'American Idol' Finalist Elise Testone: I Wasn't Rude To J. Lo

Thu, April 19, 2012 2:21pm EDT by Andy Swift 21 Comments

Elise defends her attack on the ‘Idol’ judges. Will her bad attitude get her booted from the competition?

Viewers were stunned when Elise Testone talked back to Jennifer Lopez on the April 18 episode of American Idol, but the controversial contestant doesn’t think she did anything wrong. “I don’t feel like I was being rude,” she told HollywoodLife.com and other outlets immediately after the episode aired. “The thing that compelled me to do it was [J. Lo] said I wasn’t … connecting with my song, and I didn’t want to stand there and smile.”

“I wanted to engage … and I didn’t discredit anything [the judges] said,” Elise continued. “I just felt like I needed to explain that I am always approaching my songs for an emotional standpoint, but maybe they brought to my attention that this competition is making me forget.”

We respect Elise for standing her ground, but we have a feeling her decision to challenge J. Lo may have also sealed her fate in the competition. We wouldn’t be surprised to see her voted off tonight. Would you?

— Written by Andy Swift, Reporting by Russ Weakland

Follow @AndySwift

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Well,I agree with Elise.I mean,why should contestants just stand there and smile as the judges are telling them how bad of singers they are?Would YOU just stand there and smile after you sang your butt off and poured your heart out with a song,then some judges said you were awful?NO!I surely wouldnt….BTW,I might try out next year….

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I disagree with you Patrice,for two reasons.First of all,judges are suppose to tell singers that they messed up or was awful,at least if the singer was.I would rather somebody tell me that I’m singing awful if I am,then just telling me lies.Saying that I’m good when I’m not.Second of all,okay it’s okay for people to have free speach,but she should know to watch her mouth on American Idol.Because anything somebody does wrong on that show,can harm them during voting time.

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Okay Liselle,first of all before you go disagreeing with people,make sure you spell right,ok?’Speech’ is not spelled like that.And also,J Lo,(that annoying woman),was just jealous at how great Elise sang.That is the ONLY reason why she told Elise that she was bad!Because the ONLY great singers on that show is Jessica Sanchez,Phillip Phillips,Colton Dixon,and Joshua Ladet.Oh yeah,and Elise.

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I think that the judges are very fair, sometimes we might not always agree, but we are not standing right in front of them live either, hearing exactly as they hear it, seeing it exactly as they see it. I feel also that alot of it has to do with the song choices. Sometimes they fit, sometimes they dont. Thats why that for me, sometimes, if i didnt know the song,.i didnt really like it. Not that they didnt sing well, its just that i would probably vote for someone that sang a song i know, very well. I know its got to be seriously hard pressure to be there, and be judged, and maybe sent home, but also, they should remember that there is like millions who would do anything to have the chance they have, and all the wonderful extras they get from all of this, and that you can tell the judges do like them all very very much. They try to help them, they certainly dont try to get them kicked off. When they play the little back tape of the time they had there, they have so many praises about them, dont they remember that part? No one is going to feel like they should have been taken off, but they should keep those feelings to themselves, and be grateful for what they got to do. It will only put them in a shameful public possition. Those judges are the ones who got you there in the beginning. And, by the way, the judges are not the ones who took you out.

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Everyone lets rally around Elise. I use an iPhone app called A.I.Vote that allows me to text 50 votes a minute. So I can vote about 5000 times in two hours. If we all vote 5000 a show for Elise I think she would win. That would be great. So everyone download A.I.Vote and vote for Elise as many times as you can. Good Luck Elise

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She needs to learn how to accept constructive criticism more gracefully. She is a great singer, but everyone could always grow and become even better. I think this is why she’s always in the bottom. Don’t be so defensive girl! It doesn’t look good on you.

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Can the judges be any more obvious who they want to win? If I were Elise I’d be frustrated too because they obviously don’t know how to mentor her talent. I noticed Elise looked miserable almost since the top 12 when she realized the judges had their favorites they were pushing. It’s not easy standing in front on America every week getting criticized by judges who obviously have biases and attempt to bias America into voting for their favorites. She’ll probably be glad when she’s voted off this sham of a show.

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I agree with Blo1. There’s something about her that puts me off every single time I saw her, not to mention the sour face everytime she gets criticized! If she thinks she’s such a great artist who needs no constructive criticism, why is she in the bottom 3 A LOT??? She can get a standing ovation from my tallest finger. I can’t wait to see her go!

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i agree. and, unfortunately for her, i think she’s screwed herself with all of the whining on the past two shows. she needs a very big “come to jesus” moment off stage to get her attitude in a place where she can progress. right now, she’s too focused on “it’s not fair” and chasing after something she is not. i really believe she needs to come back with a “F- You” attitude (meaning, mad, not whining) in her music- and be gracious (not f- you) to the judges when they judge her, if she has ANY chance of making it past next week. i’d be happy to support her once/if she clears the hurdle of this bad attitude she showed us this week. i mean, i don’t want to HATE her, but i am hating what she puts out there right now!

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I wish people will stop picking on Elise! – I totally agree with Simi – as far as I’m concerned I love Elise’s voice – clearly most of America still does too! I don’t think all of J Lo comments were valid, Elise does connect with her audience through her music and vocals – she doesn’t have to be ‘plastic’ with her expressions to connect with her audience – Elise’s voice comes from the soul.

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huh? where do you get “most” from. at best, all she’s had to do is get more votes than one other person. that doesn’t mean that “most” of america loves her voice. i mean, i LIKE her voice, but i don’t think she fits in this competition. i think she’s always chasing votes and trying to go mainstream to win, but she’s lost sight of herself in the meantime. i don’t find anything (except zepplin) that she has done interesting, and jimmy nailed it. she needs to pick the most rockin song in her repertoire, and nail it to the zeppelin level- or be gone. i mean, if adam lambert could keep who he was and go to the finals- she should be able to do the same. but instead of putting herself into it the way he did (not that many can compare to what he did), she has tried to turn herself pop. in any case- long story short, she needs to have a major change of performance and attitude if she expect to sing past next week- b/c i think you’ll find that “most” of america is sick of her whining and bad attitude. just saying, “that’s okay” doesn’t make it any less of a complaint when you tell the world that the judges are being harder on you than anyone else. c’mon elise. you’re the adult up there- start acting like it. if you need an emotion, skip “disheartened” and go to ANGRY and nail something rock about that.

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The judges keep changing the goalposts…
How many things can a singer do at once. Besides you can’t satisfy everyone …Elise I love you….your voice reminds me of Janis..so raw and sultry….maybe Jennifer is jealous

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Sometimes the judges need to hear a response also! Yes even the judges say the wrong thing at times! To be rude back is not correct but to speak from the heart isn’t wrong!

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I think J Lo is great but keep in mind Elise is our next great talent. She has it all remember The News Today Will Be The Movies of Tomorrow.

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She’s soooo annoying and needs to go. She’s acted like a baby all along, sulking everytime she’s been in the bottom 3.

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i don’t even understand what she’s saying? i agree that maybe she shouldn’t smile while being given bad news, but the rest means nothing. j.lo. said something she didn’t want to hear, so she jumped in and spoke over her to disagree in a passive aggressive way. by the end, she seemed to realize that whether she feels she’s connecting or not, the audience (who isn’t voting for her) and the judges probably have more insight than she does… and ditch the excuses about the time constraints. the others have successfully overcome that. also, she didn’t seem to get when jennifer was trying to tell her about her eyes lighting up… elise does have ‘dead eyes’ or ‘bedroom eyes’ or something. they aren’t very expressive and maybe she needs to do something to overcome that. nobody disputes her talent, so she has to figure out why people aren’t voting for her- and rather than be passive aggressive and argumentative about it, she should’ve just internalized and thought about j.lo.’s perspective and whether or not that could be what she’s getting wrong- cuz she admits she doesn’t have the voters! does she have a better idea of why that is?! in any case, her comments make no sense… and she did RESPECTFULLY disagree, but i think that disagreeing at all is a bit arrogant. know who you are, and take or leave the comments given to you. don’t argue or explain. if you even have to go there, you have lost.

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she needs to go—jlo was giving constuctive criticism . it’s up to the judges an audience if she connected and jlo is right. if u cant take criticism the music business might not be the best place

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i am impressed that j.lo. goes out of her way to try to tell people things to get them to the next level. instead of giving up on elise b/c the voters have never liked her, she is still trying to give elise ideas and things to try. she could’ve just blown smoke up it, so elise should watch it. nobody will want to give her suggestions, and she needs them.

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Well “gbtw” maybe it’s just as well that the judges don’t give suggestions. Think about it..there is no consistency in any of the judges comments. As someone else mentioned, they constantly move the goalposts. One moment they are praising metered restraint, the next they want more emotion. I would love to share Steven’s halucinations that conjure up some of his comments “the song climbs right up inside you…”??? And Randy loses a credibility every time he calls one of the girls “dude”. Come’on Randy, that don’t play even in the hood without a degree of disrespect… And JLO, aside from her performance in “Selena”, a lifetime ago, she has done nothing of note since that even remotely warrants her giving advice about anthing, especially music.

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i see what you’re saying, but i don’t really agree on all points (but some!). before idol, selena was the only thing i ever really liked about jlo, too- but, she is a big star, talented singer or not. she has fans and has made people connect to her and like her. just b/c she may not have the best voice, she has been in the business and has more experience with what flies and what doesn’t than they do. i agree that sometimes the judges are off base, and i think the pop music business is somewhat of a crap shoot (love britney- but she didn’t become a star with her voice talents), so it all has to be taken with a grain of salt b/c nobody really knows at the end of the day what people are going to like- b/c one day they like one thing, and the next they are sick of it. to me, jennifer was giving elise some ideas of ‘maybe this is why you aren’t getting votes’ and elise needs to consider whether or not she agrees and whether or not it works for her, and take ownership of her performance instead of thinking of it as, ‘but you said…’ the judges don’t vote or decide, so everything they say is just an opinion and should be taken as such- to be agreed with or disagreed with. they’re doing the same with jessica- jimmy now thinks she needs to do less-mature songs which i think is going to be a DEE-SASTER! (think how she did with ‘turn the beat around’, not lovin’ it.) in any case, i don’t think the judges even set the goal posts- they’re trying to figure out america’s vote the same as the contestants, and they’re sometimes just giving them things to try b/c they don’t understand it either. they’ve always loved elise, and they’re trying to figure out why america doesn’t. i think elise should appreciate the effort to assist her, and not think that they’re the ones determining what goals she has to meet. only each person voting knows what the goals are, and we change our minds every day.

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