Idol Chatter & Voice Views

From the very start of the Season 11 American Idol finals, Elise Testone seemed like a contestant one bum note away from elimination.

On the Top 13 results show, the 28-year-old from Charleston, S.C., found herself standing next to Jeremy Rosado, needing a judges’ save to stay on the show.

She got it, then escaped Idol’s stools of danger four more times over the next six weeks.

But she couldn’t dodge elimination a sixth time, and wound up leaving Idol in sixth place Thursday night.

On Friday afternoon, Elise talked to the media about her time on Idol.

*  She says she tried out for Idol one time when she was younger and didn’t make the show.  She then decided she wanted to wait until she was older to audition again. Her vocal students provided inspiration to try Idol as well.

* Throughout Idol, she says she found out her “element” is the rock genre, but definitely expects a post-Idol album to include funk and soul as well.

* She plans to write songs and construct plans for an album — something she’s wanted to do all her life — while on tour.  But she doesn’t want to rush an album.

* She said she’d love to work with Stevie Nicks and Brian May.  “And Steven Tyler would be a great duet.”

* She says she doesn’t agree with the criticism of her song choices this week. “Those were the best songs for me. Everybody has their own definition of what’s right.”

* She says she would like to continue as a vocal coach somehow, because she’s gotten a thrill out of making a difference in the life of young singers and “watching them come out of their shell.”

* She said she was a little surprised to be eliminated because she didn’t think it was her time to go.  At the same time, she wasn’t shocked, having landed in the bottom three so often.

* She thinks age might have played a factor in the voting, but doesn’t think it was “the” factor, just one of many.

* She says she would love to have some of her pre-Idol band mates play on her album with her if she has a chance to do that.