TVSquad

Despite a few amazing performances through his run on American Idol, Jason Castro seemed to be really running out of fuel by the end here. On the show he even said that he felt his inexperience was really starting to hurt him. He could barely handle trying to prepare two songs each week, along with the required group number choreography and those awesome Ford commercial shoots and flying to Vegas to help promote Cirque du Soleil, and was really sweating having to try and handle three more for next week.

It's easy to forget that Jason's only been singing a year or so, so unlike most of these other contestants who've been doing this for years in one capacity or another, he's not only new to singing competitions and performing, but new to the discipline of singing altogether. In Jason Castro's exit interview, he said he came into the competition just to see where it would go and didn't even consider the possibility of him winning until more recently.

Considering the criticism he took in earlier rounds for not taking it seriously enough and not practicing as hard or diligently as he should have, this fits. Jason is clearly a laid-back guy and he was just on the show having fun and seeing how far he could get. When it suddenly became even fractionally possible he could win, he started to take things more seriously, which in some ways seems to have affected his performances negatively. Maybe the nerves and anxiety kicked in. Of his departure he said, "I would have liked to go farther but I don't think I could have handled it," which I believe is the first time a contestant has come right out and said that they'd gone far enough.

When the judges started saying that it felt like they weren't getting the same Jason Castro they'd first put through into the competition, Jason felt he had to agree with them. "I was just feeling me losing that power," he said, " just because I couldn't connect with the songs. I really had a hard time when we picked it up to two songs. I wasn't committing to either one and I couldn't connect. You need time for that."

Jason also commented of his inexperience that "I just showed enough potential that I could potentially be somebody ... I'm very much what the show was originally about. I'm kind of as raw as it gets." These comments are especially telling in a season when the show has been criticized for the professional pedigree some contestants like Kristy Lee Cook and Carly Smithson have brought with them. At one time I believe contestants were scrutinized to ensure they'd never been signed to recording contracts, as the show was truly seeking undiscovered talent. In an attempt to bolster ratings maybe, those rules have changed to where they simply cannot be currently under contract.

These rules opened up the doors for all kinds of recording industry failures to creep into the audition rooms. And so when you have a truly new voice to the industry in Jason, and someone who is awkward in interviews and just completely not used to the spotlight and competition, as contestants like David Archuleta definitely are, they're going to resonate with the viewers at home. This is someone they can relate to because he's just a regular guy. He's overwhelmed by this whole experience, but he's embracing it and enjoying every moment. And Jason's going to keep on enjoying his ride however far it may take him.

Jason's Journey in Video (with a few bonuses at the end):

Elimination:


Top 4 (1) "I Shot the Sheriff", Bob Marley:


Top 4 (2) "Mr. Tambourine Man," Bob Dylan:


Top 5 (1) "Forever in Blue Jeans," Neil Diamond:


Top 5 (2) "September Morn," Neil Diamond:


Top 6 "Memory," Cats:


Top 7 "I Don't Wanna Cry," Mariah Carey:


Top 8 "Over the Rainbow," Israel Kamakawiwo'ole:


Top 9 "Travelin' Thru," Dolly Parton:


Top 10 "Fragile," Sting:


Top 11 "Michelle," The Beatles:


Top 12 "If I Fell," The Beatles:


Top 16 "Hallelujah," Leonard Cohen:


Top 20 "I Just Want To Be Your Everything," Andy Gibb:


Top 24 "Daydream," The Lovin' Spoonful:


American Idol was infamously not allowed to show Jason's Hollywood performance of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," so here's an earlier live version of it:


Jason also wanted to sing Sublime's "Santeria" but couldn't get it cleared, but here's what that might have sounded like:


And who can forget that Jason Castro appeared on the MTV reality show Cheyenne about the title character's attempts to make it famous. Jason was just one of the guys hanging around (with shorter dreads):



IDOL SEASON 7 FAREWELLS
#5 - Brooke White
#6 - Carly Smithson
#7 - Kristy Lee Cook
#8 - Michael Johns
#9 - Ramiele Malubay
#10 - Chikezie
#11 - Amanda Overmyer
#12 - David Hernandez
#13 - Danny Noriega
#14 - Asia'h Epperson
#15 - Luke Menard
#16 - Kady Malloy
#17 - Robbie Carrico
#18 - Alaina Whitaker
#19 - Alexandrea Lushington
#20 - Jason Yeager
#21 - Colton Berry
#22 - Joanne Borgella
#23 - Amy Davis
#24 - Garrett Haley