Piano Unmanned: Did Mixed Signals Seal Scott's Fate?
Idol says goodbye to Scott MacIntyre.
Scott MacIntyre stands by his decision to bring out his axe and eventually "go out in a blaze of glory" with what would be his final performance on American Idol. But he does have a tiny bone to pick with Paula Abdul, who for weeks recommended that he take a break from tickling the ivories.
"Simon [Cowell] said it all that night, when [Paula] suggested that I come out from behind the piano: 'I don't think you'd ever see Billy Joel [do that],' or Elton John, Bruce Hornsby, Stevie Wonder...," says MacIntyre. "And from what I've heard, they don't."
"That's really where my heart is, when I'm at the keyboard," says the legally blind singer. "It's another layer of expressivity."
Nonetheless, Scott stood tall and strummed at his guitar as he crooned "The Search Is Over." The panned, piano-free performance led to the 23-year-old's time on Fox's star search being over.
"It's very common where [the judges] tell you one thing one week, and then they tell you the opposite the next," MacIntyre says of the conflicting critiques. "But I stand by my performance. I respect the judges and I'm so glad that at least two of them were tempted to keep me on [via the Judges' Save]."
Looking ahead, Scott plans to make the most of his eighth-place finish, which he believes is as valuable as coming in third.
"Everyone at this stage of the game was won in their own right," he says. "It's really what you do with the opportunity you've been given. Now that America knows my story, I'm going to do everything I can to make the transition from being known as 'Scott from American Idol' to 'Scott MacIntyre, the singer-songwriter.'"
For the latest on American Idol, tune into TV Guide Network's Idol Tonight every Wednesday at 8 pm/ET and Idol Wrap every Friday at 8 pm/ET with co-hosts Kimberly Caldwell and Justin Guarini. Plus get more on your favorite Idols every Friday with American Idol Rewind at 7 pm/ET.