After an Elton John-themed night of American Idol, the remaining 11 contestants sat down with reporters to discuss the previous week and the night’s performances.
On the judges using their save last week:
Casey Abrams: I think I just lost color in my skin and the fact I was just shaking and I dropped the microphone and this … I didn’t know what to do, there were a lot of F-bombs there; I was really scared.
Stefano Langone: Well, me and Casey were in the bottom together, so me and him … when I hugged him, I said, “You know … you and me, you know you can do this if anybody can get that spot being let through by the judges, it’s you.” He’s like, “No. They’re not going to give it out.” And I’m like, “Stop that!”
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Casey: He slapped some sense into me.
Stefano: And I was really getting into him because he kept on doubting and doubting. And I’m sitting there going, “Don’t you start! You got this. Get on that stage and kill it, just kill it.” And it was scary for me because I thought that there’s no way that he’s in the bottom so in my mind, I’m already getting ready, I’m completely sure that Ryan was going to say my name.
On their makeovers for the show:
Pia Toscano: I definitely like the whole hair, makeup, the clothes … the glitz and the glam stuff is really cool. And I think if you feel good about yourself when you go out onstage, it just makes your performance that much better. Cause you feel like a superstar.
Haley Reinhart: Even when we’re rehearsing some of the times, they’re always different, some of them I don’t feel so hot about, and I’m like, “You know what guys? Don’t worry about it, once I get my dress on and I’m on a piano laying down, everything comes together.” The magic happens once you’re all dolled up and stuff.
Lauren Alaina: I love it, I love to get my hair done ’cause it takes me a long time, and when someone else does it it’s much easier.
Casey: I was actually kind of scared about it because I feel like this beard is who I am. It’s still here but I just wanted to see my head. I felt like I was a big bear and I just wanted to see if I actually had a face so I’m happy I do.
Lauren on her song choice of “Candle in the Wind”:
Lauren: It’s just talking about Marilyn Monroe and I have a million pictures of her in my room. I love her and she’s beautiful. And the song talks about how she let what people said about her swallow her up a little bit and in this business that we’re in a lot of people are going to say a lot of things. I just like the song.
Haley on her song choice of “Benny and the Jets”:
Haley: It’s so weird; I’m surprised nobody picked it. I mean it’s in “27 Dresses” and I know all the young ladies would love that. It’s a crowd pleaser I feel and the song I grew up with it. It just kind of came to me, as I was telling my folks back in Chicago about it and it came on … OK. And I was telling another friend out here about it and it came on and I caught the end of the song, like OK. I just believe in different parallels and things like that. I just felt like I could do different stuff with the song. I started it off my own way, took it a little slower jazzier and then I could switch it up and make it more rockier towards the end and I like to show a lot in one thing so I’m glad that I stuck with it. It was fun.
Stefano on his father looking like Howie Mandel:
Stefano: He gets that at home all the time, I was watching that on a screen on the back. It’s crazy how similar they look, man … my dad’s a good-looking man though, huh? At first you’re like, “Oh wow,” then it’s “OH WOW, they really do look a lot alike.” It’s crazy. It was fun for my dad, and my dad is good on the spot like that. I’m sure he had a good time tonight. I haven’t talked to him yet; he loves that kind of stuff.
On negative feedback on the Internet:
Stefano: I don’t read it, some tweets maybe but if you go outside of that you’re destined to find some nasty stuff about yourself. It brings your spirits down.
Naima Adedapo: Some people say nasty stuff on my Twitter but I respond to them. I know I had a bad night with Tina Turner, and one guy was like, “Naima was the worst!” so I tweeted back, “Yeah, I sure was, thanks for the critique.” But what happened was like he realized I was still human … and then he was like “Oh, but you can do a good job next week.”
