American Idol Semifinalist Didn’t Get To Pick His Song

« America’s Most Wanted Goes To New Orleans | Home | American Idol Contestants Talk About Celebrity Comparisons »

American Idol Semifinalist Didn’t Get To Pick His Song

February 23, 2008 09:01:03 by Joe Reality

During American Idol, the judges often remind the contestants of the importance of picking the right song. Song choice can often have a huge impact not only on feedback from the judges but also on how America votes.

In a recent conference call, American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe revealed that for the first time ever, the contestants would have a theme week during the first round of the semifinals. From the way Lythgoe described it, every contestant would still be able to select their own song, but they would just have to pick from a list or around fifty pre-approved songs from the sixties.

However, things didn’t exactly work out that way for at least one American Idol semifinalist. During a recent conference call, Garrett Haley was faced with the question of why he selected “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” as his song on the top twelve boys’ performance show.

After seeking and gaining clearance from an American Idol representative to answer the question, Garrett Haley revealed that he didn’t get to pick his song. Garrett explained, “We’re allowed to choose three songs from a list, and every contestant is like for sure to get one of the songs, and I didn’t get to get any of my songs because they gave the songs out to all the contestants before that. So, I was just ending up with having to choose from the list again. And I don’t know, I didn’t really get to choose, they just threw the song at me and said here sing this one, and I was like ok.”

Garrett Haley’s reply obviously raises the issue of how it is decided who gets the song if the contestants select the same song. Do American Idol producers give preference to certain singers or is it random? When Garrett was faced with the question of how first dibs on picking songs was decided, he replied, ““You know what, I wasn’t to sure about that. I don’t think…I think it was random.”

While Garrett seemed to be in good spirits about his time on American Idol, it was also evident by one of his later answers that he wasn’t happy about the whole song choice situation. When answering whether lack of face time affected his chances, Garrett said, “The top twelve guys that was the first time everybody’s heard me sing, so that was a little…and it wasn’t the greatest song either, and I wasn’t too happy about that, but it’s ok.”

Reality TV Magazine is your source for American Idol news. For other great American Idol news, please feel free to check out SirLinksALot: American Idol.

Photo Credit: Reality TV Magazine

Topics: American Idol |

« America’s Most Wanted Goes To New Orleans | Home | American Idol Contestants Talk About Celebrity Comparisons »