Idol Chatter & Voice Views

He turned The Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb” into a reggae number.

He slid across the stage during his rendition of Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” in what will go down as one of American Idol’s sillier moments.

His version of “Sweet Love” was “like a mouse picking a fight with a lion,” according to Simon Cowell.

For the first three weeks of the American Idol finals, Tim Urban would perform, the judges would cut him to pieces, and Tim Urban would just keep on smiling.

Once, Kara DioGuardi seemed absolutely baffled when Tim laughed after one of her critical comments.

Viewers at home could likely guess one reason for the smile.

Tim had been cut in Hollywood Week. He was only invited to the semifinals because Chris Golightly was disqualified.

Yet he made the finals. Yet he survived long enough to qualify for the Idol summer tour. All off a second chance.

What was there to frown about?

In his exit interview with the media Thursday afternoon, Tim admitted that was one reason for the smile. Heck, he didn’t expect to get the golden ticket to Hollywood, yet alone wind up on TV, performing for mllions.

Another reason: The solid, Christian family background provided for him by his parents.

And a third: The attitude he was determined to carry into the Idol compettiion.

“I try to be a very encouraging person and not let things get me down,” the 20-year-old from Duncanville, Texas, explained. “I want that to show. I want other people around me to get that feeling. That’s my whole reason for playing music. I really want to just touch people in a good way and put a smile on their face.”

What Tim called his “insane run” and “crazy awesome ride” on Idol ended Wednesday night with a seventh-place finish. In the process, he’ll go down as the first Idol contestant ever eliminated on an Idol Gives Back show.

Here are some of the other topics he touched on during his Thursday interview with the media.

* His Idol prediction: Tim declined to predict a season nine winner, saying all of the remaining contestants have the potential to take the Idol crown. “I’m kind of rooting for everyone to kind of step up and make this really difficult.”

* His status as a favorite contestant for the Web site Vote for the Worst: “I really have no comment on that Web site. I’m not excited that I was on thier Web site. I really didn’t like being on there. Basically, I was working my hardest to get off it.”

* His response to critics who say he only lasted as long as he did because of his smile, his looks and his charisma: “I don’t think I would respond to that. People are going to say that about anybody. You’ll find people who don’t like just about any artist out there. You sort of just have to deal with it, shrug it off. I don’t perform for the people who don’t like me. I perform for the people who want me to be on stage. Those are the people I worry about.”

* The motivation for “the slide”: “It was kind of funny. I was just goofing off in rehearsal. The stage manager and the producer said, ‘Hey, you should do that in the performance.’ I thought it’d be great. I thought it’d be fun. It was a last-minute joke that turned out to be something I wanted to do in the performance.”

* His mindset heading into Wednesday’s results show: “I knew from the judges’ comments, it was possible I’d be in the bottom three. It was very possible I could go home. But I also went back and watched my performance (of “Better Days” by the Goo Goo Dolls) from Tuesday night, and I was fine with it … If I did go home, Idol Gives Back, being a part of that, kind of lightens the blow a little bit.”

* What it was like waiting so long to learn his fate Wednesday?: “The wait wasn’t that hard because it was such an awesome show. You almost lost that it was a results show at times because of how amazing the performances were and how touching the videos were.” Not getting to sing a farewell song, was “a little bittersweet,” he said.

* What advice did the judges give him that he’ll use in the future?: “The really good advice they had for me was, ‘Figure out who you are as an artist.’ Kara said to me a couple of times, the singer-songwriter avenue, which was what I was doing before the show, was something I should really pursue. It was cool to get that encouragement from them.

Tim admitted that early on he was “groping around,” trying to sort out what he wanted to do on the show in terms of his performances.

But, guitar in hand, he eventually figured it out.

After his performance of “All My Loving” on Lennon-McCartney Songbook Week, he received praise from the judges for the way he was handling himself and for the improvement he’d shown.

After his performance of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” on Elvis Night, Simon proclaimed that he’d gone from zero to hero in two weeks.

“Probably the biggest high point for me was getting the feedback after I sang that Elvis song — seeing that I had improved and the judges were noticing that.”

Tim, who comes from a family of 10 children, plans to pursue music post-Idol. But should an acting gig come along, say on something like Disney or “Glee” … well, he might be interested.

“I’ve always had a desire to act, so I would be really excited if I got the opportunity to do that as well,” Tim said. “I’m kind of just waiting to see what happens.”