Rae Boyd and Brooks Rosser had the ultimate relationship hard-launch during the live April 20 episode of American Idol. After weeks of fan speculation, the Season 24 couple confirmed they were an item when Rae surprised her man on stage following his Top 9 performance.

Now, Rae is dishing to Swooon all about how the romance began and how that epic hard-launch came to be.

“I’m not going to divulge quite everything, but I will say we met in the auditions,” Rae reveals. “We were on the same audition day, so we were fast friends. We got really close very, very fast. We live very close to each other. So that’s kind of how it all started. There was a lot of time between then and the Live Shows.”

Rae and Brooks are both from Maryland and spent time together before heading to Los Angeles for the American Idol Live Shows at the end of March. While Rae admits she’s not entirely ready to share when the relationship turned from platonic to romantic, she confirms her status with Brooks was “kept a secret” from the rest of the Season 24 finalists.

“Nobody knew, but it’s the same thing as the fans … they were all kind of like, ‘Are they dating?’” she shares. “Everyone kind of shipped us or whatever. But we kept it secret.”

Scroll down for more from her chat with Rae, including behind-the-scenes details about the hard launch, what’s next in her career and relationship, and more.

Swooon: How did you decide that last week was the right time to hard-launch?

Rae Boyd: After I got eliminated [on April 14], that’s when everyone found out. We’ve made friends with everyone in the Idol family – the contestants, the producers, everyone. So when they found out we were dating, they were like, “Oh my gosh, this is so fun and exciting.” So everyone just got excited about it. There’s so much negativity in the world, so when there’s a love story, it’s like … everyone just wants to hear about it and highlight that stuff. Everyone was super excited about it. We were excited about it. When you have a partner, I feel like you just want to shout out to the world that you’re together. We weren’t able to do that for a little while, so after we were like, “Finally! We can tell the world.” We were kind of already telling the world a little bit …

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Swooon: The fans were onto you a little bit with your Instagram posts. Were you surprised that they figured it out?

Rae: Our fans are smart, so I’m not surprised, but they were onto us. They love us, and I love it. I’m all for it. They are so sweet and so kind and so supportive of us.

Swooon: Was it your idea to surprise Brooks on the show last week, or did someone approach you about it?

Rae: It was kind of everyone. We were all planning stuff. He didn’t know I was going to come to surprise him, but we were all planning the “hard-launch” and how we were going to do it on the show and give the fans what they wanted. It was kind of a last-minute thing, but I was really close to the area, and it was a way to see my man again!  It was really fun and turned out to be one of the most special nights ever. It was just so fun. It was great.

Swooon: Have you gotten a chance to meet each other’s family and friends yet?

Rae: I’ve met all of the contestants’ families! We are not going slow, me and all the contestants. I feel like I’ve met all of these contestants’ extended families and distant cousins. We all know each other so well, so by proxy, [Brooks and I] met each other’s families and stuff. That’s why all the contestants are so close. We know each other’s everything.

Swooon: Do you think you’ll record any music together?

Rae: For sure. We will, I’m sure me and all the other contestants … I’ve made so many close relationships with these people that we’re 100% sharing stages together and recording stuff, so look out, guys.

Swooon: What else are you looking forward to career-wise after this?

Rae: I have a lot of different things. Once you get off the show, that’s when the work starts, and stuff starts to happen. I have my personal music career I’m working on. I’m working on some projects as far as music goes. I have some shows that are in the works here where I live, so that will be exciting. I am also just going to say this now: I’ve always manifested, even before I went on the show. Broadway was a huge manifestation for me, so everyone just put it out into the world. Speak it into existence. Things might be happening. I’m manifesting any avenue of anything.

Swooon: Will you be getting into the studio and writing music?

Rae: Yeah, I’ve been working in the studio and working on a particular project. I’ve never really been able to or been given a platform to work on my artistry, and Idol has 100% given me that opportunity and that ability to. It was so funny, I was on the plane home, and it’s just like … this whole entire concept just came into my head, and now I’m able to bring it to life.

Swooon: What are you looking forward to with the relationship once this slows down?

Rae: Just to, I guess, be in a normal relationship. Just living. And we both have our careers to look forward to, so staying focused in that regard.

American Idol, Season 24, Mondays, 8/7c, ABC

Source: swooon.com