Chikezie Eze, we can all agree, appears to be a good guy.  The man always looked like he was having fun, was energetic in all of his performances and was probably the biggest over-achiever on this season of American Idol.  In a conference call for the press today, Chikezie discussed his time on American Idol, and he had no regrets.  Listening to him speak, one got the sense that Chikezie relished every moment on the Idol stage and decided to approach the show in a unique way – he didn't worry about winning, or pleasing the judges, but just having a good time and putting on a show.  These are the highlights from the American Idol conference call. 

Chikezie had no clue about how the judges would respond to how he performed both of The Beatles tunes.  He was happy with how they turned out, and would not have changed a thing if he had it over again.  Chikeze decided to drop the last name only because people always pronounced his last name incorrectly.  Hint: it doesn't rhyme with Chikezie.  He was planning on singing “9 to 5” next week for Dolly Parton week.  He tends to wear his heart on the sleeve, hence the smiles all the time.  He's not unhappy right now – he says that he was happy he didn't have to see any of the other singers get eliminated. 

He says he learned from American Idol that hard work pays off.  He received a ton of great advice from all the vocal coaches and the band.  He's not upset at all with his song choice from Tuesday, and he says that he did it his way and followed his heart.  He wouldn't have liked to have gone home having sang something he wasn't feeling solid about.  He wants to record a bunch of different types of  music, he likes the idea of fusion.  He mentions Gnarles Barkley.  Chikezie has never attended a concert.  As for his stage presence, Eze says that he just did what he felt. 

He made his song choices by listening to all of the songs, and seeing which songs he could change and make his own.  He says there were a lot of songs that he didn't feel good about changing, so he'd leave those alone.  Five of the songs that were sung on 80's night were from his year of birth, which very much dwindled his options this week.  He didn't particularly care about the judges' criticisms this week.  He knew the second he picked the song that Simon wouldn't like it.  HE says that the singers all became something of a family over the course of the season.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)