Exclusive Interview: Cody Fry on His Latest Album, 'Flying,' and What He Learned on 'American Idol'

Cody Fry might be familiar to some, as a one-time contestant on American Idol, but Fry has many more gifts than just singing. Fry, who grew up in a musical family, is also a gifted songwriter, composer and orchestrator -- talents he used for other artists, before deciding to focus his abilities on his own work.

The result is his latest album, Flying, with Fry scoring and arranging all 14 songs on the record.

"I grew up in a pretty musical family," Fry tells PopCulture.com. "My dad is actually a composer and writes for orchestras, all over the world, so I kind of grew up with that in the blood. It's always been a bucket list for me to be able to use an orchestra on one of my own projects, because I do orchestrating for other artists, but never for myself. So this was kind of a moment where I said, 'All right. Let's just figure this out.' And it felt like the songs that came out on this album really worked well with the orchestration set up. So it was kind of a happy coincidence that it all worked out."

Writing, scoring and arranging might be an arduous task for most artists, but for Fry, it's a way to combine his hobbies with his day job.

"It doesn't feel like work to me because I love it so much," he shares. "I spent many days in front of my computer, angrily working on music notation, and trying to figure out what the heck to write, but that's the fun part for me, just putting the work in, and knowing that on the other side, there's going to be some incredible musicians that are going to bring it to life."

Fry credits his time on American Idol with helping him become a better artist, and a more prepared performer -- skill sets he couldn't have learned as quickly anywhere else.

"It gave me so much confidence, because there's really no more stressful performing environment than performing on American Idol," Fry shares. "Because, normally, when you're an artist, you get into a venue, and you're setting up for a show, everybody who's there is working to make your show better. So if something goes wrong, the monitors don't work or whatever, they're all there to help you, and fix the mistake.

"Whereas, at American Idol, it's more like, 'We're just here to see what happens,' and you're kind of on your own," he adds. "It really does feel pretty lonely out there, and having 30 seconds to impress someone, that's just kind of a tough ask. I learned a ton, and I'm really glad I got to do it."

As Fry looks ahead to the New Year, he knows exactly what he wants to accomplish.

"I really want to start touring more," says Fry. "That's my biggest ambition in 2018. I feel like I want to get out and meet people that have found my music, and I want to play it for people, and I want to sing. I just want to get out and do it. So that's my biggest goal for 2018."

Purchase Flying on Amazon and iTunes.

Photo Credit: Instagram/CodyFry