Last night, after the American Idol Top 8 took on the songs of the Motor City–with varying degrees of success–Devin Velez, Burnell Taylor and Lazaro Arbos discused their disastrous group number with The Hollywood Reporter.
After Lazaro forgot his words, the group performance of “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honeybunch) went quickly downhill. After judge Nicki Minaj gave the boys a tongue lashing–going so far as to order all of them off the stage–Devin and Burnell were quick to cover their own asses.
“I did what I was supposed to do. I ain’t throwing anybody under the bus…this is a competition,” said Burnell. Devin chimed in, “I learned my parts. I tried saving a couple of people.”
It was a pretty big mess all around.
Devin Velez was afraid the song would go south:
Speaking to the press after the show, Velez maintained that he didn’t want to “throw anybody under the bus,” but he also saw clear to have his own insurance policy that night. “I was prepared,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I knew my lines and I learned the whole song on purpose because I thought that this might happen.”
Velez described the performance as “a trainwreck,” but also contends, it “could have been worse. … We survived, though Nicki wasn’t too happy,” he said.
Burnell Taylor added “Our rehearsal went so good and I was so amped to perform. We were strong, but the minute it went downhill, we were all disappointed in ourselves as a group.”
And of course, Lazaro Arbos went straight for his go-to excuse, “I don’t like to use excuses, but at the same time, we’d never heard that song. I’ve never heard that song, and I felt we could have used more time learning the words.” You and every other finalist who has competed on the Idol stage, Lazaro. Somebody call the wambulance!
Later in the night, Burnell and Devin attempted some damage control via twitter. Burnell tweeted “We All Make Mistakes And We All Say Things We Wish We Could Take Back But? We’re All Humans.”
Devin clarified, “Today had its ups and downs, and I wasn’t trying to offend anyone. I still love my bros, @LazaroAI12 and @burnellai12.”
