The three ladies left competing in American Idol could all be called Divas (with a capital D), but let's be honest: LaKisha Jones defines the friggin' word. Although she made a few missteps along the way (country week's ''Jesus, Take the Wheel''), few rafter-reaching vocals were more memorable than her fierce rendition of ''And I'm Telling You, I'm Not Going.'' Last week, her blown-out, sassed-up ''This Ain't a Love Song'' by Bon Jovi literally saved her from going home in a double-elimination week. This week's Barry Gibb theme wasn't so kind: LaKisha had to say goodbye. But before she left for good, KiKi dished with EW about that infamous kiss, what she would have done differently, and how she's survived without iTunes (what??) throughout the competition.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Last night after the results were announced and you did ''Stayin' Alive,'' it looked like you were overwhelmed. But your rendition was amazing. Were you having fun up there?
LAKISHA JONES: I was. And you know, they asked us — they asked all of us — if you go home, what song would you like to sing? And I said, ''Honey, 'Stayin' Alive!' 'Cause I'm gonna stay alive after American Idol.'' I would have sung a slow song, but I wanted to go off with a bang! I looked at the lyrics, and you know what, it says, I'm gonna be alright anyway. And that's how I was feeling. I'm gonna make it anyway.
I love ''Stayin' Alive'' — but it's a hard one to sing because it's so fast in parts. Were you afraid to do it?
I was a little nervous just because I know the song is so well known that I didn't want people to make bad comments about me trying to switch it up and slow it down a little bit.
Do you think those comments — about you slowing it down — were fair? Because that was the judges' biggest criticism.
I don't think that's fair — no. Because if I would've just did it like they did it, then he would have said, ''Where's the LaKisha at?''
I know, it's a really hard line to tow — making it your own, but keeping it the same.
Right, and I felt like that at that moment. You know, a couple weeks ago in the competition, I felt like, you know, I just can't win. And I got tired — and it's so overwhelming and I was just preparing myself to go.
So a couple of weeks ago you felt like it was gonna be over for you soon? But you didn't give up.
Yeah, I felt like my time was coming. I had to decide what works for me. And if it's for me to be here, then I'll stay, and if not...
NEXT PAGE: '' I had such a hard time choosing songs [this week] and I really was not at all...I don't think I was prepared. Because I just felt like this really wasn't my style.''
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