On the biggest day in Fantasia Barrino's nineteen years -- May 26th, the day she was named the third-season winner of American Idol -- the High Point, North Carolina, native ended her night like she would any other: watching the Shrek DVD with her two-year-old daughter, Zion.

"She doesn't really understand what's happening," Barrino says. "All she knows is that Mommy was on a TV show called Idol, and she knows that I'm a lot busier than I used to be."

Barrino seems worn out after giving dozens of interviews and jetting back and forth between Los Angeles and New York. During the few hours she had before performing at a fashion-awards show, the lanky single mom is getting the star treatment at Edris, a chichi salon in Manhattan's meatpacking district. "Back home, people are going into the salon where my hairdresser works, saying, 'I want the Fantasia,'" she says while waiting for the bleach on her eyebrows to work its magic. "What's the Fantasia?"

On Tuesday, Barrino will release a single featuring "I Believe" (co-written by former Idol contestant Tamyra Gray) and her rendition of "Summertime" and "Chain of Fools." Then, on July 14th, she will go on the road for a fifty-one-date American Idol arena tour with ten of this season's finalists. During the tour, Barrino plans to squeeze in studio time for her debut album, which her label, J Records, hopes to release this fall.

Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson all enjoyed Number One debuts for their albums, and Barrino should be no exception. But this particular Idol winner has already distinguished herself as not just a reality-TV star but a musical talent as well. Her raspy voice, buoyant stage presence and confidence were consistently praised by judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, who told her that she "didn't need this show." When her label's head, Clive Davis, BMG North America's chairman and CEO, appeared as a guest judge on May 16th, he told Barrino that if he had seen her perform in a basement in Kansas, he would have signed her on the spot.