Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Casey Abrams won’t be the Season 10 American Idol.

But he’ll forever be remembered for one of the most dramatic Idol episodes ever.

That came back on March 24.

You remember the night. It was week three of the finals. And Ryan Seacrest had just delivered the shocking news.

Casey Abrams, widely considered an Idol front-runner, was the low vote-getter. He was in danger of going home in 11th place.

Casey bravely launched into his farewell song.

Randy Jackson started waving his hands, stopping Casey mid-stream.

The judges had already decided to use their save on Casey.

The 20-year-old from Idyllwild, Calif., nearly collapsed at the news. He’d been convinced there was no way the judges would use their only save so early in the season.

But he went on to justify the decision by surviving to sing five more weeks before being sent home in sixth place Thursday night.

On Friday, Casey talked to the media about his Idol experience and his future.

* Casey says at the end of his song last night — when he addressed Haley — he was saying “goodbye to my very special musical friend. That’s all it was.” He says he feels comfortable singing with Haley and feeding off her energy.

* Casey says he and Haley are not a romantic couple. He says they were never dating.

* Casey says he was just on “random mode” when he performed his farewell song last night. “What was going through my mind was just, ‘Make this good.'” Nothing about the song was planned, not the interaction with the crowd and not even ending the song singing to Haley.

* He says two of his last performances — “Harder to Breathe” and “Nature Boy” — would pretty much sum up a Casey Abrams’ concert. “Pure Craziness” would probably be the title, he says. There would be rocking moments and moments where he wants to slow it down and play some “smooth jazz.” And probably more instruments than one would expect.

* Steven Tyler is a better kisser than Jennifer Lopez, he jokes. After all, the most beautiful woman in the world let him kiss her on the cheek; she didn’t kiss back. Steven Tyler did.

* He says Idol helped him learn how to deal with stress by talking to people about how he feels as opposed to bottling up his feelings. That has helped him keep the ulcers, which sent him to the hospital twice early in the competition, under control.

* A first Casey Abrams album would feature rock, jazz and probably a mixture of both, Casey said. With a beard and an upright bass on the cover.

* He says where he finished on the show is exactly what he expected, “so I can’t be mad at that.” He says he did work very hard after getting the save because he thought it would be embarrassing to get the save, then be voted off again the very next week.

* He says he thought about shaving, but decided without the beard “I wouldn’t have a chin anymore.”

* Standing beside Scotty McCreery, he admits he was pretty sure he was the contestant eliminated.

* He praised Crystal Bowersox’s performance and says she hung around after the show to present him with a “cool little microphone” she presented to all the remaining contestants. “She didn’t let stardom ruin her. She’s awesome.”