Shortly after finishing runner-up in the American Idol debut season, Justin Guarini signed with RCA and believed he was on the verge of music stardom.
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In an odd twist of fate, Guarini discovered he was being dropped from his record label while watching cable television.
The 48-year-old singer recalled hearing the career-altering news on the long-running sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live."
"I stared at the TV in shock as my entire world came crumbling down around my ears," Guarini wrote in his newly released book. "Every illusion of fame, fortune, and glory fell away in an instant. Only to be replaced by the silence of loss. In that moment, the veil of my arrogance, my assumptions, and my entitlement were lifted away and I saw my life for what it had become."
"I spent months playing my sad story on repeat," he added. "I lost weight, slept more and more. And became less and less like myself. The people who loved me started to notice and worry. I was living the ghost of the life I had always dreamed of and burning money and time in equal and absurd measure."
'American Idol' Alum Reflects on Record Label Release
Guarini previously revealed that, ironically, comedian Tina Fey broke the news of his release during a weekend update on SNL.
"Tina Fey is reading the weekend update. Which tells you when it was. And she's really getting into the monologue," Guarini said in an interview in January.
"Then all of a sudden my head pops up in the picture. Right next to her face," Guarini recalled, adding that the punchline was comparing his image to Art Garfunkel.
In the same interview, he explained that after RCA dropped him, the two albums he produced between 2003 and 2005 didn't yield the fan base or critical reception he wanted.
Fresh off his second-place American Idol finish and without a record label backing him, Guarini said the losses took a toll on him.
"There have been plenty of people who've given up and failed and found other things," Guarini told Fox News Digital. "That's really wonderful. But for me, that dark place of not wanting to get out of bed. Not wanting to look at myself in the mirror. Not wanting to go out and see anything. It was just a period of isolation."
Guarani said that he no longer frets about the American Idol attempt and has returned to performing for live audiences.
