We caught up with the R&B star before his show at The Birchmere in September 2025
Ruben Studdard won the second season of American Idol in 2003, beating out runner-up and good friend Clay Aiken. Following the win, he released his debut album, Soulful, which went platinum. He has released several other studio albums spanning various genres, including gospel, R&B, and pop, including a Luther Vandross tribute album.
In 2023, he reunited with Aiken for a nationwide tour called Twenty The Tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their American Idol debut. During a break on the run, the pair joined the cast of The Masked Singer, where they were eliminated in the Group B finals of season 11. The panelists’ final guesses for their identities included other famous duos like K-Ci & JoJo and Dan + Shay, but none guessed correctly that it was the American Idol alums.
In 2023, Studdard released his eighth studio album, The Way I Remember It, which marked his first new, original music in nearly a decade. The album was preceded by several singles, including the title track, “W.I.F.E.,” and “Masterpiece.” The album showcases his “velvet” voice on a collection of songs about love, relations, and appreciation for a significant other.
Over the summer, the former Biggest Loser contestant teamed with Jim Brickman for two singles — “It’s You,” released in August, and “Where’s the Good in Goodbye,” which dropped earlier this month.
Matt Bailey caught up with Studdard backstage at the Alexandria, Virginia, stop of his Masterpiece Tour on September 11th. “The night was almost equal parts stories and music,” as Bailey reports from the show. The full interview is transcribed below.
Matt Bailey: You have two new collaborations with Jim Brickman. Tell us about them.
Ruben Studdard: I have been working on music with Mr. Briman for a minute, and he’s just a great guy. I just enjoy singing with him. I got an opportunity last year to go on tour with him for a while. I always admired his work, so it was just another one of his great songs that I got an opportunity to sing on. I’m glad that I was able to do that.
MB: You’re currently on the Masterpiece Tour. Tell us about the tour and what fans can expect when they see you on the road this year.
RS: That’s just a good time. We get an opportunity just to sing songs I like to sing. There is no kind of title to the tour, even though it’s called the Masterpiece Tour, but it’s just another way to tell people you never know what I might sing on stage, because we’re just having a good time on stage. I have a group of musicians that I’ve been playing with. My Music Director and I have been playing together since we were 18. It’s a family atmosphere for my guys. So we just have a good time.
MB: You keep it flexible by changing the setlist every show.
RS: This kind of work stays light, fresh, and fun because we aren’t in a rat race. Unlike a Broadway show, where I have to do it the same way every night, here we have the freedom to be creative and do it our own way.
MB: I love that. That makes me so excited. We’re just about to see you in about half an hour. I know it’s been a little bit since your season, but I have to know, since you went on with Clay [Aiken] for The Masked Singer, who called who? Like, did Clay call you? Did you call Clay? Was it a management thing? How did that come about as a pair?
RS: I think they just so happen to to benefit from us being on tour together because at the time that we did The Masked Singer, we were in the middle of our 20th anniversary tour, and it just made sense with all that we were doing together at the time for us to kind of like use that opportunity to promote what we’re doing around the country. You never want to lose a chance that big to put asses in the seats, and for us, it was a no-brainer. When they asked if we’d be interested in doing it together, we just tried to figure out a clever way to do it. It was perfect because the time that they wanted us was when we had our two-week break [on the tour], so it worked out perfectly.
MB: Was the reaction to the reveal what you expected?
RS: Because he and I come from reality music television, we were already cognizant of what would happen when people probably figured out that it was us. It’s definitely helpful as a duo when we were trying to promote the second half of our tour, so it was a fantastic opportunity for both of us.
MB: You call this the Masterpiece Tour. You said the name doesn’t really matter, but what made you want to call it that, because your voice is a masterpiece?
RS: I did have a single that came out on SRG that was called ‘Masterpiece’ that was released last year and I chose that name because it was like the title track to my album. We’re just painting on stage, and so we’re making our own masterpiece while we’re performing.
MB: I love that. Tell us what’s ahead.
RS: I did release a Christmas EP last year, so that is still available for people to consume. I’ll be releasing a piano album at the top of the year, so we’re looking forward to what I’m doing musically. I wanted to do a project that reflected who I was as a choir and band kid. A lot of times, you don’t really get a chance to play around with those songs that had such an impact on you musically, but I’m recording the album with my friend Jamar Jones. We have figured out a way to present material I probably wouldn’t normally sing. I think we’re doing a cover of ‘And So It Goes.’ It’s me singing and him on the piano. That was one of my favorite songs. I used to be in a group at high school called the Mixed Ensemble, and so we did an amazing arrangement of this song, but I never forgot it. That was one of the songs I wanted to do. I’m looking forward to people hearing this presentation.
