Ousted “American Idol” contestant Colton Dixon says his performance of Lady Gaga’s hit “Bad Romance” likely turned off voters who shared his Christian beliefs.
Dixon, 20, from Tennessee, said he was still in shock over being booted off “Idol” Thursday night — describing his elimination as a “bad dream” to reporters on a conference call yesterday.
“By choosing ‘Bad Romance’ I think I turned off a lot of my core voters,” he said. “It was a bad risk to take because I didn’t really think it through. I think musically, performance-wise … I was happy the way it turned out. But the message that was portrayed wasn’t really who I was.
“I overlooked that this week and I lost sight of what I normally think of first.”
The “Idol” judges also disliked Dixon’s performance, and showed little enthusiasm for his second song — a stripped-down piano version of the Earth Wind and Fire hit “September.”
The combination put the popular singer in the bottom three for the first time after public votes were counted.
“It all happened so fast,” Colton said, “and since I had never been in the bottom I didn’t fully understand what was going on and even this morning when I woke up, I was like ‘oh wait, that wasn’t a bad dream last night.’ ”
But Dixon said he hoped to forge a career singing Christian music.
“I am so thankful for the ‘Idol’ platform and I was able to reach so many more people in the Christian market … It’s about ministry for me,” he said.