Haeley Vaughn, Michelle Delamor, John Park and Jermaine Sellers were the next round of contestants to be booted off “American Idol” and spoke about their elimination in a recent conference call. Excerpts are below.
 

Haeley Vaughn
Hometown: Fort Collins, CO
Currently Resides: Fort Collins, CO
Age: 16
Occupation: High School Student

Q: There’s been a lot of discussion about the judges giving conflicting advice.  Did you feel that that happened to you at all?

Vaughn: No, not really.  I felt like the judges had really good comments and feedback to give me, and I’ll definitely learn from it and work on the stuff that they told me to work on.

Q: What’s next for you?  Are you going to return to school or are you going to start working more on your career?

Vaughn:  I’m definitely going to keep working on my career.  I’m going to keep singing and hopefully, doors will open up for me.  I’m a really big fan of Disney and Disney Channel.  So hopefully, there’s something there that I can work on and I’m just going to keep working on my career and doing what I love to do.

Q: Kara had said a comment to you about taking a year and really seasoning your voice.  How did you react to that?  What were your thoughts when she said that to you?

Vaughn: Yes, I kind of agreed with her.  I think that more experience and more time working on my vocals would be good. I think experience is always better for someone, especially since I’m only 16, and this is the first really big thing that I’ve done ever.

I’ve never performed in front of millions of people before.  I’ve never even performed in front of 100.  And so, I think it’s always good to get more experience and work on the things that I need to work on.

Q: I know that you said that you wanted to be a country artist and I was just surprised that you didn’t actually pick any country songs during these past two weeks.  Why was that?  Did you just want to show them that you were more versatile?

Vaughn: Yes.  The songs I chose, I made them kind of pop country, and so that was my whole thing.  I wanted to not have to sing Martina McBride every week just because I wanted to be a country artist.  When Carrie Underwood was on her season, she didn’t sing only country songs.  She was very versatile and she chose songs of different genres and she made them fit her country style and that was my whole thing that I did, too.

Michelle Delamor
Hometown: Miami, FL
Currently Resides: Miami, FL
Age: 22
Occupation: Retail

Q: One of the things that really stuck out that struck me about you is your great stage presence.  You look like a star up on stage.  How do you think you developed that?  Because it’s something that some of the other contestants really could improve on.

Delamor: You know what?  I think it’s just because I’ve been singing on stage since I was about five years old, mostly at church, though.  But that’s been my platform and my playground, really, just practicing onstage at church so I definitely think that’s helped me -- and doing gigs.  I do a lot of gigs back at home.

Q: Can you talk to us about how Crystal (Bowersox) is doing?  And what was the reaction, your reaction, and sort of everyone’s when you found out that she was going to the hospital?

Delamor: You know what, I’m not too sure of Crystal’s health.  I just know that she seemed fine when I saw her.  She seemed pretty healthy.  So yes, I just, I wish her the best.  It was -- everybody just wants everyone to be healthy, and we were all concerned, but I’m just happy to see that she’s healthy now.

Q: It was almost like (Kara) totally turned on you … were you a little shocked to see she was praising you at first, and all of a sudden, she was like (your performance) wasn’t as good as (she) thought?  Was that a big blow or how did you feel after her being on your side 100% after your performance?

Delamor: You know what, it was a little bit disappointing, but knowing myself, I’m really a perfectionist and I know that I didn’t do my best.  I know Wednesday was not close to my best performance.  So I understood where she was coming from.  I was a bit disappointed that she had those things to say, but I couldn’t really—I couldn’t say that she was wrong for it because it wasn’t my best performance. 

Q: What are your plans (now)?

Delamor: I’m actually staying in L.A.  I’m going to do everything that I can to make something big come out of this.  I feel like I’ve come this far and I know that I was made to do something big with music so I’m not going to give up and you guys will see me one day doing something big, I promise.

John Park
Hometown: Northbrook, IL
Currently Resides: Evanston, IL
Age: 21
Occupation: University student

Q: Simon made his comment that your band was going to get its lead singer back, and I certainly thought that it was unnecessary.  And I was wondering if you thought it was unnecessary.  There’s a difference between giving feedback and criticism and then just being downright mean.

Park: Well, he is basically saying that I might go home this weekend.  He, of course, dramatizes so that people at home watch it and they can get a kick out of it.  I mean, I don’t really mind it because I understand where he’s coming from.  That’s just how he is on TV and after the elimination happened and I sang my last song, he came up to me and he shook my hand and he said good job for coming this far.  And so he’s not that mean a guy actually.

Q: There was a lot of talk (about) you online as being one of the favourites early on in the early rounds and in Hollywood Week.  What do you think happened when you reached the Top 24?  Do you think it was song choice, nerves? 

Park: I think it was mostly -- yes, song choice and nerves.  I definitely got distracted by the cameras and the fact that the judges were going to criticize me in front of 30 million people.  …I think that kind of took away from my concentration on just singing the song honestly … I couldn’t do my best to interpret the song my own way.

Q: What are your plans now?

Park: I’m going to head back to Chicago and see what kind of open doors there will be for me … just kind of wait it out and probably go back to school this upcoming quarter, which is happening in about two weeks.  So I’ll just take some time off to decompress.

And (also) think about is performing really what I want to pursue?  And of course, that will change as I get different offers from different people.  Yes, so everything is really up in the air.  But basically, I want to finish school at some point and pursue music, performance or not performance.

Q: If you were to release an album, what would you classify yourself as?

Park: I think it would be more pop, neo soul, kind of like a John Mayer, John Legend, Gavin DeGraw, kind of feel to it. 

Jermaine Sellers
Hometown: Joliet, IL
Currently Resides: Joliet, IL
Age: 27

Q: (Did you feel) at all confused by the remarks from the judges, especially since I don’t think you changed the way you were singing at all from the day of your audition until your last performance.

Sellers:  I took it the best way that I possibly could.  I mean, the thing about it is, as an artist you have to stay true to yourself … I pulled back a lot because there was a lot more that I could have done. But with me doing it the way that I did it’s like I felt like if I pulled back anymore then I would be basically whispering to them.  I’m a church singer.

Q: Are you going to pursue a music career and if so, what kind of style do you see yourself?  What kind of artist do you see yourself being?

Sellers:  I see myself being a contemporary artist.  My style is very much that what  
BeBe and CeCe Winans were years and years ago, how they sang songs like “Heaven” and “I’m Lost Without You,” and it still was marketable to where you would see it on MTV or you would see it on BET.  You would see it on basically, a show that doesn’t just show gospel stuff.  It also shows R&B stuff.  It’s that crossover market.

Q: You were very outspoken about your faith and talked a lot about that with the judges on camera.  And I was wondering if you thought that influenced anything, as far as your elimination?

Sellers:  Though I hate to say it, but yes, I do.  Because sometimes the camera could make you look more arrogant and ....  Because anybody that knows me knows that I’m like the coolest guy.  I like to make people laugh, the whole me, I honestly do … I hate it that I was made out to look like something that I’m not, but it’s television.  So I mean, I felt like every night that I went out there that I sang from my heart and the part that really messed me up the most is that I couldn’t focus because I was so scared of what was going to be said this week as far as me singing or over singing so much. 

So I just felt like the best way to prove a person wrong is by proving them wrong with, fighting them with God, letting God fight your battles so that’s why I kept throwing it out there.  And a lot of people don’t realize that with us making it this far in the competition, we haven’t really sat down and took time to actually thank God for us even making it this far.  And without him, we’ll fail.  So that’s why I kept having to throw him out there.  We don’t acknowledge him enough. 

Q: You said (you) let fear conquer (you).  Has that ever happened to you before?
 
Sellers:  I would have to say no.  I’ve always sang in church.  Since I was a little kid, I sang with Walt Whitman & the Soul Children of Chicago.  And it’s a famous children’s choir.  I did a lot with them, even doing Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, I did a Tyler Perry play, the whole nine yards.  It’s just the fact of when you are there and you have a million, over 50 million people watching you, and things, you’re so scared of what the judges are going to say to you.  You tend to lose focus.  And that focus is what you need to actually show the sincerity in your voice. 

And every night that I got out there on that stage, I was like oh, God, well, I’m pulling back right now.  I’m trying to see if they’re going to like this.  I actually took a lot of runs out.  I took a lot of riffs out.  And then, you still go up there and they still say the same thing to you.  You’re just like okay, well, God, it’s just not in your will.