Idol Chatter & Voice Views

James Durbin made an emotional, heartfelt goodbye to American Idol Thursday night.

He was in tears while standing alongside Scotty McCreery, before ever getting the news that he was the eliminated contestant.

He launched into a version of “Amazing” that he had difficulty singing because he was so overcome by emotion.

Then he pronounced the Idol experience “amazing” before yanking off his vest and hurling it into the audience.

On Friday, James talked about Idol and his future with the media. Here’s what he had to say.

* He says he auditioned for his family and to give a voice to “a genre that seems like it’s slowly fading away” and feels like he’s accomplished a lot.

* He attributes a program called Kids on Broadway with helping him overcome the social awkwardness that went with growing up with autism.

* When his fiance Heidi was 13, James was 4 and their mothers were friends. Heidi actually watched over him on a playdate with her younger sister all those years ago.

* They had a chance meeting years later when he was singing karaoke. She recognized him; he didn’t recognize her. He calls Heidi his “guardian angel,” “his saving grace” because she made him want to achieve and advance in life. “Behind every successful man there is an amazing, amazing woman,” he said.

* He says one of the reasons he auditioned was because they were having trouble affording diapers. “I don’t think I’ll have to worry about not being able to afford diapers again,” he said.

* He says he feels like he’s going out on top because he was pleased with his performances Wednesday night. “I’m my own biggest critic, and I shut myself up” with those performances, James said.

* He wants a good friend back home to be his guitarist post-Idol and bring back the frontman-guitarist duos that have been famous throughout rock-and-roll history.

* He says he wants his first album to have a throwback feel. One of his favorite albums is “Neon Nights” by Black Sabbath. “My guitarist is a total shredder, and he’s amazing … We’re going to force it on the airwaves. We feel strongly about our music. We feel like it’s dying out. That can’t happen. We’ve got to find some way to get it back out there.”

* Chris Daughtry once said he was glad he didn’t win Idol because it would have spoiled his rock-and-roll cred. “That makes a lot of sense,” James said. “But winning would have been great too.”

* He says Stefano Langone will be the best man at his wedding and that Paul McDonald will be one of his groomsmen.

* James is preparing a performance for the finale, and tells us to “expect the unexpected.” He says he mapped out all his performances on Idol.

* He says he’s become good friends with pro wreslter/musician Chris Jericho, who competed on Dancing with the Stars, which was filmed next door. He noted that the last song Chris danced to was “Don’t Stop Believing,” one of the songs James sang on his final Idol performance show. “Don’t Stop Believin’ eliminated James Durbin, Chris Jericho and Tony Soprano,” James said with a laugh.