Alaina Whitaker 'American Idol' Interview
You were very emotional last night. Are you glad you were able to perform?
I'm so glad. At the time, I had so many thoughts going through my mind, I had a lot of emotions. I was saying, "I can't sing right now" but I knew in the back of my mind, I was like, "I have to do this. It's the end of my journey." I really think I would have regretted it if I hadn't sung. Now, the next day, I can really look at it and take so much away from this. It's a blessing.
It was down to you and Kady Malloy. Are you two close?
We were really good friends. It was really sad that it came down to me and her. She was actually really shocked because she told me that she was the one going home. I kept telling her all day that you need to stay really positive ... so it was kind of ironic when it came down to me and her. I'm really happy for her, though. She has a great voice.
Was it difficult to connect to the older songs?
It was definitely hard to portray song with emotions when I never really heard them before. I was really looking forward to the '90s if I would have stayed but .... I'm really happy with [my song, 'Hopelessly Devoted to You']. I really love 'Grease.' It's my favorite movie so I'm really glad I sang the song.
What did you think when Simon said it looked like your grandmother had dressed you?
What do you say to that? It's really crazy. I actually loved the dress and, I don't know if the camera showed them, but I wore cute orange high heels. I actually wore those to make the dress younger so I was really surprised when he said that. I liked my dress and I've had other people say that they liked it too.
Who are some of your favorite past 'Idols'?
I definitely loved Kelly [Clarkson] from the very first moment I saw her. I seriously remember sitting in my living room and she just blew me away. I also loved....Chris Daughtry, I loved him.
Did you get any reaction to the video revealing you don't like your food to touch?
It's really funny because on the video I look really OCD about it. But it's really not that bad. It's just a little pet peeve. I had a lot of people say, "You know, I have a friend who doesn't like all their food touching," so it's good to know I'm not the only one.
