Jason Castro Eliminated from American Idol

Swan Song for Contestant in Season 7

Jason Castro (and all that hair) has finally said goodbye to American Idol, but even elimination couldn't take the smile off his face. Jason says he came into the competition happy, and that's the way he'll leave.

I was as happy last night as when I found out I made the top 24. This whole time I’ve had a blast but it’s really been hard. Before I found out the results I was freaking out about the week ahead. How was I going to do three songs when I can’t even do two? I loved my time on there and I would have liked to go farther, but I don’t think I could handle it.

Voting Controversy

I was saying vote! Then I said it again to emphasize that but nobody heard me. I remember sitting down and thinking about how they kind of have the same syllables and it’s going to look like ‘don’t vote’. Dangit. I consciously only said vote once during the numbers the second time around.

I think everyone this week thought that I was ready to go, and that wasn’t my mindset at all going in. That kind of came across wrong, and the way I acted on the show might have made people think I didn’t want to be there.

Simon Cowell

Simon can say whatever he wants, I was confident with what I was doing, I had nothing to be ashamed of. If he didn’t like it, fine. If it wasn’t what we needed for the competition, OK. It’s just another day and it’s just another song, and people see past that and so do I. I’ve done everything the best that I can considering the circumstances.

I’ve learned that I can do a lot more than I thought. Before I did this I wasn’t really confident as a performer and I hadn’t done it a lot. Now I’ve done it for months, and on TV! Wherever music leads me, I just want to play it somewhere.