American Idol Fan Site | Who got voted off American Idol

Brandon Rogers was the latest contestant to leave American Idol last week.

The latest American Idol to be voted off answered many of the media questions in a conference call. Brandon Rogers made it clear that there was no one to blame but himself, for forgetting the word and his ultimate song choice. Brandon didn’t blame his fellow finalists (even though a lot of questions tried to get him to single out Sanjaya), lack of rehearsal time, or his going first as being the primary reason he was eliminated. Ultimately, Brandon felt he fell victim to what seems to be the most common cause for most Idol eliminations: bad song choice.

When questions started to point the finger at Sanjaya Malaker, Brandon Rogers was quick to defend his fellow finalist. When asked if he thought Sanjaya was going instead, Brandon said “No. I think you get a feeling when it’s about time for you to go. I messed up my words, and I hadn’t created enough momentum musically to sustain a mistake like that.”

When asked if he was surprised he lost to Sanjaya, Brandon said “No. I didn’t lose to anybody; I just got the least amount of votes.”

When questioned why Sanjaya had a devastated, almost mortified expression when leaving the stage, Brandon said “I actually have no idea. I just know I love the kid and he’s a sweet guy. We’ve all grown very close to each other being on the show, so it’s hard to see anybody leave. I think every week, there’s no mistake and there’s no confusion, as to why we’re all in tears. We generally care about each other, all of us, so I think it’s rough to see anybody go. I can’t tell you why he felt one way or the other because I’m not him, and I can only speak for myself.”

When Brandon Rogers asked if lack of rehearsal time could have contributed to his forgetting the words during his song, Brandon said “I prepared as best as I could as I did every week, and…We all have the same amount of time, so I can’t complain about my mistake. It was my mistake, and I’m not going to pass it off over into anybody.”

In regards to if going first hurt him, Brandon said “I think going first is a double-edged sword. It can be the best thing. If I would have went out there and knocked it out of the park and the judges had nothing but great things to say, then it would have been a great thing for me. But you can’t go out there and forget your words in the first going, you just can’t. Unless you have a huge fan base to be your parachute, then you can’t survive stuff like that. I knew that when I made the mistake. That’s probably one of the reasons why I was so at peace with being cut. I saw it coming.”

When faced with the age-old question of if American was a singing contest or a popularity contest, Brandon Rogers gave one of the best answers we had ever heard from an American Idol finalist. Brandon said “You know what, I don’t know if this is a singing contest or a popularity contest, or which one is more valid, but the factor of the matter is, it’s a contest. By whatever means people decide to vote, whether it’s on your voice, your looks, or whether they like you as a person, it has no bearing on the validity of the winner. It is what it is. We all knew this going into it. You just try to do your best on the show and hope that it works out for you, and hope that you can pick up some fans along the way that keep you going. I got all the way to our top 12, man, I’m pretty elated just to be there.”

Brandon Rogers also was asked if he had a chance to do it over again, then what he would do differently. Brandon said “If I had to do it over again, I would probably pick better songs that showed the range, and I think some of the bigger qualities of my voice. I think I would have done a better job of making myself stand out vocally, like I think a lot of people were waiting for me to do. I never quite did that. But, then again, I have no regrets. Just songs that I like and love to sing, but I didn’t necessarily picked songs that showed up my voice as best as I could have.”

When talking about what the judges and other finalists said to him after his elimination, Brandon elaborated on how bad song choice hurt him. Brandon said “They all came up to me after I got voted off the other day, and nothing, but positive stuff. They all told me it was my song choice and it was not my singing, and not my ability. It’s all about song choice. I didn’t choose the right songs. And in retrospect being 20/20, hindsight rather, I know that to be true. I know I didn’t pick songs that best displayed what I can do. I had the luck of choosing a good song for the first audition, “Always on My Mind.” Honestly, maybe that was a bad song choice because it made them hold me to that standard, and I never quite lived up to it. That essentially is why I got sent home. I think it has very little to do with me forgetting the words.”

American Idol Continues this week with the “British Invasion” as Lulu and Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits coaching on performance shows on Tuesday March 20, 2007 (3-20-07) and the Voted Off Show on Wednesday March 21, 2007 ( 3-21-07).

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