have you been watching American Idol? What do you think?
I have been watching and voting. I was very surprised that Alexis Grace didn't stay last week.
Who do you think will come out on top?
You know, I actually really like Adam Lambert. But there is a lot of talent this year, so it's pretty hard. I haven't just voted for one person. I tend to vote for, like, seven people.
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