The American Idol judges always hate seeing a contestant go home, but that’s the nature of the competition. Even so, it made judge Jennifer Lopez sad to see Ben Briley eliminated this week. She understands why the voters decided to vote him off, however, calling his song choice this week a “misstep.”
“It’s sad. It’s always sad that when somebody has to go home, it’s the end of their journey, their dream on this show,” Jennifer Lopez told FOX Audio Central after the elimination results show. “You know I think they all have hopes to win. And Ben really had fight in him.”
J-Lo believes his song choice this week was a contributing factor to Ben going home. “I think he did make a misstep… you know, when he so came out of who he was to do something so completely different, and even the sound of his voice, I always saw him as so country, you know.”
The American Idol judge said that while it can be a good thing to get out of the box, you still have to maintain your identity as an artist with every performance. “It’s all right to take songs that people wouldn’t expect you to sing, like Caleb singing ‘Skyfall’ or something, but he was still himself, and I think that’s the key.”
Interview courtesy of FOX Audio Central
A very ordinary group this year. Bens song choice was bad. However only Caleb showed any real star quality.
Couldn’t have said it better myself, ordinary and boring. Do love Caleb though, and was impressed this week to hear that he can actually sing, not just rock.
ITA. Ben should have sung Old Time R&R from Risky Business. A little Bob Seger would have made up for that unfortunate makeover. Not that he looked bad, but it was a bit of a culture shock to his country fan base.
If you ask 30 of my closest friends what my fav son is, they’d tell you Old Time R&R, so if he sang that, I may have voted for him… Or not. Lol