American Idol' Interview: Garrett Haley
Were you surprised at being eliminated?
I was surprised; I didn't expect I would get voted off that early. I had pretty high hopes and I was very excited about next week because it was a song that I could really do well. At first, when [Ryan] said "You're going home," I thought he was kidding. But then he didn't smile or anything and the music came on, I thought, "Oh man he's for real." I was just sitting there just thinking, "Oh my God, I hope I remember the words to this song I have to sing."
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How did you choose the song you performed?
We're allowed to choose three songs from a list. I didn't get any of my songs because they gave [them] out to all the other contestants before that, so I just ended up with having to choose from the list again. They just threw the song ['Breaking Up Is Hard to Do'] at me like "hey sing this one" and I just said OK.
Fox
How did you feel about Simon's remarks about your pale appearance?
Well, when he first said that, I actually found some humor in it because I know that I have fair skin and I'm really happy with the way I look. It didn't really bother me. I could tell that Paula and Randy were upset about that because that's not something you should be saying to a contestant. Maybe Simon couldn't find anything bad to say about my voice.
Fox
What do you think of all the Leif Garrett comparisons?
I've never heard of the guy before that, nobody's ever compared me to Peter Frampton or Leif Garrett. I went back to the house that I was staying at, Googled them, because I had no idea who they were and I was hoping that they were decent-looking guys, so I was pretty happy when they popped up. I don't know, it's just my hair. I use Garnier Fructis and I've been using that for a long time.
Ron Galella, WireImage.com
How did you get to San Diego to audition?
We were here visiting family and I saw they were having auditions. I've been watching 'American Idol' since season one, so I've wanted to audition since then. Once I saw it there, I was just like "Dude, you know I should just do it now." So I tried out and I made it to the top 12 guys so I'm pretty proud of myself for doing that.
Fox
Who are your musical inspirations?
Actually three of the contestants from season five, Elliott Yamin, Ace Young and Chris Daughtry. All three of those guys have inspired me in a big way to do this. I'm really more of an alternative pop [singer]. You guys didn't really get to see my style.
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Who do you think will win?
I don't know. Every single person in this competition brings something unique and different to the table. It's up to America now.
Fox
What will you do after 'Idol'?
I plan on finishing school first but I also plan on keeping in touch with everybody here, the staff of 'American Idol.' And if anything pops up, where they'll allow me to do little gigs or something, I'm definitely going to jump on that because [I want] all the experience that I can get. Right after school is when I'm going to hit it hard, I'm going to do everything that I can to become an artist.
Fox
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