DANNY NORIEGA, 18, AZUSA, CALIF.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How's it going?
DANNY NORIEGA: Good. Sorry, I fell asleep.
Taking a little snoozer?
Yeah, I only slept, like, not even an hour today.
Oh, you didn't even get an hour of sleep last night? Did you go to the Top 12 party?
Yeah, and then I had to pack everything.
They kick you out that soon?
No...gosh! You make it sound like that!
Last night was pretty torturous, waiting there to hear your fate. What were you thinking while you were sitting there?
For a moment there, I thought that I was staying. Then I got this really ugly feeling, and out of nowhere, I just felt like I was going home. Then I started crying because I didn't want to see Ramiele's reaction. And then, I started seeing her cry a little bit, then I started crying more. Then it was just a big ol' cryfest!
Were you and Ramiele really close?
She's my best friend here.
I'm wondering: Why do you think you didn't get enough votes to make it to the Top 12?
I'm really not sure about that. I don't know. I have no regrets. I was myself through this whole competition. I don't know.
In the Idol world, most people are really humble and gracious. But you were sassy and in-your-face. Do you think people didn't like that?
No, no, no, no, no. The way I'm on stage to Simon and Ryan are totally different to how I am with fans or with other people. That's just my reaction — it's like sarcasm and is just the way we play around with each other. I don't really act like that with random people on the street. It's just more of a sarcastic, telling-off kind of talk. I just want to make that clear: I am not like that 24/7!
On the topic of song choice, what were you thinking? How'd you pick those songs?
They're just the songs that stood out to me. I don't know. If I could do something over again, I would definitely pick something else other than ''Jailhouse Rock,'' but there's no do-overs.
You made it through that week, but you'd still change it?
Yeah, I think I would. It wasn't my best performance. I wasn't too happy with it.
What kind of career are you going to pursue going forward?
I definitely want to get into TV, be like a TV personality. Get a hosting job or something — I want to do something with my personality. I'll do singing here or there, but I kind of want to do some TV stuff. Have a little show or something.
Who on TV do you admire?
I really like Kat Von D [tattoo artist and the star of L.A. Ink]. I like her little reality show that she has. I think that'd be really cool if I had a little reality show.
You should call VH1!
I would so be down. That'd be really funny.
So you're not going to pursue singing fulltime?
Singing is definitely my first love; it's just that it's so hard to do it. You can't please everybody, but especially with singing, people have the most different opinions. People will love you, people will hate you. You have to really do things right with that.
NEXT: Asia'h Epperson
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