Final Transcript
FBC PUBLICITY: American Idol Eliminated Contestant Call
March 23, 2012/12:30 p.m. EDT
SPEAKERS
Erika Van Pelt
PRESENTATION
Moderator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the American Idol interview call with Erika Van Pelt. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I’d now like to turn the conference over to, Michael Cilnis for opening remarks. Please go ahead.
M Cilnis Good morning everyone. Thank you for dialing into the American Idol Eliminated Contestant Conference call with Erika Van Pelt. As a reminder, Erika is here to talk about her experience on Idol and plans moving forward. As always, if we feel that anyone is harping on any one subject we do reserve the right to jump in and move the call along. With that said, we’ll take the first question. Thank you.
Moderator It’ll come from Mark Stone at Castanet Media.
M. Stone Hey Erika. How are you?
E. Van Pelt Hi Mark. How are you?
M. Stone I’m good. So it was really disappointing last night because you were fantastic.
E. Van Pelt Thank you.
M. Stone I really don’t get what those who didn’t vote for you didn’t see. I know it hasn’t been a whole day yet. But do you have any theories as to what people might have been missing?
E. Van Pelt Yes. You know what; it was one of those things that I feel like for the past few weeks, obviously, consecutively being in the bottom pretty much every week, I just really felt like I didn’t have enough momentum right out of the gate. Even though I was progressing every week and really coming more out of my shell, I feel like regardless of my solid performances I feel like every time I hit that stage it was one of those things where I just didn’t gain enough momentum at the beginning and, sort of, ended up lagging behind a little bit just in the eyes of the voters.
M. Stone Yes. Really weird. I know this is a strange question. But do you think that the hair transformation played any role? It was dramatic. Like, maybe …?
E. Van Pelt Very, very dramatic.
M. Stone Did it confuse people maybe? Like, who is this person?
E. Van Pelt I’m sure it confused some people that may have a little trouble either with change or with seeing a little outside the box. I don’t think it was detrimental to me. If anything, I feel like it got a few more people to at least notice. I was making jokes earlier on the competition that I felt like I was drowning in a sea of blondes, even though I’m a natural blonde.
There were a lot of blondes it seemed this season. This was my chance to break out. Tommy Hilfiger had the idea to go short in our image consulting session. It was my idea to go dark and just take it one step further.
M. Stone Well, you look great. You sound great. The best of luck for you in the future.
E. Van Pelt Thank you so much.
Moderator Next we’ll go to the line of Matt Carter with the Examiner.com.
M. Carter Hey Erika. How are you?
E. Van Pelt Hi Matt. I’m doing well. How are you?
M. Carter I’m alright. Well, you were so game to go on with what Tommy Hilfiger said. What we saw on the show this past week is not everybody was kind of feeling the same way. Why do you think some people were a little bit more hesitant maybe to take some of his advice?
E. Van Pelt You know what? I’m not sure, exactly. I’m so go with the flow. It’s hard for me to imagine not taking risks. I feel like I’ve always done that. I feel like some people may be afraid of change. On the other hand, people might just be so sure, so sure of themselves that they’re not willing to budge one bit. I can certainly understand it from both angles.
M. Carter Okay. One of the cool things is that you do get the opportunity to be on tour and spend all summer with these people. So what kind of friendships have you made over the time you’ve been there?
E. Van Pelt Oh, wow. I’ll tell you what. Like, there’s no way that with all the editing that happens in reality television that you can even get a fraction of the serious family bond that is in this group. We all, seriously, 100% love and support each other all the way. We actually drive some people crazy on staff and I’m sure the tour is going to be no different because we’re just having fun.
It doesn’t matter. We have 12-hour rehearsal days sometimes and we’re just all exhausted. But seems, somehow, to still be able to pull each other out of the darkness and get some serious work done. Literally, have fun every single time we hit that stage.
M. Carter All right. Thank you so much Erika.
E. Van Pelt Thank you.
Moderator Next we’ll go to the line of Todd Betzold with RealityWanted.com.
T. Betzold Hi Erika. How are you doing today?
E. Van Pelt Hi Todd. I’m well. Thanks.
T. Betzold Sorry to see you go. I loved you. I thought you were great.
E. Van Pelt Thank you.
T. Betzold The look was very sexy.
E. Van Pelt Thank you. I like it too.
T. Betzold Yes. Keep that up. A lot of people have been saying the judges should have used their save on you last night. Did you happen to get a chance to talk with the judges after the show to see maybe why they decided not to use it?
E. Van Pelt You know what, it was one of those weird things that I didn’t even think to ask them why they didn’t use the save. I had my, sort of, preconceived notions as to why they wouldn’t if I ended up in the bottom. So, for me, I was already, sort of, mentally prepared for that. I know that with what happened last season with Pia Toscano and them using their save early on with Casey that it was going to be hard.
It was going to be hard for me. They have a little post-traumatic stress which is understandable and feel like they may need to save it for an even crazier elimination. So I didn’t bother to ask them about that so much. I just wanted to thank them for giving me the opportunity.
T. Betzold Very cool. Before this you were a DJ like playing the music. Now, you’re singing the music. What has that whole experience been like for you, going from that to the big stage now?
E. Van Pelt Oh, man. It’s definitely crazy. There’s a huge transition that happens from stepping out from behind turntables. So, you know, when you’ve got 20 or 30 people listening to what you’re doing to literally millions of people watching you sing and pour your heart out onto a stage.
It’s just, there’s nothing like it in the world. It was certainly an adjustment for me to say the least. I’ve been on stages my whole life. But throw in cameras and lighting and audio and all these other crazy things. I mean, it’s just a whirlwind.
T. Betzold Yes. I think you did great and I think you’re going to go far. So best of luck to you and your future.
E. Van Pelt Thanks so much.
Moderator Next we’ll go to the line of Rick Massimo with the Providence Journal.
R. Massimo Hi Erika. How are you doing?
E. Van Pelt Hi Rick. How are you?
R. Massimo I’m doing okay. Sorry about this. So what are your immediate plans? When do you head back here and when can we see you around here?
E. Van Pelt I have to spend the rest of today in LA. I fly to New York tomorrow. I have a press schedule to do; the Today’s Show and Anderson Cooper and a couple of other things while I’m in New York City. Then I will eventually within the next week and a half or so make it back to Rhode Island, which I’m super happy about. I’m only going to be there for a few weeks. But I’ll get to at least go to dinner in Newport with the family or something before I have to come back out here for finale.
R. Massimo Okay. The Fall River Herald is saying that you actually have an apartment in Fall River. I know you’re from South Kingstown. But are you living in Fall River these days?
E. Van Pelt I am currently living in Fall River. I have been since October of last year. So it hasn’t been terribly long. But yes, I am technically a resident of Massachusetts.
R. Massimo Okay. All right. Well, good luck to you. Thanks.
E. Van Pelt Thanks, Rick.
Moderator Next we’ll go to the line of Michael Weinfeld with Associated Press.
M. Weinfeld Hi Erika.
E. Van Pelt Hi Michael.
M. Weinfeld Tell me about the nodule you have on your vocal cords and how that might have affected your performance?
E. Van Pelt Yes. Great question actually. This is a weird thing. I was actually listening to recordings of myself from four or five years ago when the nodule wasn’t present on my vocal cords and certainly sound completely different. I used to be more of a mezzo-soprano. Now, because of the node, especially, I’m certainly more of an alto.
It’s taking away part of my range, certainly, which is another thing that I felt may have been detrimental to me in this competition because people like to hear those high notes. People like to hear the high, sort of, belting and that’s just not my style. So, yes, it’s been hard. It’s certainly something that I’m trying to maintain and not let get any worse.
M. Weinfeld What are you looking forward to most about the tour?
E. Van Pelt Oh, man. I am looking forward to being able to go out there and perform for the fans and not have people judging. It puts a whole other perspective on performing for me. I always thought I was a really good performer and pretty natural until, I got on American Idol and I realized how much I had to stay focused because you not only have to think about your delivery and your vocals, of course, but now you have to think of which camera you’re supposed to be looking into at the right time. You have to worry about your in-ears falling out. You have to worry about your … might not being put on correctly or something. It’s crazy. There are so many elements.
M. Weinfeld That’s interesting. I’m not sure a lot of people would have even known that you were thinking about all those things. That’s interesting to point out. Thank you very much Erika.
E. Van Pelt Thank you.
Moderator Next we’ll go to the line of Michele Angermiller with The Hollywood Reporter.
M. Angermiller Erika. Hi.
E. Van Pelt Hi.
M. Angermiller I was so in your corner. I DJ myself, so I was like you’re my girl.
E. Van Pelt Oh. Thank you.
M. Angermiller So I have a question for you. How much did you agree with Jennifer’s critique about moving around on the stage? That she wanted you to move your body–get a little bit more loose with your body?
E. Van Pelt For me, I certainly didn’t agree with the critique mostly because I was singing “New York State of Mind.” Anyone that’s ever seen Billy Joel perform this song, sees Billy Joel sit behind a piano the entire time and still sell it, you know. I thought I sang it to the best of my ability. I was really, really connected to the lyrics.
New York holds a special place in my heart anyway. My cousin is a New York firefighter, and of course with all the ties to 9/11 and things like that, it was a special song for me to sing. So I was disappointed when she said that because I felt like she wanted more of, like, almost a fake performance. So people thought I was singing harder, maybe, than I actually was? Which didn’t really seem correct to me.
M. Angermiller Now next week was supposed to be a song by your Idol. Were you planning on maybe doing a Pink song or something, I was so hoping for that.
E. Van Pelt Yes. I can absolutely say that candidly. I was definitely hoping to maybe do a Pink song. But I’m hoping that I can still do some of that on tour this summer. We haven’t really worked that out, of course. We’re going to wait until we get a little bit closer to finale to start working on the details for that. But people can, more than likely, expect to hear some of that on tour this summer.
M. Angermiller Thank you, Erika. I think you’ve got a good career ahead of you. Hey, maybe get a radio show.
E. Van Pelt I appreciate that. I would love it. I would totally fit.
M. Angermiller Thank you, Erika.
E. Van Pelt Thank you.
Moderator Next we’ll go to the line of Michael Jodha with CTV.
M. Jodha Hi Erika. Thanks for talking to us today.
E. Van Pelt Hi Michael. I’m good. How are you?
M. Jodha My question is last night when you were singing for your life they kind of cut to the judges discussing whether or not they’re going to use their save as you were singing. It sort of showed them already getting to make their decision that they weren’t going to use it. I’m just curious, did that affect you on stage when you see that … try to ignore it. Or how do you gauge their reaction as you’re singing?
E. Van Pelt Yes, you know what? Not at all. This weird thing happens when I go into show mode that I black out a little bit. Especially if I know I’m being judged. The weird thing for me is the judges are actually like the last people I look at. I’m trying to engage with the people in the audience because they’re giving me the energy that I need to perform. I’m thinking about my family and friends back home. I’m not really thinking whether they’re going to save me or not.
M. Jodha My second question would be what kind of feedback did you get from your family and friends once you unveiled your look on the show? Would you be changing anymore as you’re going on tour maybe like a hot pink, like your Idol, Pink, or?
E. Van Pelt I would totally do it hot pink, purple, blue with blonde in it. I don’t care. I will do anything. I will do anything that I feel. I’m pretty fearless when it comes to that stuff as people got a look at this week. My family was not shocked at all.
I’ve always been a chameleon in the realm of hair dos. It’s been every color of the rainbow. It’s been permed. It’s had extensions, long, short. So they certainly weren’t surprised. Actually, most of them just laughed and said, “Oh, there she goes again.”
Moderator Next we’ll go to the line of Anne Oreskovich with PopCultureMadness.
A. Oreskovich Hi Erika.
E. Van Pelt Hi Anne.
A. Oreskovich I am major bummed. You definitely were one of the ones I was pulling for.
E. Van Pelt Thank you.
A. Oreskovich With this experience and having had the opportunity to work with so many people in the business, which mentor was the most beneficial to you?
E. Van Pelt I’ll be honest. I worked with some amazing people and took some amazing things out of those mentoring sessions; Mary J. Blige, Will.i.am, Diddy. But I feel like the person who, honestly, was the most helpful to me was Jimmy Iovine. He was there with the other mentors every single week and we sat with him every single week and talked about songs.
He’s such a heavy hitter in the industry. To hear him, also, pretty much be behind me after every single one of my performances. A couple times he had some, ‘eh eh’ things to say. Maybe he wasn’t that stoked on the performance end. But he always said that vocally I was one of the strongest. He went as far as to say the music is just in my blood. So that meant a lot to me coming from him.
A. Oreskovich What are you taking away from this experience at this point? I mean, there’s still so much more ahead of you with the tour and everything. Right now, what do you think you’re taking away from it?
E. Van Pelt Yes. Aside from all my amazing personal relationships, obviously, that I’ve built since I’ve been here and began this journey, American Idol has been the best catalyst for getting to that next part in my career. I’m 26 years old and I’ve been just working my butt off at home.
But in Rhode Island it’s really hard to get a career started. We’re a super small state. Not too, too much going on. We’re pretty low-key. I feel like I needed to make that move to either New York or Los Angeles to sort of get it kick started and American Idol was the perfect way for me to do that.
A. Oreskovich Great. Well, much continued success. Look forward to hearing you in the future.
E. Van Pelt Thank you so much.
Moderator Next we’ll go to the line of Beth Kwiatkowski at RealityTVWorld.
B. Kwiatkowski Hi Erika. How are you doing?
E. Van Pelt Hi Beth. I’m well. How are you?
B. Kwiatkowski Great. Elise and yourself are 28 and 26 years old, respectively, making you both the oldest contestants in the competition at this point. So since you both have landed in the bottom three a couple, if not several, times, do you find any correlation between your ages and the voting public? Like, do you think there might be a younger audience watching and maybe voting for the teens as a result because they relate to them more or something?
E. Van Pelt Absolutely. Absolutely. I would be a fool to say that I didn’t think that was part of it. Elise and I have talked about that at length. Actually, her and I were roommates through a good chunk of this process. Yes, being the two oldest, I think, definitely played a part in why we kept ending up in the bottom.
When it comes down to it American voters, the general public, really wants to feel like they can relate. I feel like Elise and I are the type of artists that are slightly more out of the box–a little less mainstream. So for a show like American Idol it’s not necessarily the easiest thing for us to break out and let people know that we can be relevant. We can be current. We can be mainstream. They just have to open their eyes to see it.
B. Kwiatkowski Sure. So what has the sentiment been amongst the girls this season? Because last season, the first four eliminated finalists all had been girls and the season prior to that was a similar situation. So was that something yourself and the girls have been concerned about or discussed before the finals began? I know that when I talked to Shannon last week she said that there was definitely a vibe of “girl power” amongst you ladies.
E. Van Pelt Yes. I feel like us ladies definitely felt like we had to bring a little something extra this year. There has been this, sort of, consistent–what seems like guy favoritism. But then again, we have to just be realistic and look at the main demographic for the show. There are a lot of teenage girls.
Of course, I keep saying if I were voting at home it would be hard for me not to vote for the really cute boys too. Let’s be honest. They’re very charming. They’re all extremely talented, extremely different, and just really great guys. So I can certainly understand where that comes from.
B. Kwiatkowski Okay. Thank you so much Erika.
E. Van Pelt Thank you.
Moderator Next we’ll go to the line of Katie Bruno with OK! Magazine.
K. Bruno Hi Erika. How are you?
E. Van Pelt I’m well thanks. How are you?
K. Bruno Good, thanks. So we were so bummed to see you go just like everybody else. Do you regret changing your look because Tommy Hilfiger said it would get you more votes?
E. Van Pelt No. I don’t regret changing it at all. The funny thing about that is when Tommy came on as an image consultant for the show and started working with our stylist, Soyon, it was more of just really impeccable timing actually because I had been thinking of doing something drastic with my hair regardless. What had actually happened up until that point is every time I asked to change my hair I was not allowed to because of consistency with the show.
They didn’t want to scare people before they had really gotten the chance to get to know me. So I wasn’t allowed to do anything with my hair. So it stayed, sort of, just normal. Had I been home, had I not been involved in this Idol thing. I probably would have been changing it every three weeks. It’s just one of those things.
K. Bruno Right. How did you respond to the judges’ criticism throughout your journey? Do you think any of them were particularly too hard on you?
E. Van Pelt I will admit that Jennifer’s criticism got to the point where it was a little much for me to take in and a hard pill to swallow because she made several comments starting back at sing for your life, that I wasn’t pushing hard enough. But what happened between Jimmy and the three judges and the producers and everybody behind the scenes; everyone is very opinionated in this business.
What ended up happening is I got really confused. I’ll be candid about that. I got really confused. I felt like there were a lot of comments that were contradicted from week to week between them. First, I wasn’t doing enough and then I was doing too much. Then I wasn’t doing enough again and then I was over singing. There was never a balance. I felt like I could never just sing and be myself because it was either going to be one or the other.
K. Bruno Right. Thank you so much. We look forward to seeing you at the tour.
E. Van Pelt Thank you.
Moderator Next we’ll go to the line of Rick Massimo with Providence Journal.
R. Massimo Hi again.
E. Van Pelt Hi Rick.
R. Massimo I just wanted to ask you, your last song last night, what’s going through your head at that point? I was like; I don’t think I’d be able to remember my own name under those circumstances.
E. Van Pelt Oh, man. This is when I know, honestly, that singing is what I was born to do. I honestly do go into blackout mode and my emotions are running so high. There’s such a fire inside of me that it’s really difficult to pull together. I sang for my life like several times. It just kept getting harder every time. It never got easier.
But for some reason I almost go on autopilot. A lot of things around me, a lot of the distractions, just disappear. It’s just me and that microphone. If that doesn’t tell you that’s where you’re supposed to be in your life, I don’t know what does.
R. Massimo Right. What’s your long term plan? Do you plan on staying in New England or moving out to Hollywood or something in between?
E. Van Pelt I absolutely love New England. I’m East Coast born and bred. So I feel like if I were to permanently end up somewhere, even if it had to be a heavier spot for the industry, so to speak, I would probably go to New York. I don’t mind the New England winters. It was actually funny because doing Idol made me really miss New England winters. I didn’t get to see it snow one time even though I heard that there hasn’t really been–
R. Massimo Yes. We didn’t have much of a New England winter anyway.
E. Van Pelt So regardless, I missed it anyway. But, yes, I would probably still end up on the East Coast eventually.
R. Massimo Thanks.
E. Van Pelt Thank you.
Moderator Next we’ll go to the line of Beth Kwiatkowski with RealityTVWorld.
B. Kwiatkowski Hey Erika. Just a follow up on what I was talking about before. American Idol hasn’t had a female winner since Jordin Sparks. It’s had only three women in the finale the last five seasons. Do you think because of the nature of the voting public that it’s a harder hill for female contestants on the show and do you think a woman can win again?
E. Van Pelt I think it is 100% harder for the girls, yes. Again, to be realistic, the voting demographic is a lot of adolescent females. I’m a female too and I’ve been a fan of the show since I was a teenager. So I totally understand. I do think it’s a harder hill to climb for the ladies.
Do I believe that a girl can win again? Absolutely, especially this season. I feel like all of the girls are strong contenders, all very different styles. Yes, absolutely. They have fierce competition with the boys because everybody’s bringing it this year. But, yes, I totally think a girl can win.
B. Kwiatkowski Okay. American Idol judges and mentors usually stress that the shows finalist should avoid singing songs recorded by some of the world’s best vocalist like Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and such because they probably will never outdo the original version. Looking back, I guess, do you regret singing the Whitney Houston hit for your save me song because it seemed to be a tough choice to take on considering you were pretty emotional in the moment and all that, you know?
E. Van Pelt Well, the whole save me song thing was sort of an interesting–how it came about was kind of interesting. I had used a lot of the songs that I had sung previous. I didn’t want to do anything that I hadn’t done with the band already. Do you know what I mean? If it came down to that and I did have to sing for my life I wanted to make sure that at least that part of it would be solid because those guys are great. They’re the best of the best.
Again, because the emotions were running high, I thought personally that the Whitney tune was one of my better performances just vocally speaking. I wasn’t afraid of not being able to pull it out because of emotions. I figured if I broke down in the middle of it, so be it. That would be the way that it would have to go. But thankfully it didn’t and I feel like I left on a high note.
B. Kwiatkowski Okay. What was your initial reaction when you found out about Jermaine Jones’ disqualification? What are your thoughts on the subject now that you’ve had some more time to think about it and more details have surfaced?
E. Van Pelt The whole thing with Jermaine–I still talk to him on the regular. It was shocking, for sure. We never expected that to happen, obviously. The circumstances were just so awful. They could not have really gone any worse for Jermaine at that one stage in the game.
But he’s doing really well as far as I know now. It’s just a matter of, again, that was the way that it was meant to be for whatever reason. Jermaine knows that, too. I know that there was a reason that I was the first out of the Top 10 to go home. I’m not quite sure what that is yet, but I’ll figure it out.
B. Kwiatkowski Okay. My last question, Erika, is now that you’ve been eliminated who do you think are the front runners to win this season?
E. Van Pelt I honestly can’t answer that question. It’s so weird to me because of the versatility of this group. Again, sort of, reiterating what I said before about like the guys and the girls. I feel like the girls having a little bit of a harder time. It’s just one of those things that I feel like everyone is way too different to even say. I don’t even feel people jockeying for position at the top. We’re all so tight. We all have a pretty good mindset. No delusions of grandeur. It’s just all about whoever deserves it–we feel like–will end up at the top. End of story.
B. Kwiatkowski Okay. Thanks so much, Erika. Good luck with everything.
E. Van Pelt Thank you.
Moderator The last question will come from Bill Pinella with the Santa Rosa, California Press Democratic newspaper.
B. Pinella Hi Erika. They saved the best for last.
E. Van Pelt Hi. How are you?
B. Pinella I’m fine. A couple of quick questions. One, have you ever seen the Idol tour yourself in person?
E. Van Pelt I have never gotten to go to the Idol tour, no. Unfortunately, what has happened ever since it began, I’ve been working. I am a self-professed workaholic. I take very little time off. Up until February of last year, I hadn’t taken a vacation in six years. It’s just one of those things. I just never got around to it. But I catch up on all the clips online. I always catch up. So I guess, I sort of feel like I was there.
B. Pinella Finally, now that you’ve gone through this whole Idol process and you’ve seen it as a viewer like us; and now from the other side of the coin which we’ll never see. Knowing that there are other shows that shall remain nameless they’re making inroads on Idol. What changes would you like to see them do? Do you think they could lose their popularity again at Idol?
E. Van Pelt I think, certainly, mixing up the themes would certainly help maybe with a little bit of the viewer loss. It’s one of those things that it’s cool to see the same things done year after year because you can sort of see how past contestants do in comparison to new contestants and things like that. But I feel like for a show as big as American Idol, it’s really important to make sure you’re constantly breathing fresh air and new life into it. American Idol is such a huge, huge show and has really become like a staple, I feel like, in American culture. Keeping it fresh, I feel like, is the main thing to remember.
B. Pinella Okay. Thank you.
E. Van Pelt Thank you.
Moderator I’d like to turn it back to Erika for any closing remarks.
E. Van Pelt I just want to let everyone know that I am extremely devastated, but obviously so much looking forward to what is coming in the future. I have big plans for myself. I have big plans for the tour this summer which is going to be great.
I just want to remind people that my songs are available on iTunes for download; every song that I’ve done on the live–the Top 13 so far. I’m even hoping to maybe get into some musical theater with Broadway. When the tour wraps, I’m going to be working on writing for my freshman album and all that stuff is going to be happening behind the scenes. So I’m very excited for tour this summer. I’m really looking forward to getting to see all of the fans and perform without being judged.
Moderator Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude your conference for today. Thank you for you participation and using AT&T Executive TeleConference.
April 1st, 2012 | 
Category: Travel | 
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