Thursday, April 9, 2009

Scott MacIntyre: "I stand by every performance I’ve done"

Media conference calls can be fairly frustrating. The interviewee makes some cryptic or controversial comment that’s begging for a follow-up and all of the reporters are wanting to know what kind of tree the interviewee would be. And the call is running out of time and you can’t get in to ask the follow-up that’s screaming to be asked.

That was definitely the case with Scott MacIntyre’s call today…

As I posted earlier, Scott made a somewhat cryptic comment about how his performance was good Tuesday night, especially in the “context of everything going on.” And then he went on to say that “if the chips had fallen a little differently” he would have stuck around a lot longer.

To me, these were very interesting comments. And maybe Scott wasn’t allowed to answer them—which would explain why he was being so cryptic. But shouldn’t someone have asked? Yet, no one did…

Later in the call, Scott said, “If you watch [the performance] back, in the grand scheme of things, it’s a solid performance.” Someone may have called him on this comment, but we were out of time.

So what did Scott mean? Honestly, I have no idea. Hopefully, the rest of the story will come out to another reporter along the way.

And even though I think Scott is a likeable guy, I think he may be getting a tad delusional—especially about how good his performances were.

Since Scott talked A LOT, here’s just a sample of what else he had to say…

On what he learned from the experience: “I worked more quickly than I ever thought I could. There’s a very fast pace. It’s really taught me to budget my time…It’s also taught me anything is possible…It’s an amazing opportunity…The experiences I’ve had will never be duplicated.”

On why he thought he could be the next Idol: “I felt like from the beginning I had a story to share. I felt like it would’ve been a shame to not share that with the world…If I can get to this point…I hope it encourages everyone to reach for their dreams.”

On Being on Stage During the Judges’ Deliberation: “I have to say that was one of Seacrest’s most agonizing pauses…I was actually very thrilled to know it was a split decision. Simon told me there was some inner turmoil in him…So it was nice to walk away like that.”

On his future: “Now I get to define myself as an artist from scratch. I can’t wait to share my writing with America.” Scott said he has a large amount of original work at home reminiscent of John Mayer, Gavin DeGraw, Bruce Hornsby and Vanessa Carlton. He promised the first thing he would do when he got home was to look at all of his original music and put together a great album.

Scott also said he is open to writing for other people and he plans for his career to be three-fold as a performer, songwriter and eventually a producer.

On why he chose to audition this year: “I think this was the perfect year to audition. It was the first time ‘Idol’ came to Arizona…I’m kind of the academic gone pop star…The moment I knew I had to audition was when they rolled out the grand piano last year.”

On what he wants to say to his fans: “From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for voting for me…You’ve really helped me realize my life’s dream…I owe so much to all of you…I hope our relationship continues for years and years.”

On what he’ll miss about the show: “I’m going to miss the camaraderie. How we all make fun of each other before the show starts. I’ll miss the group songs, believe it or not…It’s an interesting group of kids this year…We’re one of the only groups that talks and jokes before going on stage…Even though we’re competing, we have so much fun even before we go on stage.”

On his finish: “There’s not much difference between finishing eighth and finishing third. I have this incredible platform now.”

On his performance Tuesday: “My decision to play the guitar was based more on me wanting to shock America a little bit…I don’t take what the judges said to heart.” Scott also said that Simon got it right when he replied to Paula’s comment about Scott coming out from behind the piano by saying, “Would you see Billy Joel come out from behind the piano?”

Finally, Scott told the reporters, “Please keep an eye out. You’ll see a lot more from me in the future…I stand by every performance I’ve done.”

I appreciate Scott being true to himself and continuing to believe in himself, but Tuesday’s performance was bad any way you slice it. Whatever the “everything going on” was that Scott is referring to, it couldn’t have been what made him miss those high notes…

Photo Credit: Frank Micelotta/FOX