Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Not surprisingly, Stacy Francis spent most of her Friday conference call with the media talking about that bizarre eliminaton episode of The X Factor rather than her career moving forward.

On one hand, she was hoping Astro’s attitude might buy her at least another week in the competition.

On the other, she reminded people that he’s only 14 and called him “an extraordinary person and an extraordinary talent.”

When Stacy and Astro landed in the bottom two Thursday night, I’m pretty sure the vast majority of viewers figured her time on The X Factor had come to an end.

I sure did.  Until Astro started acting like a total jerk.  At which point I started pulling for Stacy, like nearly everyone in the studio audience.

Even before that, Stacy said she thought she still had a chance.

“I was in pure state of shock,” Stacy, 42, said.  “I didn’t expect to go home.  When I saw Astro standing next to me … I was hoping that because he is not a singer, they (the judges) would take the position that, ‘We need to send a singer through.’

” Then, when he (Astro) took an attitude and was kind of throwing it away, I thought maybe they would take advantage of that,”  she added of the judges.  “But they didn’t.  I think Simon loves a little rebel.”

As for the tantrum Astro threw …

“It’s hard, standing there, being judged.  America’s watching.  The world is watching.  It’s very stressful.  I think he responded like a child would respond.  He’s 14 years old.  The night before (during the critique of her performance), I’m 42, and my face wasn’t as smiling as it should have been.”

Here’s what else Stacy had to say during her exit interview:

* She’s still a little sore at the people who criticized her participation on The X Factor because she’s been a professional singer in the past.  “No one knew who I was until I came to The X Factor stage.  It wasn’t like I was Janet Jackson and I came to do The X Factor. I think that was kind of silly that that was brought up.”

* She considered her performance of “Up to the Mountain” one of her best and said she enjoyed having Simon’s input that week. She said she wishes they could have continued working together — she, Simon and her mentor, Nicole — but “the game was going really hardcore” and Simon eventually made it clear he wasn’t supporting anyone but his contestants.

* She felt she needed to thank Simon at the end of Thursday’s show because The X Factor is his show and he gave her a chance.  At the same time, she felt he “threw me under bus couple times (with his critiques). I don’t know if  i deserved it or if he just playing the game” of trying to beat down other mentors’ contestants so that his survived.

* As for her music in the future … “My fans say they don’t want to see me cry, but they want me to sing songs that make them cry. I see myself doing soul music and soul-stirring music.”