By Victor Greto
MEADOWLANDS, N.J. — Was it just sour grapes that many if not most of the rejected “American Idol” singers streaming out of the Continental Airlines Arena across the river from the Big Apple on a hot Monday afternoon dogged the show and its unique way of picking America’s next idol?
Or, was there a grain or even a sandboxful of truth in the bubbling resentment exhibited by some of the more than 15,000 people who had not been picked?
Many of them gathered outside the entrance, watching a stream of other rejects pouring out through one door, and the intermittent trickle of those who were accepted out of another.
“They’ll be sad when I make it big,” said LaShonia Hunter, 23, of Stroudsburg, Pa., who was rejected earlier in the morning. “I’m not sad at all.”
“How can they tell you in 10 seconds whether you’re good?” asked New Yorker Bettina Levy, 27, standing next to her boyfriend Joe Greco, one of New York’s finest.
That’s how much time many of the would-be idols were given to show their stuff.
Levy sings for two bands in New York City, a wedding band and a cover band, she said. “I don’t need American Idol to tell me I’m good.”
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But the palpable disappointment from most of those hanging out afterward could not be disguised.
Danielle Talbot, 20, of Rahway, N.J., sobbed uncontrollably into the arms of her friends Cassandra Edwards, 18, and Lisa Cucciniello, 20.
Talbot had sung “Unchained Melody” to those judges.
Cute as a button and freckle-faced, Amanda Scott, 18, of Hatboro, Pa., daubed her eyes.
“They picked people who were just joking around,” she said, choking up.
She commiserated with her sister, Tyra, 23, who also was rejected, and their mother, Denise Supplee, who had accompanied them.
“Some of them were deliberately singing badly,” Amanda said. “It seemed like that’s what they wanted.”
Tyra said, “If we would have known, we would have done that.”
But Amanda didn’t go there. “I want to be a singer,” she said.
Ian Benardo, 25, of the Bronx, was selected.
When he came out of the special door, he jumped up and down for the plethora of cameras and reporters who surrounded him, mugging and stretching his rubbery lips for all to admire.
“Angelina Jolie is really jealous of these lips,” he preened.
Why was he picked? “My psychiatrist recommended me to the best vocal coach in New York City,” he said.
He had sung Cher’s “Don’t Call Me Baby,” but he also loves Barbara Streisand, he insisted, not wanting to play favorites.
“This is a milestone for me,” he said. “I am not only going to be the next American idol, I’m going to be a galactic idol.”
He also told everyone he had been in the Israeli Army for three years as a sergeant. “I had 60 guys under me. Literally.”
His elastic smile broadened as everyone began walking away.
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Kelly Carvin, 19, of Hamilton Township, N.J., said she felt a “wave,” a “vibe” that she was going to make it.
She didn’t. And watching a statuesque blond leaving through the special door, she said, “They picked her? Maybe they were looking for a Barbie doll.”
But even Barbie’s and Benardo’s choice could not turn resentful some of those who were rejected, despite their tears.
“I feel they made a decision that was right for them,” said 16-year-old Yasmin Griffin, of Plainfield, N.J. “I feel I have talent.”
But she could not stop crying as she held the hand of her mother, Linda Reid.
“I’ll be back next year,” she said. “If it doesn’t happen here, it’ll happen somewhere else.”
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Much of the rejected contestants’ resentment sprang from a strong belief in their own talent. They often looked stunned, unable to understand how their talent could possibly go unrecognized.
Many made up for it by crowding around television cameras outside, which were reporting the day’s events, and belting out their songs.
While their strong and sure voices were undeniably good, they also were as undeniably similar to the ones that preceded and followed them.
And not everyone who dressed weird was picked.
Lauren DePino, 24, a singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, dressed up in a $20 green elf outfit, complete with pixie dust.
“I did it to stick out,” she said of the costume and her choice of a song, “O Holy Night.”
“They said the level of competition was too high,” she said.
Lindsay Roginski, 23, of Fort Lee, N.J., was picked, and her modest demeanor belied that of Benardo’s goofy persona.
“I had a great feeling the whole time,” Lindsay said, standing outside the privileged door, chosen after she sang “Fame” to the judges. “This is what I wanted all my life, ever since I went to a Madonna concert when I was 5.”
Her mother, Stephanie Roginski, who drove all the way from Perrysburg, Ohio, offered a further explanation.
“You don’t see her kind of short, brunette hair everywhere,” she said.
Although she acknowledged her daughter’s undoubted singing talent, Stephanie just couldn’t help herself from saying of her beaming daughter, “She can’t cook, she can’t clean. She’s got to do something.”
Sheryle DiPinto of Wilmington thinks it’s negativity, encouraged by the show itself, that makes “American Idol” what it is, and determines its choices.
Judges did not pick her own son, Jeremy Cole, 25, who now lives in Brooklyn.
“I think the contestants are just stage props for the ‘real’ stars, the judges,” she said.
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Dave McDermott of Wilmington, whose rendition of Elton John’s “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me,” failed to give him a ticket of admission to the next round of auditions in mid-town Manhattan, also may have been close to the truth when he said, “It’s not real talent, it’s TV.”
“They cut so many good people, so I’m not worried about my talent,” said Sarah Czechowski, 25, of Salem, N.J. “It’s a TV show.”
Sarah’s calm acceptance of her rejection and realization that “American Idol” is just a TV show, however, did not stifle her disappointment.
“Because I wanted it so much, I probably was about to cry,” she said of her time in front of the judges. “I want it so bad. I want to make music.”
She may try it again, she said. And, despite the pain and tears, many others said they’d be back.
Ginger Clapps, 24 of Newark, N.J., sang about seven seconds of the gospel tune, “His Eyes on the Sparrow,” before she was rejected.
“‘You guys were wonderful,’” she said the judges told her and the group of other singers with whom she had been bunched, “‘but I can’t pass you on to the next round.’”
This, Clapps said, after the producers made everyone sing “Can’t Smile Without You,” for the cameras before the auditions even began.
It was a song she had never heard before, by an artist she had never heard of before.
Barry Manilow? “Don’t know him,” Clapps said of the most recent popular singer to make of a hit of the pop standard.
Her friend, Adam Cruz, 18, also of Newark, said he had heard of Manilow.
“His daughter hangs out with Paris Hilton, I think,” he said.
Sitting and holding her glitzy high-heeled shoes in a long-fingernailed hand, Clapps managed a smile.
“There’s always a next time,” she said.