'American Idol' Exit Interview: Alexandrea Lushington
Alexandrea Lushington's American Idol elimination on Thursday (Feb. 28) was a surprise for many viewers at home and brought out a lot of emotion from her fellow contestants, none moreso than the competition's prohibitive favorite David Archuleta.
Talking with reporters, Lushington explains why Archuleta seemed so disconsolate.
"David and I, we've known each other for a long now," Lushington explains. "We were actually in the competition [Star Search] with each other four years ago. And to see each other again during American Idol was cool, kind of a coincidence as well and we've become really close friends throughout this whole experience."
She adds, "I probably would've been the same way if he would have left, but it was kind of weird because I never have seen him that emotional before. It's always sad to see somebody that you're close to leave."
While Archuleta may have been the most demonstrative, he was hardly the only contestant in tears by the end of Thursday's episode, a rarity for the early rounds of Idol.
"We have bonded a lot," Lushington explains. "It's like a huge family. We're always with each 24/7. We see each other all the time. We rehearse with each other. It's a lot of fun. We've become really good friends."
And how do you get that close to contestants you're supposed to want to be crushing?
"Sometimes we forget that we're actually on the show until it gets to the actual live show when we perform," she says. "But we try really hard to compete with not everybody else, but with just ourselves, try to stay focused on what we're going to do to better ourselves in the competition."
Other highlights from Lushington's post-elimination chat with the press:
On whether or not she was shocked by her elimination: I was kind of surprised. A lot of people were surprised. I couldn't help but hear a bunch of, 'What? What? No' in the background behind me with all of the girls. It is what it is and I enjoyed every minute of it. I don't regret anything. A lot of people were shocked, but that's just how the dice were rolled. I know that I'm going to benefit from this in the future.
On David Archuleta's ever-increasing fanbase: It's the girls, trust me. I remember telling him from the beginning, 'You're going to be a huge chick magnet.' I guess as far as me leaving, I guess because of our friendship and us getting used to each other and not being able to see each other, separated from each other, but he is a phenomenal singer. He's going to do great and I just know it.
On whether or not the period theme nights put the younger contestants at a disadvantage: My parents made sure that I was well rounded, so singing songs from the '60s and '70s weren't necessarily unfamiliar to me at all. They wanted to make sure that I had a diversity in my music. Singing in the '60s and '70s was fun and it wasn't uncomfortable at all. I was familiar with the sound. Some songs I may not have known, but there were a lot of songs that I did know. For example, the Chicago song, I knew who Chicago was, but I just didn't know that song they did, 'If You Leave Me Now.' I never heard of that one, but I knew them as artists and their other songs and their performances that they had done.
On this season's ongoing controversy about contestants with previous singing experience: Well, I just don't understand why people make a big deal about it because it's kind of like we're still, to put it in shorter terms, American Idol has been on this long, it's like, it's going to be hard to find real, real amateurs nowadays. You can't blame them for trying to venture out and try to catapult their career in some other terms. They didn't break any rules. They're not in a contract now, which is the rule. That's basically all that counts. I don't know.
In my books you should have been the one to win, win, WIN IT ALL, IN THE END ! ! ! ! !