Idol Q&A
12 To Go
Chatting with the new ''American Idol'' finalists -- learn which past Idols inspire them, what each wants to sing, and how they think they could be helped by a makeover
''I think if we ever get the perfect Top 12, it won't be American Idol, will it?'' —Simon Cowell
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20007164_20008533_20014688,00.html
Perfect or not, EW.com caught up with all the Idol finalists at the Top 12 party Thursday night at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. We learned the songs they still want to sing, the parts they'd most like to make over, and their past Idol inspirations. But which musical heavyweight does Simon most wish would be Idol-ized? ''Well, we'll just make it really difficult for the bad singers,'' he grins. ''We'll do Pavarotti night, and they'll have to deal with that.''
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: There are a lot of theme nights coming up. Any you're looking forward to? Any you're not looking forward to?
CHRIS SLIGH : I'm looking forward to Bon Jovi week, if I can make it that far. Diana Ross is going to be tough, because she had this weird range, about seven or eight notes, and that's about it. So it's really hard to, like, rock out to Diana Ross, you know what I'm sayin'?
STEPHANIE EDWARDS : Diana Ross. I love ''Baby Love, ''Ain't No Mountain High Enough,'' and ''You Are So Beautiful.''
MELINDA DOOLITTLE: Tony Bennett. I love classics and standards. I'm also looking forward to Diana Ross. I'd take almost any song that the Supremes have done, as long as I can do the movements — probably ''Stop in the Name of Love.''
PHIL STACEY: I'm looking forward to the Tony Bennett night. I remember hearing him sing ''I Left My Heart in San Francisco'' when I was a kid and thinking, ''Man, I want to be Tony Bennett.''
BLAKE LEWIS: Tony Bennett. I have a [music] improv background, so if I can work with that man, that'll be just, man, awesome.
CHRIS RICHARDSON: I would love to make it to the inspirational week. For me, Diana Ross week is strenuous because Diana Ross is a woman and the Supremes were all women, and it's hard to make a woman's song a man's song, but you can do it.
JORDIN SPARKS: Being so young, J.Lo, Gwen Stefani, they're current, but everybody else [coming on] my parents knew growing up — they're idols to them. I can't wait; I'm excited! I can't wait to meet them!
LAKISHA JONES: It's going to be a challenge for me, because I'm used to just listening to only the music that I like. I'm like [after hearing there will be a British Invasion week], I've never listened to British music in my life. I was like, black girl singing British, oh my God, hold on — how am I gonna pull that off? How am I gonna feel that? I've just got to grab it and get a good song.
Any song you haven't sung yet, or haven't gotten cleared yet, that you really want to perform?
HALEY SCARNATO: '' Songbird'' by Eva Cassidy.
BRANDON ROGERS: ''Crazy'' by Gnarls Barkley.
MELINDA DOOLITTLE: Donnie Lane's ''It's Not Over,'' Vivian Green's ''Keep On Going,'' and a James Brown song called ''Bewildered.''
BLAKE LEWIS: ''Hide and Seek'' by Imogen Heap, I kind of want to do that, with strings or maybe a capella.
SANJAYA MALAKAR: ''Are You Going To Be My Girl'' [by Jet] — I really wanted to sing that song because it would be really fun to just rock out, but I doubt it'll ever get cleared.
LAKISHA JONES: ''I Will Always Love You'' by Whitney Houston. Yes, definitely. Man, I want to do that one a cappella.
JORDIN SPARKS: ''Harder to Breathe'' by Maroon 5.
GINA GLOCKSEN: ''Who Knew'' by Pink, but she doesn't clear her songs.
CHRIS SLIGH: I actually tried to do one of my own songs, and they felt like the show wasn't ready for it yet. When we get down to, I think, the final three, you get to sing your own choice. I'd love to be able to do my own song at that point. Hopefully America will love me enough to be ready for it. I also wanted to do ''Hysteria'' by Muse and ''City of Blinding Lights'' by U2, but neither one of those got cleared.
PHIL STACEY: Whatever song it is that wins the competition for the winner [of American Idol].
Is there something about your appearance you'd like to make over, or definitely don't want to touch?
STEPHANIE EDWARDS: I want to cut my hair even shorter than it is. And color it red. Do something radical.
GINA GLOCKSEN: I want to chop off my hair. I said that from Day One. I've always wanted short hair.
SANJAYA MALAKAR: [Gesturing to his hair, with a huge grin] I think it would be really fun to just shave it off! I don't know if it's smart, but I think it would be really, really fun to just see people's reactions.
HALEY SCARNATO: I'm up for anything, but I don't want any crazy colors. [Laughs] So nothing, like, too drastic.
BLAKE LEWIS: Definitely not. I came here with my own style, just being me. No one's telling me what to do. Everything you see here are all my own clothes.
CHRIS RICHARDSON: I don't want to change anything, I am who I am and they might want to change something but I just want to stay true to myself.
BRANDON ROGERS: I like me just the way I am... and nobody's changing my hair.
CHRIS SLIGH: I've lost about 30 pounds since Hollywood. So I'm trying to look better. Obviously, TV is a visual medium, and I understand that. I'd want to keep [my hair] a little longer. I don't want to go in the same direction that Justin Guarini did, but I think we're going to look at making it fall a little bit more and making it a little more rock star.
PHIL STACEY: I'd pretty much be down for whatever, if they start putting wigs on my head, that kind of thing. It's fun. We'll see. You never know.
JORDIN SPARKS: [Takes hold of a ringlet of hair] I think they're going to straighten it, and they might do some extensions with different colors. Like, Gina — I love her hair! I don't want to be Gina, but I want hair like that. Maybe some pink and some red, and I might throw some green or blue in there if I'm feeling like it! [Laughs.]
The judges all agreed that, at most, four guys deserved to be in the Top 12, and yet the show kept its six guys, six girls split. What do you think about that?
PHIL STACEY: The girls have been roasting us to date. I may be the only guy that acknowledges that. What I do see is that we're a bunch of guys who want to step up. We've got the talent, and I think that the audience has seen that in us — that's why they come out disappointed every week, because they know we've got it inside us. We're going to show it next week; we're bringing it.
BLAKE LEWIS Honestly, I think we've been doing a good balance. They've been bashing us, but we go first and then the girls follow the next night. Now that we're all together, it's going to be a whole different story.
CHRIS SLIGH: I think [the judges] say a lot of things for ratings. Cracking on the guys all the time. It's tough to hear because I felt a lot of those guys went out, put their butts in gear, and sang their hearts out. It's just different; we're not LaKisha. We're not Melinda. We're not going to go out there and do the same things that they do. I think it's an unfair comparison.
BRANDON ROGERS: I think that the guys are getting a bad rap. No disrespect to any previous season, but I think that this is the best set of guys as a whole that have ever been on the show. I'm biased of course; I'm one of them.
STEPHANIE EDWARDS: I think that a lot of really good girls went home because they unfortunately had to cut two girls, two guys a week. It's just how the show is set up, those are the rules. I know they can't change it, but they need to work on that. They really do.
GINA GLOCKSEN: I guess it's fair, but I personally think that if it [didn't have to be] six guys and six girls, that the girls would override the guys this year. There are a lot of girls that went home this year that I think should still be here.
Do you remember the first song you sang in front of an audience?
JORDIN SPARKS: Oh Lord have mercy! My mom just found a video of me singing ''April Showers'' at my school when I was 9.
LAKISHA JONES: Probably ''Amazing Grace,'' at church.
PHIL STACEY: I'm a pastor's kid. I learned the children's church songs really early. I've actually got pictures — American Idol might even show them — where I'm singing ''Jesus Loves the Little Children'' or one of those songs in front of a big church when I was like two or three years old.
GINA GLOCKSEN: When I was 7 years old I sang ''I Just Can't Wait to Be King'' in my garage. My uncle's an entertainer and he started playing and he said, ''Gina come over here and sing this.'' He recorded it and played it back and every one was like, that's really good.
CHRIS SLIGH Yeah, I sang ''His Eyes On A Sparrow'' when I was 8 years old for my dad in church. I forgot the words, and my dad told me I shouldn't sing anymore. [Laughs]
Which contestants from Idols past would you most like to emulate?
GINA GLOCKSEN: Kelly Clarkson, I don't think that anyone thought she could win until week five, and she just brought it. She's a rocker girl, but still the girl next door; she's beautiful and really grounded. That's what I really hope doesn't change for me. I really want to stay the person that I am.
LAKISHA JONES: I think I relate more to Fantasia , because she is a single mom, she has probably been through a lot of struggles that I have been through.
SANJAYA MALAKAR: I think Fantasia is amazing . I think she puts her soul into her performance, and I would love to be able to do that.
CHRIS RICHARDSON: Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, I'm a big fan of Elliott [Yamin]. But for me I still listen to Kelly Clarkson in the car, I roll down the windows and blast it! I'm a man, I can admit it.
BRANDON ROGERS: Elliot has a beautiful voice, a phenomenal sounding voice, and Chris Daughtry has got that great voice and was always himself.
JORDIN SPARKS: George Huff, because I loved him and he smiles all the time and was so excited! I love that about him! I love Mandisa because she was so comfortable in her own skin, along with Jennifer Hudson because she's so amazing and she's risen to the top.
CHRIS SLIGH: I actually tried to do one of my own songs, and they felt like the show wasn't ready for it yet. When we get down to, I think, the final three, you get to sing your own choice. I'd love to be able to do my own song at that point. Hopefully America will love me enough to be ready for it. I also wanted to do ''Hysteria'' by Muse and ''City of Blinding Lights'' by U2, but neither one of those got cleared.
Imagine that, Bono wants to use AI as a stage to further his pet projects but doesn't want to let AI use his songs!
Just another reason for me not to watch that week.
LAKISHA JONES: It's going to be a challenge for me, because I'm used to just listening to only the music that I like. I'm like [after hearing there will be a British Invasion week], I've never listened to British music in my life. I was like, black girl singing British, oh my God, hold on — how am I gonna pull that off? How am I gonna feel that? I've just got to grab it and get a good song.
I guess she has never listened to the Beatles. Possible I guess. But, won't someone explain to her that she doesn't need to sing it with a British accent? I'm beginning to be a little disappointed with her. What's to pull off? Words are words and feelings are feelings.
LAKISHA JONES: ''I Will Always Love You'' by Whitney Houston. Yes, definitely. Man, I want to do that one a cappella.
What about this? A capella? Is that a good idea? Is the song choice a good idea, regardless of it being Whitney?
I think Lakisha needs to show some versatility and doing another Whitney song in my opinion, isn't going to help, BUT, could the a capella version help?