American Idol named its Top 12 last night, with four singers coming oh-so-close but ultimately falling just a bit short.  Danny Noriega, Asiah Epperson, Luke Menard and Kady Malloy were all sent home during Thursday's American Idol Results Show.  None of the eliminations were much of a surprise and it's safe to say that, even if any of these four had made the Top 12, none of them had any sort of chance at winning the entire thing.  That being said, I felt that both Danny and Kady have the potential to be minor stars in their own right.  Those two were hurt by poor song choices and the inability to find their niche quickly enough.  Asiah has a good voice, but it's nothing special.  Luke, I'm sad to say, probably won't be heard from again.  He's a good guy, though.  All four eliminated singers took questions during a series of conference calls earlier today, and I was there to jot down the highlights.

Asiah Epperson says that she was only a little surprised by her elimination last night.  She had an idea that she'd be heading home.  She says that her favorite judge on American Idol was Simon, though she loved them all.  She says that Simon was her favorite because he's a professional and that he really does give constructive criticism.  Again, Asiah says she has no problems being pegged as a second rate Whitney Houston.  She'll take that any time.  She talks a little about how her father passed away just days before her first audition, and how that it wasn't going to stop her because she knew her dad would want her to go on.  In the future, Asiah sees herself doing all sorts of things -acting, singing, and modeling.  Had she gotten through to next week, Asiah was going to sing a hip/hop and R&B flavored version of The Beatles' “Can't Buy Me Love.”  That would have been pretty cool, actually.  She says she stole an old DJ Jazzy Jeff beat.  Jazz can't be happy to miss out on that royalty check. 

Kady Malloy admits that she wasn't surprised that she didn't make the Top 12.  Kady says she never understood what Simon was saying about her lack of personality on stage.  She talks about her song choices.  Her first song, “Groovy Kind of Love,” was not her first choice.  The Queen song was her favorite song of all time, and she thought it'd be a great song to go out on if she were eliminated.  Freddie Mercury is her idol.  She agreed that no matter what she did this week, it was going to be very difficult to please everyone.  She thought she went out with a bang.  She was a bit surprised that she wasn't featured much on Hollywood week.  She wants to open up an animal shelter, open up a camp for kids, be an advocate for gay rights and keep singing.  She admits that, overall, her stage presence is lacking.  She hasn't spent really any time on stage.  For Beatles week, she was going to sing “Here, There and Everywhere.”  Great song from Revolver.  She's a huge Beatles fan, which makes me like her even more.  She describes herself as a classic rock girl.  Overall, Kady is pretty bitter about the judges overall. 

Luke Menard is a cool dude.  He didn't think his a cappella background had any negative effect on his Idol performances, or his song choices.  He thinks that he could have succeeded more with more modern styles of music that highlighted his tenor voice.  He was advised to not read things on line, and he stayed true to that.  That's probably a good plan.  He got really close to Michael Johns and David Cook during his time on the show.  His wife, while Luke was on Idol, actually went next door and sat in the audience for The Price is Right.  She actually made it on stage and won a few prizes.  Nice!  Luke is asked his thoughts about David Hernandez's past on a stripper.  He says that he didn't even think about it, and it didn't have much of an impact on anybody.  Considering that Simon gave him no compliments and no constructive criticism, Luke basically tuned him out.  Luke was going to sing “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” for Beatles week.  He was going to slow it down, Across the Universe-style.  In the future, Luke wants to pursue some acting, maybe Broadway.

Danny Noriega says that he was a little shocked and upset after Simon called him grotesque in the first song.  He says that the video that's on the web of him is something that was so long ago, a different person ago, that he's not bothered by it.  He's actually surprised they used that video instead of other, more interesting ones that exist out there.  He knew from the beginning that he was going to be different than the other contestants.  He wasn't trying to be different, that's just who he is.  Danny says that he was told by a number of people to “tone it down.”  He didn't listen.  He wasn't sure which Beatles song he was going to choose.  He's asked point blank about his sexuality, but he declines to address it.  Danny says he was somewhat surprised by his elimination.  He says he cut his hair himself.  Danny is very close to both Kady and Ramiele. 


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