Entertainment Weekly Q&A With Chris Richardson and Phil Stacey!
Entertainment Weekly caught up with this week’s eliminated contestants Chris Richardson and Phil Stacey. Here’s the scoop!
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Simon said he didn’t think your ”Wanted Dead or Alive” was good enough to keep you in. Did you feel comfortable singing it?
CHRIS RICHARDSON: Yeah. I planned on doing this song before I even came into the competition, when I found out Bon Jovi was going to be on. Somebody had to do it. And you know what? I’m my worst critic, man, but I thought I did a pretty good job at it. I went and looked at the performance and it suited rock week.
EW: More so than everyone else’s performances?
Chris: I think I was the only out there who had the ”rasp” to my voice. I would sing really loud just to hoarse my voice up a little bit, just to have that rock edge. I thought it was odd that Simon said the same thing to both me and Phil — how he didn’t think this would keep us around. Then we both ended up going home. So me and Phil sort of knew. We knew who [Simon’s] favorites were too. We knew who he would try to dwindle out the competition, and who he would try to keep in the competition. I would always go out there preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.
EW: But you wanted to win, right?
Chris: Well, even now, there’s a part of me inside that really wanted to win. I wanted to stick around longer. But the fact of the matter is that every Wednesday is a hard day for everybody. I remember calming everyone down before they pulled me and Blake up on stage, you know, when they stood me and him up. I knew. You can just tell — the judges favored Blake over me, and that was fine. And so did the voting. And that’s what ultimately decided everything.
EW: You’re not a hard rocker. Do you think that really hurt you this week?
Chris: I always try to show people that I’m versatile and every week that comes around, I just try to show people that I can sing this or that style of music. It’s very hard to show who you are as an artist through cover songs, but I enjoyed doing it. I would have loved to have gone out there and done my own rendition of ”Wanted Dead or Alive.” I would have loved to have switched it around. [But] for Bon Jovi’s fans, it’s a memory to them. I just always thought about it like that, and I didn’t want to mess with the memory. I didn’t want to go out there and do too much to it. I had to keep it straight. I’m sure there could have been better songs to sing with a little bit more soulful lyrics, but as I said before, my album is going to be rock and soul.
EW: Rock and soul, eh? Interesting. Anything like Justin Timberlake, to whom you’ve so frequently been compared?
Chris: I just take the comparison as a compliment. Being mentioned in the same sentence as Justin, it’s cool. When I come out with my album, hopefully people will see that and they’ll be like, ”Wow, I didn’t expect that.” Or they’ll be like, ”Well, I know who Chris Richardson is.”
EW: All right, controversy time: What’s the final word on you being ”nasally”?
Chris: You know what’s funny about that? That was the only thing during the whole competition that they could say that I did wrong: that I was ”nasally.” And if that’s all they can say about me, then I’ll take it. I would always go up and talk to our voice coaches and say, ”I don’t really know why they keep saying I’m ‘nasally.”’ It’s not like I go out there doing it on purpose — it’s the way that I sing. And even when I made the comment about ”nasally” being a form of singing, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that a lot of people have made it with that nasally quality — like Justin Timberlake, Adam Levine, and Rascal Flatts.
EW: So let’s talk about the Chris-Blake BFF moment last night: I didn’t realize you two were such buds.
Chris: We developed a friendship back in Hollywood and clicked since then. We’ve been roommates forever now. He’s become like a brother to me. It’s just been one of those things. Me and him are both very big on loyalty and friendship, you know. We have a lot in common. We might not sing exactly alike, but our styles of music and our style in general is very similar. You can’t be anything but excited when your boy makes it through to another round.
EW: And finally, about the last four on Idol right now: What’s your assessment?
Chris: I think they’re all capable of winning. It all comes down to voting. The four have gotta come out and bring their A-game. There’s some belters out there and some very original material. Blake’s very original, but then again, the girls can sing their butts off.
PHIL STACEY
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You did great the past few weeks — especially on country night. Did you expect to be voted off this week?
PHIL STACEY: I’ve come to not really expect anything. I was thrilled with the way things went down. Though I wanted to stay and represent for the people who’ve been supporting me for so long, I don’t think I could have gone out on a better note unless I actually won the deal. Getting to sing Bon Jovi’s ”Blaze of Glory” was about the coolest leaving song, I think, ever.
EW: Some people came out of the pen and blew us away right from the beginning, like LaKisha. You were a little bit more under the radar at first, and then you really hit your stride. Can you pinpoint why?
PHIL: Absolutely: The pressure was off. When I came into the top 24, I knew this was my shot. I knew that if I missed this shot, then who knew what the future held for me as far as doing music for a career? Every week I ended up somehow messing up — I was petrified on the stage. I think once I got to the bottom three, and the bottom two, at one point or another I just said, ”Ah, forget it! It’s all gravy now, I should have gone home weeks ago!”
EW: So you’re a country guy? I didn’t really get that vibe until country week, with your performance of Keith Urban’s ”Where the Blacktop Ends.” Has that always been your thing?
PHIL: Yeah. I like country music and I like gospel music. And I’ve done both for a long time. I tried to fit the genre of each week. I think in the long run I discovered that’s not really the way to do American Idol.
EW: What’s the way to do it, then?
PHIL: To go out there and be yourself through the entire competition. Instead of going out there and trying to prove you’re a singer, prove you’re an artist. Everybody who’s left has really done that and has left their mark. Now people see me as a guy who could do country music, so I’m excited about showing them the music I write.
EW: What song would you have sung next week for Bee Gees night?
PHIL: I think I would have done ”Islands in the Stream,” [which was written by the Bee Gees for] Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. Here’s the deal: Next week, what’s gonna be funny is that all four of those jokers are going to shine. It’s going to be a great week for them. That’s one of the reasons I’m semi-glad I got cut this week. I would have hated to have gone out on a night when all of the judges were like, ”Man, I just wasn’t feeling that.”
EW: So what happens now? Will you be shipping right back to the Navy?
PHIL: My primary responsibility at this point is to go back to being a sailor, to the military. I’m going back this week. The Navy’s been incredibly supportive about my involvement with American Idol. But, you know, it’s because I have brothers who were willing to stand in the gap for me when I was gone. I’m very, very grateful for the way the Navy’s been through this.
EW: Okay, most important question ever: Where did you get that blazer you wore on Tuesday night? Did you pick it out?
PHIL: Oh my goodness, that was an absolutely hot jacket. And I wish I could think of the guy’s name who designed both of them! Art, one our stylists, brought those jackets to me one day, and he was like, ”Hey, we want to see if these would work.” And I put one on and was like, ”Oh my gosh, you have transformed me into a rock star!” It’s fantastic. I wish I could put a plug in for the guy who designed it.
EW: Now there’s three gals and one guy left — do you think that’s an advantage for Blake? It had been balanced for so long. The male representation took a major dive last night!
PHIL: Yes, we did! It’s fitting, though, the way the season started off. The women were strong this year! But you know what? I’m glad that us dudes are represented by Blake. At this point, here’s the deal: Melinda may be the best singer that’s ever been on American Idol. LaKisha may be the most passionate singer ever. Jordin may have the strongest upper range of anybody. And Blake is the most original artist. So, being a fan of the show — and I’m not participating anymore, so I can say this unbiased — I think it’s the best top four in the history of American Idol. I try to predict who gets voted off each week, and I’m never, ever, ever right, but I couldn’t possibly predict who’ll go next week.
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POSTED IN: American Idol 6, Chris Richardson, Interviews
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