Source: People - Who knew didgeridoos and bagpipes were part and parcel to the Lennon-McCartney experience? Those musical accompaniments added to emboldened performances by the remaining top 9 American Idol contestants, who spoke to reporters about pec contests, proms and pretty much anything after Tuesday’s performance show! –Cynthia Wang
Did Crystal Bowersox come up with the idea to have a didgeridoo accompany her on “Come Together”?
Yes! “I was sitting outside one day and I was humming it and I was just humming one note and it came to me as a didgeridoo,” Bowersox says. “We work with the band very closely, we can write our own arrangements, we can add any instrument we want to; we very much have control over that, so that’s nice.”
Among Trevor, Fabio and Drake, which soap opera name does Casey James prefer?
“You know, I had never even thought about it,” James says with a laugh. “That was all behind the scenes and I found out tonight! I don’t know. ‘Drake’ sounded kind of nice!” On being named ‘performance of the night’ by the judges, James says, “It’s always nice to get compliments and that matters a lot to the voters and the audience.”
Do the contestants help screen Katie Stevens’ prom date offers?
“Big Mike wants to go to prom with me!” Stevens says. “I get Facebook messages and fan mail from people asking me. I actually got one from a guy who said, ‘I’m a senior and I really want to go out with a bang and impress all my friends. Will you go out with me? And I’m like, really? That’s how you ask a girl out to the prom? That’s why I thought my idea was great. Show me your phone bill and who has voted for me the most will go out to prom with me!”
If Michael Lynche does square off in a “pec contest” with Simon Cowell, does Simon have a chance?
Flexing his pecs with a big laugh, Lynche points to himself and says, “These are A-plus. That’s why I’m Big Mike!” He adds, “I love to have fun up there with Simon and Ryan and all of them.”
Where did Siobhan Magnus get her zipper princess dress?
“Before we went shopping with the stylist, I said to her, ‘Oh man, I wish I could just go home and get some of my vintage princess dresses. I collect them’,” Magnus says. “We went to American Vintage and one of the first things I saw, this blue dress, I have this exact same vintage dress at home in yellow! And that was the one I was thinking of, and I found it in the color I needed it, and the Beatles were playing on the radio in the store!”
How does Aaron Kelly react to the critique of “The Long and Winding Road” and how would Yoda have reacted?“I went to YouTube to research the song,” Kelly says. “I heard a couple of versions that were slightly different from the original where they slowed it down a lot but … I do agree with Simon. The only thing is I did not want to change the arrangement because you don’t want to change a good song and then have people hate you if they don’t like the way you changed it.” However, Andrew Garcia channels Yoda to offer Kelly praise: “Sing GOOD you did!”
How stunned was Tim Urban at Simon’s praise and did he really unwittingly get a Beatle haircut on Lennon-McCartney night?
“It felt really, really good,” Urban says, admitting, “as soon as I realized it was good, I almost forgot what he said! In research, I actually found a reggae version of my song and thought, God, that would be very funny if I did that again! But I decided to laugh at it instead of go there.” About his mop-top, “I realized regardless of what I had done with my hair, unless I cut it all off, they were going to make a reference to me having hair like the Beatles,” he says. “I could have had it shaggy and long and they would have said, ‘Oh, it’s like the Beatles!’”
Does Andrew Garcia think he’s corny?
“No, I don’t think I’m corny,” Garcia says. “I just had fun out there and Simon didn’t see that side of me because he doesn’t hang out with me. He’s not that privileged. D’oh! I love you Simon!”
What other songs does Lee DeWyze think bagpipes would go well with?
Says DeWyze, “I think any song done right could have a bagpipe on it! But yeah, I am confident in what I did. I definitely wouldn’t have had him up there if I didn’t think that would be cool and I enjoyed it.”
And what do the contestants think of Crystal’s prediction that best buddies DeWyze and Garcia will have ‘Danny Gokey babies’ together?
Garcia: “All I can say is, ‘Oh, goodness!”
DeWyze: “It’s funny that she says that, but Andrew is a good buddy of mine, so whatever.”
Lynche: “They say ‘good buddies,’ we say ‘girlfriends,’ but whatever!”
