On Thursday night, after the "American Idol" Top 12 was announced, the newly crowned Finalists headed off to Beverly Hills for a gala party.

HitFix spent four hours on the blue carpet, waiting to make sure we caught up with all 12 of the Finalists. While mostly we asked the usual softball questions -- What Theme Are You Looking Forward To? -- I'd like to think I got in some good fan-type queries as well. Like why the heck did Didi Benami not play her guitar for the first two weeks of live performances? And why doesn't Andrew Garcia tell the judges to stop comparing everything to his "Straight Up" cover? And what did Casey James think when the other judges started teasing Kara right in the middle of his first live performance?

[NOTE: 10 of the 12 interviews were 1-on-1s. With Casey James and Lacey Brown, all questions are mine unless otherwise noted. I just don't wanna get into that "exclusive" nonsense...]

Click through for pretty pictures and very minor enlightenment...