Alaina Whitaker Glad She Gave Her Final American Idol Performance
Writing by Joe Reality on Saturday, 1 March, 2008 at 11:40 am

When Ryan Seacrest delivered the crushing news to Alaina Whitaker that her American Idol journey had ended, Alaina sobbed, “I can’t sing. Sorry, this is embarrassing.” However, after some words of encouragement from Ryan Seacrest and Paula Abdul, a round of applause from the audience, and support from her fellow American Idol contestants, a shaken Alaina Whitaker did give her farewell performance.

After having a night to reflect on her experience, Alaina Whitaker expressed a brand new outlook to reporters. Witaker said, “Last night, I had so many emotions, you know. I had so many thoughts going on, so now like the next day, I can really look at it, and it’s like I can take so much away from this, you know, because how many people get to say they were the top ten girls in America. So, it’s like a blessing, and you know, like last night I was just so emotional, because it was just kind of surprising, but it’s better now.”

After the results were announced, fellow American Idol semifinalist Kady Malloy seemed just as surprised as Alaina Whitaker. Whitaker explained, “We were really good friends. We had hung out a lot through this whole thing, and it was really sad that it came down to me and her. She was actually really shocked. She told me that she thought she was going to be the one going home, and like I kept telling her all day, ‘you need to stay really positive, because you know it’s like really bad to be really down on yourself.’ So, it was kind of ironic when it came down to me and her, but I’m really happy for her, she has a great voice.”

One piece of comfort that Alaina Whitaker can take is that many American Idol fans were shocked by her early elimination. Whitaker said, “It means a lot to me that people were, I guess, I mean that’s a compliment that they were shocked. So, they didn’t think that I was going to go. So, that definitely makes me feel better about it, but you know, I said this earlier that like only one person doesn’t have to go home, and I got a lot of exposure, and I’m so thankful for that, because there are so many artists out there that would just die to have one minute of exposure on television, and I’m so thankful that I got a lot of exposure. So, hopefully a lot of opportunities will come out of it.”

There was also at least one person that took it even harder than Alaina Whitaker. Whitaker explained, “During it, I definitely, obviously everyone saw I cried a whole lot, but afterwards…after an hour of two, I got it together, I got my composure, but my mom was still going. She was still like shocked and really sad, but today’s a lot better since I can look at in a different way.”

Even though Alaina Whitaker didn’t want to perform initially, she is now happy that she did. Whitaker said, “I’m so glad, you know. At the time, I had so many thoughts going through my mind, and so I had a lot of emotions, and at the time it was like I was saying ‘I can’t sing right now,’ but I knew in the back of mind that I was like ‘I have to do this.’ You know, this is like the end of my journey. It’s going to be a good ending to it. I think the real factor last night was just like ‘how?’ How am I going to remember my words right now? How am I going to make it sound good when I’m like crying? But I’m really glad. I think I would have regretted it if I hadn’t sung.”