American Idol's Lilly Scott

The American Idol community is still buzzing over this year's loss of contestant Lilly Scott. She is a twenty year old Indie artist who received nothing but great reviews from American Idol judges Randy Jackson, Ellen DeGeneres, Kara Dioguardi, and Simon Cowell. On that dreaded Thursday night, it came down to Lilly Scott and Katie Stevens for the last stool in the coveted top 12. Kara mentioned that it was odd seeing these two contestants standing here together. She stated that Katie was not sure what type of artist she wanted to be and had been having difficulty picking the right songs, while Lilly was very consistent in picking good songs and that she was fully aware of the type of artist she was.

Most people expected that Katie was the contestant going home, but when Lilly's name was pronounced as the one going home, everyone was shocked. A glance at the judges from the cameras showed them giving each other confused looks as they had made comments all season so far that they predicted Lilly would be in the top 4 or 5 easily.

Lilly obviously appeared shocked and confused. She was honest with Ryan Seacrest, the host of American Idol, and told him, "I thought I did really well. I just don't know what America Wants to Hear". She sang her final song, "I Fall to Pieces" by Patsy Cline and then watched the slide show of her amazing experience with American Idol along with the other 3 eliminated contestants for that night.

Korina Lopez of USA Today was fortunate to receive an interview with Lilly Scott after she was eliminated from the show. Lilly shared her feelings and her theories as to why she didn't make it into the top twelve with Korina during a phone interview.

"I wanted to break the mold and be that offbeat contestant that did exactly what I wanted to do and explain myself as an artist with my song choice. I have no regrets in that department. But watching certain people make it into the top 12 that kind of haven't done so well in the past weeks, and then basing on the judges' comments on my three songs, I was frustrated. I feel like my fan base wasn't there, even though the judges and producers seem to love me. And I felt like I was having a great run on the show. But I guess my fans weren't there. So that's why I said that. But then I think my voting demographic is more of the underground scene, who don't even own a TV. They were probably all out riding their bikes and or doing something more productive than watching TV, let alone American Idol."

Lilly also told Korina that contestants can't simply pick any song they want to perform and do their thing. They pick a song that they would like to perform on a live show but have to run it by American Idol producers first. If they don't think the song is popular or well-known, the contestant has to pick another song. Lilly says that there were other songs that she felt more comfortable performing with her unique Indie style like Radiohead, but that producers wanted her to pick more familiar artists such as Patsy Cline. Some people have speculated that singing the older song "I Fall to Pieces" by Patsy Cline may have contributed to her not receiving enough votes to stay in the competition, but she was following the orders of the American Idol Producers when making this song choice.

"The producers persuaded me against playing songs like that because they're less well-known than Sam Cooke and Patsy Cline. I actually did try to do Nude by Radiohead. But that didn't get cleared. So I thought that I love classic rock and I was going to make that my niche this season. But, unfortunately, indie underground music isn't really ready for a breakthrough."

Lilly also told Korina that she would love to see the statistics that are calculated after voting nights. "I would love to know the statistics; I don't want to think anything is rigged, I want to know how many votes I did have." This comment may imply that Lilly and possibly other contestants may sometimes feel that voting is rigged. Many American Idol fans write about topics in the discussion forums on the American Idol website and many of these conversations have asked other users if they think the show is rigged. While it would be nice not to have to worry about such a scenario, it could be possible. Many times throughout the shows various seasons there have been amazing contestants that are doing great and expected to do very well in the show who shockingly get eliminated despite huge fan backing. Many fans have questioned this, and if the show would share these statistics at least with the contestants themselves, it would put this speculation to rest.

So what does Lilly Scott plan to do in her future to continue her singing career? "I feel like I would fit in the big summer festival circuit, like Coachella and Bonnaroo. I could have a different kind of audience if I could go on tour that way. I want to do some mass touring. Recording is on my list of to-dos. I know there's a fan base out there, but I don't think it was the American Idol voting demographic and that was what I was worried about from Day 1. I thought I could break the mold, but I guess it's another season of the same old stuff."

So for all of the Lilly Scott fans out there, plan to see her recording an album and touring. She is definitely not a quitter and is already planning her next steps in achieving her biggest dreams. To see the entire interview of Lilly Scott by Korina Lopez of USA Today, visit: http://usatoday.com/life/music/news/2010-03-12-idol-scott_N.htm.