John Foster ended Season 23 of American Idol as runner-up behind Jamal Roberts, and he’s not looking to let the momentum slow down anytime soon. Following the Sunday, May 18, finale, the teenager already has plans for what’s next.

First and foremost, he’s going to be promoting his first single, “Tell That Angel I Love Her,” which he wrote about his late friend Maggie Dunn, who was killed in a car accident. “I’m going to push that out as much as possible,” Foster tells TV Insider. “I think it gives people a great idea of who I am as a writer. I wrote that song by myself. It gives people a good glimpse of who I am as an artist and as a writer.”

On top of that, he’s ready to hop in the studio to record his first full album. “I love being in the studio,” he admits.

Meanwhile, ABC usually looks to its Bachelor franchise to search for Dancing With the Stars contestants, but the show’s also had a lot of country crooners on it. Would Foster be interested in checking out the dance competition series? “I never really thought about that,” he says. “I’ll you this – it’s certainly not a no.”

On the more immediate front, Foster is looking forward to being reunited with his dog. “I’ve been missing my dog and so I’m super excited to get back home,” he says with a big smile.

Foster kept his head held high after Ryan Seacrest announced Roberts as the winner. “I’m extremely happy to be here,” he adds. “It’s been such an incredible season. The talent this year has been incredible. To think that I’m No. 2 out of 120,000 [contenders] and out of the Top 24? I mean the Top 24 [this season] were the most incredible 24 I’d ever seen in my life.”

Disney/Christopher Willard

Unlike Foster, who learned his ranking in the last minutes of the show, third place finisher Breanna Nix found out her fate much earlier into the three-hour finale. Does that make things easier or more difficult? “I don’t know,” she says. “I feel like God has ordered every single step that I took on this show, and I feel like it was meant to be this way. I just felt in my stomach that I was going to be the first one out and God just gave me peace.”

Judge Carrie Underwood predicted that country crooner Foster might just win the competition, but Nix says she saw victory coming to Roberts weeks ago.“I heard [Jamal] singing during the first round in Hollywood,” Nix recalls, “and I’ll never forget the feeling that came over me. I thought, ‘He’s going to be the winner. He’s going to win.’”

The stay-at-home mom didn’t know Roberts at this point, but she went over to him, introduced herself, told him her predication, and asked if she could put it on video. “I said, ‘You’re going to win American Idol, dude, and I want to be the one who called it,’” she reveals.

Nix adds that she’ll only post the video with Roberts’ permission. “I said to him [after he won], ‘You remember that video I took,’” she shares. “He’s like, ‘I remember, Breanna.’”

The American Idol history annals have successful singers (Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken) in it who did not come in first. That fact is not lost on either Nix or Foster. “I just feel like I’ve already won,” Nix says. “I’ve learned a lot about myself and I’ve grown in so many different areas. I’ve had my first song [“Higher”] come out. That’s such a surreal moment for me. There are so many doors that have opened in just a short amount of time. I’m really excited.”

So, would she like to return to American Idol as either a judge or a mentor someday? “I would love to be a judge,” she says. “A mentor – anything! American Idol will always and forever have a big special place in my heart.”

Nix and Foster are philosophical about their placement in the competition series, both incredibly grateful to have made it to the finale.

“I feel really good,” Nix says. “I’m ready to get out there, tour, and start celebrating.”

“Please be confident in who you are as an artist,” says Foster, offering advice to future contenders. “Never accept failure as a final defeat. Never accept defeat. Do not be discouraged. This is the beginning.”