Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Ben Briley wasn’t surprised to land in the bottom three on American idol Thursday night.

He was surprised to be heading home, and he thinks the judges’ critiques had a lot to do with his elimination.

Ben Briley performs “Bennie and the Jets” during Wednesday’s episode of American Idol. (FOX Photo)

His goal when performing “Bennie and the Jets” Wednesday night was to show he could play piano and that he could do something other than country music, he said.

But the judges said they were confused by the performance and the song choice. Harry Connick Jr. suggested the performance was “lackadaisical” and “pointless.” Keith Urban suggested it lacked authenticity.

That feedback “did kind of sting a little bit,” Ben said during a surprisingly frank conference call with the media Friday afternoon, saying the judges “threw me under the bus.”

“For one contestant, they say you’re consistent but we need you to change,” he said. “Then, for someone else, they say, ‘Stay in your lane.’ Then someone steps out and does something different and it gets shot down on national TV.”

He blamed the combination of song choice and the judges’ critiques for his ouster, saying America “got confused,” too.

He also said Randy Jackson did a 180-degree turn between the mentoring sessions and Thursday’s on-air review.

During the mentoring sessions, Ben said Randy was supportive of his song choice, his goal of showing a different side and his plans for the performance.

Then, when Randy reviewed the performance before the results were revealed, he, too, said Ben baffled people with the performance.

“I think he was going off what the judges had said,” Ben added.

Ben Briley performs during the American Idol finals. He said his Top 13 performance of “Folsom Prison Blues” was his favorite. (FOX Photo)

The feeling that he might land in the bottom three set in after the show, the 24-year-old from Gallatin, Tenn., said.

“Everyone did a great job,” he said. “Mine was definitely one of the weaker performances. I didn’t think it was the weakest.”

And after landing at the bottom of the voting Thursday, he was certain the judges wouldn’t save him, even before he began singing “Stars” at the conclusion of Thursday’s show.

“They wanted to see a certain thing from me,” he said. “I was never quite certain what that was. There are a lot of things about (the feedback) the last two weeks that I don’t understand. I just do my thing and go home.

“I don’t know what their beef was the last two or three weeks. I can assure you it doesn’t affect me at all.”

Ben said his elimination couldn’t have come at a better time because he was “getting homesick.”

As for his future plans, he said he plans to head home and take a four-day nap, eat pizza and play video games.

Then comes his own music, most likely country.

“I live 30 minutes outside Music City,” he said, referring to Nashville. “It shouldn’t be too hard to book shows. I’d like have a song on the radio by end of year. That’s my goal.”