MANILA, Philippines - Simon Cowell?s criticisms could feel like Sweeney Todd?s blade at one?s throat. Last week, none of the ?American Idol? castoffs came out unscathed.

The acerbic judge was characteristically creative with his comments. He called Asia?h Epperson a ?second-rate Whitney Houston.? Kady Malloy?s personality was ?missing.? Danny Noriega?s performance was ?grotesque.? Luke Menard sounded ?too girlie.?

?Everyone says he?s kind of bitter, but he does know what he?s talking about,? said Epperson of her favorite ?Idol? judge, during an exclusive phone interview arranged by Star World. ?His being the harshest makes you want to do the best that you can do.?

Surely, the 19-year-old singer had hurdled bigger obstacles than harsh criticism. For one, her father died days before her AI audition. Her elimination from the talent search, she said, was part of God?s ?bigger, better plan [for me].?

?I keep in my head that my dad?s just getting me through all of this,? said Epperson. ?I believe I?m going to have a very successful singing career, as well as in acting or anything in entertainment. I have a pretty good head on my shoulders.?

She credited the ?Idol? experience for helping develop her as an artist: ?It really makes you compete with yourself. That?s what you should do anyway?do better each time you step out on stage. It definitely prepares you for the music business, because it?s not always pretty.?

Leverage

Despite the judges? saying that she lacked personality, Kady Malloy had enough spunk to get signed up for an album before she joined the show.

However, she conceded, the recording experience did not give any AI contestant leverage.

?I don?t think that?s very important because this industry is so unpredictable that anybody can fail at an album,? Malloy explained. ?Anybody can pretty much get a record deal.?

The Houston-based singer, who has the uncanny ability to imitate Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Gary LeVox and Cher, took a lot of flak for failing to show her own personality onstage.

?[The judges) would always try and make me feel like I didn?t have my own voice, when I can?t help but have my own voice,? the 18-year-old said.

?I tuned them out... because they?re only three opinions. They?re no more important than anybody on the street because, when it comes to music, everybody?s opinion is equal to me.?

Her advice to ?Idol? wannabes: Block the judges out when you?re performing.

Aside from pursuing music, Malloy is also determined to open an animal shelter and a kids? camp... and be a gay-rights advocate.

She said the latter is important to her because ?my best friend is gay; Freddie Mercury was gay. Nobody should be measured by their sexuality.?

YouTube videos

Danny Noriega, the sassy 17-year-old from California, couldn?t agree more.

?Your personal life and your job are two different things; people should respect that and [acknowledge] the fine line in between,? he said.

But Noriega discovered it was hard to maintain privacy with fans?and detractors?pulling up old YouTube videos of himself and a few other contestants.

?Something as simple as an acting video... could be blown up out of proportion and projected as your [real] character,? he said. ?It?s sad that people would do that to [halt] somebody?s success. We?re [contestants] all trying to be something in life right now? how could anyone want to pull us down??

Noriega was thankful for the positive feedback that balanced all the unwanted attention. He cited an 11-year-old boy who wrote to say he admired the singer for just being himself on the show.

?[A few others] also said it was cool, that they?d never seen that before in the show. I?d really like to inspire those little kids who think they can?t do anything because they?re different whether in sexuality or race,? said Noriega. ?It?s fine to be yourself and be successful.?

What he was most successful at was trading verbal jabs with Cowell and getting away with it. He called it ?a sarcastic thing.?

No compliments

Luke Menard rued that Cowell, who called his vocals ?too girlie,? never complimented him on cam.

?He really didn?t give me much constructive criticism, [just] degrading stuff that I took with a grain of salt. I tuned him out as well,? said the singer from Indiana.

With all that he had to endure from the judges, Menard learned to not take things personally, avoid all types of criticism?whether online, through friends or family members, or on cam. ?You have to have tough skin,? he said.

The 29-year-old is one of the Four Horsemen, a name that he, Jason Yeager, Michael Johns and David Cook called their clique that started on Day 1 in Hollywood.

Johns and Cook sailed through to the Top 12, but it was a bumpy road from the start for Menard, the Orlando Bloom look-alike who had left his a cappella group of six years for the show.

?It?s a huge risk [leaving his group], but you can?t further your career unless you?re willing to take such risks,? he explained. ?It brought me to ?Idol?s? Top 16; I?m hoping this will spur a big career.?