Tulsa teen talks about life on ‘American Idol’

Obstacles it seems that Alaina Whitaker will have to overcome on her quest to be the next “American Idol”:

She’s only 16 (last year’s winner, Jordin Sparks, was the youngest ever at 17).

She only got about two minutes of airtime during auditions and wasn’t shown singing during Hollywood week (Kelly Clarkson wasn’t shown at all during season one auditions, but that didn’t hurt her much).

She might sound a little bit too much and look a lot like some other “American Idol” from Oklahoma ... you know, that Carrie Underwood girl from Checotah. The one with all the Grammys?

“I love Carrie Underwood. I have both of her CDs, but I’m just trying to be me, I’m not trying to be Carrie Underwood,” Whitaker said in a recent phone interview from Los Angeles. “If I were going to be compared to anyone, though — that’s definitely a great person to be compared to.”

So she’s not worried and neither are her fans, because Whitaker has faced plenty of tough competition before — and managed to sing her way to a win.

Whitaker,

Her favorite singers include Martina McBride and Celine Dion (she’s got tickets to Celine’s big show at the BOK arena Nov. 13).

And yes, she primarily sings country, like Carrie Underwood. For her audition, she chose “Stronger,” a song from another one of her alltime favorite singers, Faith Hill.

Her performance impressed judges, as well as her confidence (her response to the judges comment that she looks like Underwood: “I’d like to think Carrie Underwood looks like me.”)

Judge Simon Cowell’s barb during auditions (he told Whitaker she’s not as good as she thinks she is) left her a bit speechless, she said, but she heard from other contestants that he “actually said that to a lot of people this year.”

“I did not know how to respond to that,” she said. “I was like, well, what do I say to that? I don’t think that I have a huge ego — I don’t even sing in front of my friends, really, because it’s too weird.”

Danielle Watson, Whitaker’s teacher and pom squad coach at Metro Christian Academy, says Cowell’s comment may have caused viewers to get a wrong impression of Alaina.

“She has always been really humble,” Watson said.

Being away from her friends and teachers at Metro Christian, where she’s gone to school since she was 3, is one of the hardest parts of making it to the top 24, Whitaker said. When she’s home, she looks forward to hanging out with friends, shopping and watching movies (her all-time fave is “Grease.”)

There’s another very successful country singer from Oklahoma she has something in common with, too: She sang at Country Fever on the same night as Reba McEntire.

Whatever her odds are, she’s not too nervous about performing live on television in front of such a huge audience, and she said she’s looking forward to letting viewers decide whether she’s Oklahoma’s next “American Idol.”

“I’m excited for America to have their say,” she said.

Cary Aspinwall 581-8477
cary.aspinwall@tulsaworld.com

This week:

“American Idol” Top 24

Tuesday, 7 p.m.:

Top 12 men perform

Wednesday, 7 p.m.:

Top 12 women perform

Thursday, 7 p.m.:

Results show, four singers will be cut

All shows on Fox channel 23 (cable channel 5)