Jermaine Sellers: "'Idol' is for teenyboppers"

I admit I was thrilled when Jermaine Sellers went home Thursday night. And after his media conference call Friday, I’m even more thrilled.

Here’s some of what he had to say…

On the judges’ criticism: “I took it the best way that I possibly could. I mean, the thing about it is as an artist you have to stay true to yourself and when you stand true to yourself, it’s a certain way that I sang my whole entire life from a child on up and I kept pulling back. I did. I pulled back a lot because there was a lot more that I could have done, but with me doing it the way that I did it’s like I felt like if I pulled anymore back then I would be basically whispering to them. I’m a church singer.”

Apparently he still doesn’t realize that runs are not a bad thing if they are actually good…

On whether his comments about God got him eliminated: “Though I hate to say it, but yes, I do. Because sometimes the camera could make you look more arrogant and .... Because anybody that knows me knows that I’m like the coolest guy. I like to make people laugh, the whole me, I honestly do … a bit, the whole nine yards. I hate it that I was made out to look like something that I’m not, but it’s television. So I mean, I felt like every night that I went out there that I sang from my heart and the part that really messed me up the most is that I couldn’t focus because I was so scared of what was going to be said this week as far as me singing or over singing so much…So I just felt like the best way to prove a person wrong is by proving them wrong with, fighting them with God, letting God fight your battles so that’s why I kept throwing it out there. And a lot of people don’t realize that with us making it this far in the competition, we haven’t really sat down and took time to actually thank God for us even making it this far. And without him, we’ll fail. So that’s why I kept having to throw him out there. We don’t acknowledge him enough. “

On his song choices: “Switching up the songs. Honestly, I just wanted to sing songs that had meanings behind them. All of the songs that I picked, I wanted a meaning behind them. And with me picking songs that were so much older and mature, I think that had a lot to do with my votes, too, because ‘American Idol’ is for teeny boppers. There’s a lot of young people and they want to hear more current stuff. Knocks you down type stuff. And that’s not where my soul is…I’m more of a let’s talk about reality. Let’s talk about what’s going on right now. Let’s talk about—when I sang Get Here, I wasn’t just talking about one specific individual. I was talking about peace. I was talking about love, respect, joy. I want all of that to come back to us and even though I try to deliver it the best way that I could, I never got my point across because I let fear conquer me.”

“Idol” is for teeny boppers? That’s news to me…

Photo Credit: Frank Micelotta/FOX