Lilly Scott feels her experience might have actually hurt her chances as an American Idol hopeful.
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"American Idol is really about finding that amateur artist that's so vulnerable and then turning them into the huge pop star and I thought going into the competition with a lot of experience under my belt would be a good thing," she told reporters during a Friday conference call.
"But I guess it turned out to be a not so good thing."
Scott, Alex Lambert, Katelyn Epperly and Todrick Hall were all eliminated from American Idol's ninth season on Thursday night after receiving the fewest home viewer votes following Tuesday and Wednesday night's broadcasts of the Top 16 semifinals performance shows.
"The people that I thought were going to go home were completely different than the people that left last night, including myself. It's really strange," Scott told reporters.
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"It seems like people that are roommates have gone home on the same night. And it's really strange. Katelyn and I were roommates and Todrick and Alex were roommates and [previously-ousted semifinalists Janell Wheeler and Ashley Rodriguez] were roommates. So, it's this repetitive thing that's becoming very strange, but then, again, that just might be a twist of fate and how it works out."
After her elimination, Scott admitted "I don't know what America wants to hear" and explained that comment to reporters.
"I really just kind of wanted to break the mold and just kind of be that offbeat contestant that did exactly what I wanted to do and really just kind of explained myself as an artist with my song choice and I definitely have no regrets in that department," she said.
"But just kind of watching certain people make it into the Top 12 that had kind of not done so well over the past three weeks and then basing judges' comments on my three songs the past three weeks I just was kind of frustrated, just kind of feeling like my fan base wasn't really there, even though the producers and judges seemed to love me and I was feeling like I was having a great run on the show."
In hindsight, Scott said she can't blast her fanbase since it probably doesn't watch much American Idol.
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"My voting demographic is probably more of the underground scene who probably doesn't even own a TV and if they do they're probably out riding their bike or doing something more productive than watching TV, let alone American Idol," she said.
"So, I don't know. I guess they just weren't voting and that just definitely was my fault, so I don't know."
Scott had closed Tuesday night's show with a performance of Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces," and she thinks the song selection might have hurt her.
"I picked that song because I love Patsy Cline and it really describes who I want to be as an artist. But then, again, the American Idol voting demographic is probably mostly Tweens, you know, like 11 and 12-year-old girls and I'm sure they don't know who Patsy Cline is. So, that definitely kind of probably affected me," she explained.
"But I'm staying true to my song choices and I'm definitely having no regrets. I just feel like maybe my fan base and the audience I was playing to, which is the underground market, probably literally wasn't watching the show and just supporting me in their hearts and not actually voting."
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Scott added she would "love" to know the voting results to know how close it was.
"I don't want to think that anything is rigged, but I would also like to know how many votes I really did have," she said.
Regardless of her vote total, Scott said she's happy with how she represented herself.
"I knew I probably could have kicked butt in the Top 12, but maybe I was just too off the wall for people or maybe it was just my time to go out with a bang so I can still keep my Indie cred and kind of do my own thing without having the American Idol over my head," she said.
As for what's next. Scott said she wouldn't mind performing on the "big summer festival circuit" and added "recording is definitely on my list of things to do."
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"I know there's a fan base out there for me that is loving what I'm doing. I just don't necessarily think that would be American Idol voting demographic," she reiterated.
"So, that's kind of what I worried about day one of being on the show and I thought I could break the mold, but I guess it's another season of the same old stuff."
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio