'American Idol's Lazaro Arbos: Jimmy Iovine's bad comments bothered me, I let him get me down

American Idol's Lazaro Arbos, a 21-year-old from Naples, FL -- the competition's only remaining male singer -- was eliminated during Thursday night's live results show broadcast on Fox, determining the twelfth season's Top 5 finalists.


Lazaro became the fifth finalist sent home from American Idol's twelfth season after he received the fewest home viewer votes following Wednesday night's performance show, which featured the Top 6 finalists performing two songs -- one of which was from the catalog of Burt Bacharach and Hal David and the other being a song the contestants wish they had written themselves.

Lazaro's elimination became official after American Idol judges Randy Jackson, Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, and Keith Urban announced they were not going to prevent his departure by using their one "The Judges' Save" of the season. The decision would have to be unanimous amongst the judges to utilize the special save, and in Lazaro's case, the vote was not.
 
During a Friday conference call with reporters, Lazaro talked about his American Idol experience. Below is the concluding portion of Lazaro's interview. Click here to read the first half.

What do you think you're most looking forward to on the tour this summer?

Lazaro Arbos: The thing that I'm looking most forward to on tour would be meeting my fans backstage, interacting with them.  I'm so grateful for that, for their support, so I can't wait to meet them.


Did you have any idea that you would be leaving the show last night?  Did you have a feeling that it might be you going home or were you surprised?

Lazaro Arbos: I wasn't surprised because all the guys have been going home, so I wasn't shocked that it was my time to go home.  I think that all the five women left are so good and in all honesty, winning a TV show wasn't my main goal. My main goal was to get known and to become a performer.  I think I was closer to that.

Do you have any regrets about choosing the songs that you sang on Wednesday night?  Do you think if you had chosen a different song that it might have turned out differently?

Lazaro Arbos: Yes, the first song I sung on Wednesday night was kind of a hard song, where it had lots of minor key changes, so it was kind of rough.  But at the same time, I think I came back with my last song really well.  I don't think I had any regrets, because I think my last song, I did really well.

Is there someone you'd really love to sing with in the future, like a famous singer?


Lazaro Arbos: I think for the finale we are trying to sing with Cher.  That's my goal.

Nicki was always saying every week for awhile there that she believed that Jimmy Iovine was getting in your head, that maybe the advice you were getting from Jimmy was having an effect on your performances. Did you agree with Nicki on that assessment? What is it like being alone in a room with him?

Lazaro Arbos: Whenever we were in the same room for more than five minutes, he was like a mentor on the show that came in once in awhile. We never got to really interact more, but the times we met, he seemed really nice.  I kind of questioned that, but at the same time, I do think that his bad comments bothered me.  I did let him get me a little bit down.

How about working with guys on the group number with Burnell Taylor and Devin Velez? I know there was a little bit of confusion with the lyrics. What happened there?

Lazaro Arbos: We'd never heard that song in our lives.  I'm not talking for them, but when it comes to me, no.  I just think that what went wrong was that we learned them in such a fast time and then on top of that, when you add the pressure of live show, your nerves intensify.  I think then that's not very solid in your brain.  You can forget, yes.


Did you say that you were trying to arrange to sing with Cher on the finale, and if so, is she a big inspiration to you? Are you a fan of hers?  Do you know her songs?

Lazaro Arbos: I know her. Six months ago when the show came on, she saw me and she connected with me.  She followed me on Twitter and we've been talking back and forth since then.  I love her songs.

Before she reached out to you though, you were a Cher fan?  You were familiar with her music?

Lazaro Arbos: I wasn't too familiar with all of her songs because she came out way before me, but I do love some of her songs. I love "Do You Believe In Love?"  I love "If I Can Turn Back Time" and I love her.

Lazaro, any final remarks?


Lazaro Arbos: I would just like to thank everyone for taking the time to call and am sure you will follow me on Twitter for tour updates and the iTunes songs.  I love you.

During a Friday conference call with reporters, Lazaro talked about his American Idol experience. Above is the concluding portion of Lazaro's interview. Click here to read the first half.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski