Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Jermaine Sellers did a lot of talking on American Idol, from proclaiming that he wasn’t meant to sing in a group to inviting Simon to church to hear him sing gospel music.

He admitted Friday he worries that he left people with the wrong impression.

“Sometimes the camera can make you look more arrogant and diva-ish,” he said Friday, the day after being eliminated from Idol. “Anybody that knows me knows that I’m like the coolest guy. I like to make people laugh. I honestly do wear onesies to bed, the whole nine yards.

“I hated that I was made out to look like something I’m not” he added. “But it’s television. I felt like every night I went out there, I sang from my heart.

“And the part that really messes me up the most is that I couldn’t focus because I was so scared about what was going to be said each week about my singing, or oversinging too much.

“I let fear conquer me.”

Apparently, oversinging was a common criticism Jermaine heard when he performed for the judges. The 27-year-old from Joliet, Ill., was used to cutting loose with his vocals. He’s been singing in church since childhood.

On Idol, he found himself pulling back, cutting out runs, cutting out riffs, hoping he was cutting back enough to satisfy Simon and company.

“I felt if I pulled back any more, I would have been basically whispering to them,” he said.

“When you are there, and you have millions of people watching you and you’re so scared of what the judges are going to say to you, you tend to lose focus. And that focus is what you need to show the sincerity in your voice.”

He has another theory about why he didn’t wind up with the votes needed to stay in the competition — he sang older songs. In the semifinals, he went with Oleta Adams’ “Get Here,” from 1991, and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” from 1971.

“American Idol is for teeny boppers, you know. There’s a lot of young people,” Jermaine said. “They want to hear more current stuff. They want to hear Keri Hilson, ‘Knock You Down,’ type stuff.

“That’s not where my soul is. I’m more of a, ‘Let’s talk about reality. Let’s talk about what’s going on right now.'”

For instance, he said he chose to sing “What’s Going On” because he wishes people would focus more attention on the recent disasters in Chile and Haiti — areas where relief is needed right now.

Jermaine plans to continue to pursue singing and ministering with his music. But he said that doesn’t mean he can’t be a successful cross-over artist.

“I see myself being a contemporary artist. My style is very much what BeBe & CeCe Winans did years ago. How they sang songs like ‘Heaven’ and ‘I’m Lost Without You’ and it was still marketable where you would set it on MTV or BET, stations that didn’t only show gospel stuff.”

As for his Idol experience … it might have ended short of the finals, but he’s sure it will work out.

“Sometimes you lose just to win again.”