Chris Daughtry’s MTV.com interview:
- Was he shocked? “I was pretty shocked. I didn’t see it coming, not even a little. I’m bummed, I’m disappointed, but I’m trying to see the bigger picture and see that there’s going to be bigger opportunities.”
- What was he thinking during his boot? “I was just being real. I wasn’t going to pretend to be happy about it. It was definitely a gut-wrenching moment. It didn’t feel good, but I try to look at the positive.”
- Chris’s thoughts on how Ryan delivered the news, “I thought he was building it up like people thought I was going home and then he would say, “But you can sit down” or “Chris, you’re going home … tomorrow on a private jet to go to your hometown.” But that wasn’t the case.”
- Are Idol fans ready for a rocker to win? “It’s weird because you have all these people telling you for weeks that this is your thing to win, you’re gonna win this thing. And when you have so many people telling you that, you assume this is what America wants. The only thing I can think of is everybody thought I was a shoo-in. Paula said, ‘We’ll see you in the finals.’ Everybody’s like, ‘He’s fine, we need to vote for the person we want in there with him.’ That was my downfall, in my opinion.”
- Did he speak with Katharine afterward? “No, we didn’t. Everybody was pretty speechless. I didn’t know what to say. I had the inclination that she was expecting herself to go. So she was shocked, I was shocked, America was shocked.”
- What the judges said, “Everybody was speechless. Randy was like, ‘Don’t worry about it, man. You’re gonna be fine.’ Paula was crying too much to say anything. And Simon was pretty shocked. He didn’t see this coming, and he just wished me luck and totally believes in me.”
- About his family, “They’ve done extremely well. I couldn’t ask for a better family. They always made me feel like everything was OK, so they didn’t stress me out. It’s always great to have that support. You always worry, ’cause you feel helpless. You’re not there to help out if someone’s having a bad day or something like that. It’s tough, but we made it through.”
- About the Fuel offer, “There’s going to be a flood of opportunities. I can’t really talk about them, but there are some lined up and I just have to feel out all the offers and make sure I’m doing the right thing for me. There’s a couple [big things]. At this point I have to take everything into consideration. I don’t want to make a rash consideration and regret it later. I don’t know if I’m in the position to say yes or no to anything, just because of my mindset. I have to think about it long-term and not just right now. I’m a songwriter myself, so to launch my own career would be my dream, selling out stadiums, doing my own thing.”
From Entertainment Weekly.com:
- About how he feels today, “Yeah, I didn’t expect to be doing this interview today. It’s definitely unexpected. It’s one of those things that it makes you stronger. You have to take it and run with it…Of course I’m devastated. But I’m trying to look at the bigger picture. I’m looking to see what the bigger picture is.
- More on how Ryan delivered the news, “It was a little cold. It had nothing to do with him personally. It’s a TV show. That is part of the show. It probably wouldn’t have had the same effect if he’d been like, ‘Chris, I’m sorry, buddy.’ It definitely got the reaction it deserved. Nobody expected it. I wasn’t the pick to go home. I’ve been the pick to win. I’m not trying to sound overconfident. But everyone had been telling me…even the judges said it was going to be a Chris-and-Taylor finale. You try not to buy into that, but when you hear it so much you think, ‘Maybe they’re right. Maybe I do have a good shot.’ My hopes were up. I was starting to see there’s an opportunity to win this thing. And then to have that happen was gut-wrenching.”
The interviewer then makes an excellent point about Ryan saying to Chris as he booted him, ” A lot of people predicted that…you could be the next American Idol”:
“I watched that moment back again and realized Ryan wouldn’t have said the line about people thinking you would win unless you were going home, because it would have been unfair to the other contestants. When he said that, did you start to think maybe something bad was about to go down?”
- Chris’s answer, “Yeah, when he said that I was like, Oh, boy. But I thought he was about to say, ”Chris, you can sit down.” I was like, Man, I can’t believe he just said that. It did not feel real at all.”
- Maybe it’s better not to be the American Idol? “Maybe. You have to think of it that way. You have to think there’s a reason for everything. When a door closes another door opens. I think there are some big doors that will open.”
- How he felt about his performances Tuesday, “I watched it back expecting to go, Maybe it wasn’t that good. Honestly, it was one of my weeks I was happiest with. I was like, That was good, and I’m really happy with that. At least I went out on a good note. What do you do? Nothing prepares you for this. I’m asking you: What do you do? I honestly feel in my heart Simon just didn’t like the second song. I don’t think it was me. It was the song.”
- About his vocal problems, “My voice was fine this week. Last week was definitely hard for me vocally. I was not 100 percent. After dress rehearsal it was perfect, but by the time I got to showtime it was just not 100 percent. This week it was vocally one of the easiest weeks I’ve had. The keys of the songs were perfect for me. The low parts? I loved it.”
- More thoughts on his elimination, “I have to look at it like maybe it was the best thing for me. It’s hard to see that now. Seriously, how do you take a big disappointment like that and smile about that? I’m not going to fake it and say I’m just happy. I’m grateful for what I was able to do, for the way the fans took to me and were so accepting of my style. But you heard the crowd’s responses. How do you go from that to being voted off? It’s a big mystery. It doesn’t make sense logically. I have to realize God has a bigger plan.”
- What he was planning to sing next week, “‘Dream On, ‘ by Aerosmith.”
- Chris is really disappointed, “I was looking forward to the private flight home to see my family and friends and have that big homecoming. A lot of plans changed in a matter of minutes last night. There are a lot of disappointed people and fans. There was floods of mail to Fox last night and today and everyone is like, ”What happened?” It could be the fact that I made the biggest shock in American Idol history that works to my benefit.”
- The kids stop doing the “kiss off” dinner after the Top 5. “I did get to hang out with Taylor and Elliott. They were just as bummed as I was. We were just talking about it. It was like therapy.”
- But they didn’t hang out with Katharine, “We all get along, but I’m sure she felt like the odd person. The only girl in a group of guys? I can’t imagine how that feels.”
- Living Arrangements, “Me and Taylor lived together. Elliott has his own place. We all hung out every night. I never went to college, but it was what I imagine college would be like, without all the bong parties. It was a cleaner version of college.”
- Was he bummed his wife wasn’t there, “Honestly, I felt like maybe it was better I didn’t have everybody there so I could just gather my thoughts. That would have probably made it so much harder on me. I can’t wait to see them. I don’t want to say I can’t wait to get back to normal life, because I don’t. I don’t want to get back to normal life. I feel like this is my life. I do belong on stage.”
- About the “Walk the Line” controversy, “It wasn’t my doing. You say a lot of things in the [pretaped] interview, and when editing gets involved, things get cut out for time constraints. I did mention in my interview that I’m doing a different version from a band I totally respect. The lead singer of Live, Ed Kowalczyk, called me to say, ”Man, don’t listen to that.” We’ve been talking a lot since. It’s really cool for me, because that’s the band that inspired me to get into music. Ed Kowalczyk is my favorite singer. It was really cool to get that kind of respect.”
- Can a rock star win American Idol? “Absolutely. I think it could have happened this year. I really do. That’s what the biggest shock is. Everyone is so floored because everyone expected me to win. People have to vote. You can’t assume someone is safe just because of the comments. That’s what it’s about is America. It has nothing to do with the judges. They put in their two cents to maybe help you or make you realize something. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn’t. It may sway the vote but it’s 100 percent on the people who are voting.”
Chris is bummed out and he ain’t gonna lie. He also thought he had a really really good chance of winning. I thought the interviewer’s point about how Ryan would have not worded the elimination the way he did if Chris was safe very true. But, with so much going on, I can see where a contestant may not latch onto that hidden meaning at the time.
