While much of the TV-viewing public is thrilled that American Idol has finally reached the Top 12 portion of its season, four more contestants had to be eliminated in order to get there. Here’s what Asia’h Epperson, Kady Malloy, Luke Menard and Danny Noriega had to say about their auditions, departures and everything in between.
Asia’h Epperson, 19, Joplin, Missouri
On her father, who passed away just two days before she auditioned in Atlanta:
“You know, I’m a strong believer [that] everything happens for a reason, and I believe that God has a bigger and better plan for me–and Dad’s just getting me through all of this, keeping that in my head.”
On her favorite judge–believe it or not:
“I loved all the judges, but I have to say my favorite would be Simon–probably because everyone says he’s kind of bitter, but he does know what he’s talking about. He is a professional, and I think he gives very constructive criticism, even though he could probably word it a little bit differently sometimes. But probably him, because he’s probably the most harsh and makes you want to do the best that you can do.”[PAGEBREAK]
Kady Malloy, 18, Houston
On her desire to become a spokesperson for gay rights:
“My best friend is gay; Freddy Mercury was gay, who is my idol. I just think that you shouldn’t define somebody by their sexuality, and I think that gay people not being able to get married and things like that is like history repeating itself. I think that we need to learn from our past.”
Her advice for future contestants:
“Block the judges out while you’re performing. Don’t even think about them. They’re just three opinions. In the end, they’re just three opinions, and be true to yourself.”
On the judges’ feedback:
“Whenever the judges talked to me, I tuned them out after the first night, because they’re only three opinions, honestly, and they’re no more important than anybody that’s walking on the street today. Because when it comes to music, everybody’s opinion is equal to me.”[PAGEBREAK]
Luke Menard, 29, Crawfordsville, Indiana
On his wife’s own TV success:
“I was at a taping of American Idol. It was when the girls were singing, so [my wife] wasn’t able to come to the show, so she and my sister decided to go to Price Is Right downstairs at CBS, and she got on. They called her up. She was the last contestant to come up, and she won the bid to come up on the show. She played a game and she won three big prizes.”
On the story that broke last week about fellow contestant David Hernandez’s stripper past:
“I don’t think it does as much as people may think on the outside. It’s something that the news makes a big deal out of, and we’re so busy and concentrated and focused on the inside of American Idol that personally, I wasn’t even thinking about it. I was thinking about my performance and what I can do to keep myself on the show. So personally, it really didn’t have an impact on myself.”
On tuning out Internet chatter–good or bad:
” was advised to not even listen to what anyone had to say online, whether it’s good or bad, and I did that. I did have some family members that would try to leak to me what people were saying online about me, and I would stop them right away and say I don’t want to hear it. I’m here to work and to try to be the best performer that I can. Listening to all of that stuff would just mess up my stuff, so I just made a conscious effort to just not pay attention to that.”[PAGEBREAK]
Danny Noriega, 18, Azusa, California
On his vulgar rap video circulating the Internet:
“That’s something that is so forever ago that I used to do. It was almost like another person ago. That’s when I was younger. It was more like an acting thing. I used to do personalities and things like that. I’m actually shocked that they used that one. There’s more interesting ones, but it’s more of an acting little show that I used to put on for YouTube and things.”
On his bond with fellow contestant Ramiele Malubay, who was shown sobbing when Noriega was eliminated:
“She and I are like best friends right now. We started talking at the end of Hollywood Week and we grew to be really close. I actually just talked to her right now, and yes, we’re just really close. We have a lot in common. She’s my little twin.”
On inspiring others:
“I really love the little fan letters that I’m getting from these little kids that are telling me that they admire me. Like this 11-year-old little boy wrote me, and they’re telling me they admire me for being myself, and I showed them that you can be different and still be successful on American Idol. They said that it’s cool, that they never saw that before, and I’d really like to inspire those little kids that think that they can’t do anything because they’re different in certain ways–whether it’s sexuality or their race or anything like that. It’s fine to be yourself and be successful. I think that’s the kind of message I want to send out.”
