'American Idol': Colton Dixon on singing Lifehouse, his faith and that elusive standing ovation
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On a night where the "American Idol" judges were giving out standing ovations like Halloween candy (they stood up no fewer than five separate times), it seems a little strange that Colton Dixon, the competition's so-called third dark horse, still hasn't seen the judges leap to their feet after one of his many solid performances."I'm working on it," he tells Zap2it after his emotional performance of Lifehouse's "Everything" on Top 9 night. "I'll get one!"
Dixon's fellow finalist Elise Testone totally thinks he was robbed of that elusive standing O. "I still think you should've gotten one too," she says.
But Testone has a theory. "Here's what it is: Colton comes on 'American Idol' all perfect and ready to go. There's never been a problem. I've never heard a bad comment. Really, not a bad comment. Steven said he didn't like the song, but that was because of the song. That's the only thing ever that anyone's said. So I think they're trying to be hard on him so he keeps pushing and pushing. [Turns to Dixon] So then when you get one, it's just going to be 'Holy crap,' you know what I mean?"
While we'll anxiously await that big moment, Dixon is just relishing in his performance that kicked off an all-around excellent show.
"The song is my favorite worship song of all time," says the 20-year-old. "What I love about it is [that] I don't know if they originally intended it to be a worship song, I just connect with it that way -- the bridge, 'You're all I want, you're all I need, you're my everything.' Man, it took everything not to cry -- like full-on cry -- on that stage. It means so much to me and my faith, I'm so glad I got to do it on stage."
But don't think Dixon is trying to push a religious agenda in America's lap -- he was merely trying to show an important piece of himself with the world. "It's not that I'm wanting to throw my faith at people by any means, but this week is a song from your idols. This song is one of my favorite songs of all time, so I saw the opportunity, I took it, and it's something that connects with me and my faith."
You should also be glad that Dixon didn't notice his grandfather was crying in the front row during his entire performance. As a thank you, he jumped into the crowd to give him a hug during the commercial break, but says he wouldn't have been able to hold back the tears had he noticed earlier. "Thank god I didn't [see him] until after, because I would've lost it! Lost it. It would've been bad."
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