Aaron Kelly: "We want to see each other succeed"

When I got the transcript for Big Mike’s exit interview, I realized that I never posted any comments from Aaron Kelly.

So with my apologies, here is some of what Aaron had to say…

On what the judges wanted from him: “Well, I think the judges wanted to see a little charisma and more – I got my confidence up and I was having a good time. I just needed to believe a little bit more. But, I felt the more I went into this competition, the more I was gaining with my confidence and charisma and everything. I was still learning to add all the extra things to my performances.”

On what Simon said to him after he was eliminated: “He asked me what I felt my best week was, and I said country week. And he said that’s when I really shined he said, so I’ve just got to figure out the kind of artist I am and what kind of road I want to go down. Country is what I feel most content with, and that’s where I’m hoping to go down that road, country music.”

On what he’s going to do next: “I’m actually on the verge of finishing up with high school. I’ve got all my senior credits, so after I finish that I’ll be all finished. And then I’d love to record an album and get to do some original music like stuff that I’ve written because we’re not allowed to do that on the show, so I don’t know if people know that I write songs. But, it’s also another huge passion of mine.”

On his favorite moments during the show: “Well, after we get off the stage and finish up, the contestants are all waiting because they watch your performance back on the television as it’s going on. They’re all waiting there to give support, and if the judges cut you down that night, they’re there to build you back up. It’s a great support. The contestants are all like family, and we love each other very much. We want to see each other succeed.”

On “The American Idol Experience” at Walt Disney World, which got Aaron to the front of the audition line in Orlando: “Absolutely. First of all, it’s a great way to get a feel for what this competition is really like. You go through a set of audition processes and then they put you through – and the audience actually votes you through. They actually have two different shows that day, and the first one is where the audience votes you through. At the end of the day because they have a lot of shows and they pick one person from each show that day to go to the finale. At the finale, the audience votes you through. So the gold ticket from that puts you to the front of the line for any audition. That was good for me because I actually ended up being one of the first to audition in Orlando that morning. It’s a fantastic thing, and it’s a good way to get a good feel for the competition and to what you’re going for.”

I'll have Big Mike's parting words later this weekend...

Photo Credit: Michael Becker/FOX