Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Katelyn Epperly admits she might have overcompensated and stepped out of her element.

And the move might have cost her a spot in the American Idol finals.

Two weeks ago, judges proclaimed her performance of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” as too slow, too sleepy.

That didn’t bother Katelyn. She called the two minutes she spent sitting behind the piano performing that song her most memorable moment on Idol.

The song is one Katelyn says she plays often when going through difficult times. And she wanted to slow it down, to put the focus on the lyrics.

“It’s a song that’s sad, but also hopeful,” she says.

This week, she opted to try something a little more upbeat — Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move.”

It wasn’t well received by the judges. Or by Idol viewers, based on the results of Thursday’s show.

“I definitely was trying to find a song that would portray me as an artist, which is difficult for a singer/songwriter in this competition because, first of all, I don’t listen to mainstream music and, second of all, I don’t typically perform covers,” the 19-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa said Friday in her exit interview with the media.

“So I kind of scrambled around, last minute, trying to do something … I brought out the Wurlitzer keyboard. I wanted to do something edgier. It didn’t work out for me. But I definitely don’t regret doing it, because I love that era and I love that song.”

Katelyn addressed several other issues in an unusally frank discussion that didn’t always toe the American Idol line.

She admits she had some “cred” issues with trying out for Idol, but decided to go ahead because Idol now allows instruments and seemed to welcome singer/songwriters this year — “people who are credible musicians and have been working at it their whole lives and truly deserve it (rather) than someone who rolls out of bed one day and wanted to be on a TV show and had an OK voice and a pretty face.”

Of course, voters gave two of those singer/songwriters — her and roommate Lilly Scott — the boot Thursday night in eliminations that caught many Idol watchers by surprise (count me among them).

Viewers got it wrong, according to Katelyn.

“I’m gonna say, it was a pretty big disappointment for me to see Lilly go home, because if I were to be home watching that show, she would, by far, over all the other girls, not be the one going home.”

Katelyn was asked which singer she’ll support through the rest of the competition. It’s a question most contestants dodge. First, Katelyn said she wishes all the members of the final 12 the best.

But she didn’t stop there. After all, singer-songwriters stick together.

“From the start, Crystal Bowersox has been a very, very true friend to me, and she is a genuinely good, true person and when she sings, it comes from the heart. I know you’ve seen it if you’ve watched her. It’s just natural for her. She totally deserves it, and I’m going to be pulling for her all the way.”

As for herself, Katelyn says she considers Idol a launching pad, one of the best from which to start a career.

She plays to head back to Des Moines and “start working” because she’s “flat broke.” But she plans to dive into writing new music with other artists, including an Ohio-based rock/pop/soul group called Lovedrug.

“I’m going to be recording as soon as I possibly can,” she said.