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Jason Castro: I Was As Happy to Leave As I Was to Make Top 24

“I’m very much about what the show was originally about – I am as raw as it gets,” Castro says.

He played the guitar and batted his eyelashes. America swooned – then voted. But in the end, looks and luck couldn’t save 20-year-old Texan Jason Castro, who fell victim to the Idol axe May 7 just shy of making the top 3. One of this season’s most outspoken contestants, Castro admitted in print shortly before his ousting that he was ready to go, but acknowledged to reporters the day after his actual exit that those comments were uttered out of “frustration.” “There was a lot going on that morning,” he says. “Things came across wrong.” Read on for more of Castro’s commentary on his on-screen persona, his Idol appeal, and forgetting the words during his May 6 performance of “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

LYRICAL LETDOWN
I definitely did not [forget the words] on purpose. I couldn’t believe I forgot such a popular line, something that’s, like, written on your soul. Somehow, it slipped my mind. But I definitely didn’t do that on purpose.

ELIMINATION EMOTIONS
Yesterday, I wanted to win. What it came down to is just my inexperience. Once we doubled up on songs, I wasn’t really being able to focus. My mind was just split, and I just couldn’t deliver either/or. I started playing guitar my freshman year of college and singing shortly thereafter. I was teaching myself, and so I would learn songs, but never learn them all the way through. Trying to learn two in a week was tough!

IDOL THOUGHTS
[People voted me through] just because I was so new at it. I think it just showed I could potentially be something. I think I’m very much what the show was originally about. I am kind of as raw as it gets. I hadn’t done much of anything singing-wise [before the show]. Maybe [viewers thought] I’d just be good on TV. I didn’t really consider it a real possibility that I could win until these last few weeks. And so I did kind of just wander in and see where it would go, and it started going, and then I was like, “Well, all right, I’m here. Might as well be in it to win it.” I made it farther than I ever imagined.

FROM FAN TO FAVORITE
I actually was a fan of the show, and during my sophomore year in college, [my brother and I would] sit down and watch American Idol every week. And I’d totally forgotten about that. We’d come home, and we’d be cooking and watching it. I always loved what the show was, and the challenges and stuff. I thought it’d be fun. And it was fun!

LOOKING BACK
I’ve been telling people I was as happy last night as I was when I found out I made the top 24. This whole time, I’ve had a blast, and I was trying, but it’s just really been hard. Before we found out the results, I was really starting to fear the week ahead, if I made it. How am I going to do three songs? I can’t even do two right, and with the hometown visit, it was just going to be a lot of work, even though it would have been so much fun. I was just freaking out about it, and so that was all building up, and so...I was ready to go either way. I just really felt relieved, like the pressure was off. I loved my time on there, and I would have liked to go farther, but I don’t think I could handle it, so I’m content.

BY ALLISON CORNEAU