Stephanie Edwards was eliminated from the Top 11 Wednesday night. On Thursday, she made the media rounds. Click on the jump to read highlights from her interviews.
From MTV:
- About being compared to Lakisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle, “The judges definitely compared me to Lakisha and Melinda, and that’s when I tried singing more ballads and big vocals. I should have stuck to what I do best, which is [to] put on a show and perform more, and not all the belting and everything. I just lost myself and never found it in time. And I was trying to please the judges and I should have pleased myself and America.”
- Was she surprised to be going home? “Just because [of] my performance from the night before, I had a feeling I was going to be in the bottom.”
- Would she have done anything differently? “I would have definitely chosen an upbeat, faster song.”
- About her lack of camera time and what she wished the viewing audience could have seen, “That I’m not as mature as they think I am. I guess I seemed pretty mature, but I’m actually kinda immature. That kinda sucked. I don’t think people got to see the goofy, fun side of me. I got compared to Fantasia, who was only 19 but very mature. I guess that’s a good thing.”
- Was there talk behind stage about Vote For the Worst and Howard Sterns attempts to keep Sanjaya Malakar on the show? “Nobody really talks about it. I didn’t even know what Vote for the Worst was. We are all good singers, so there’s not a worst. There’s no way they can tweak the results because everyone’s good.”
- About the singout that America didn’t get to see, “I did sing, it just wasn’t on camera. I wasn’t disappointed though, because I started crying towards the end and that would have been horrible for America to see that.”
From Entertainment Weekly:
- Do the judges sway America’s vote? “If you have diehard fans who are going to vote for you no matter what, the judges can’t sway them. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough fans like that, so I knew what they said would sway America. But there was nothing I could do about it. They tell you advice. They’re honest.”
- Was it unfair that the camera kept cutting to the “crying girl” while Sanjaya Malakar was singing–did it give him an unfair advantage? “I agree [yes]. But that’s just how it works. Simon pointed her out too.
- Was she deciding between two songs like some of the other contestants? “When I heard that song I was like, ”This one is it for me.” Even when I was performing, I was thinking, ”This is a great song and the judges are going to love it and America is going to love it.” I had no idea the judges were going to hate it and America was not going to vote enough.”
- Has she watched her performance back? “I haven’t watched the show back. I’ve heard it today playing in the background while I’ve done interviews. It sounded good to me.”
- About Lulu comparing Stephanie to Beyonce “It’s always nice to hear that. I love Beyoncà ©. I think she’s an awesome singer, performer, and actress. It’s okay to be compared to celebrities that are already very successful and I wouldn’t mind emulating her success. But it’s hard when you’re on a show looking for an original new artist. I don’t know if it hurt me or not.”
- What she was planning to sing next week for Gwen Stefani week, “I was deciding between three songs: ”True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper, ”Nothing Compares 2 U” by Prince, and ”MacArthur Park” by Donna Summer. I would have decided today.”
- Did friendships on the show break down along age lines? “Yes, definitely. It was me, Sanjaya, and Jordin hanging out while the other people were out drinking…Yeah, we couldn’t drink so we couldn’t go out with them. I was bored most of the time because I’m too old to have a parent but too young to do things all the adults were out doing.”
- About her style, “No, I didn’t need help from the stylist. They would pick out things and I would say if I liked it or not. My dresses always came to my knees because I didn’t want anything too short. I would let them know ahead of time that I’m not going to wear a mini-skirt or a mini-dress. I like to stay very classy. I just don’t think that’s classy to wear a little mini-skirt on stage where it’s like everyone can see under your dress. When it was Hollywood week, my Dad picked out everything I wore and it was always at least to my knees so I just kept doing that.”
- Where her parents in the audience? “My cousins were there but my parents weren’t. They were going to come out next week with my sister. But I didn’t want to talk about it anyway. I just tried not to think about it because I didn’t want to get bummed out. It’s not the end of the world. It’s just the end of me being on American Idol.”
