Janell Wheeler: "I'm glad I went out that way"

In her conference call with the media Friday, Janell Wheeler displayed the same positive attitude she did after her elimination Friday night.

Here’s some of what she had to say…

On her elimination: “If there was any way to go out, I’m so proud of myself in the way that I did. Several of the girls have even texted me and just said, Janelle, you had so much poise, you were a class act and we look up to you and we really admire the way that you went out, and I felt like I kept it together, I sang my song better than I sang it the first time and I’m really happy with how it went. If I had to go out, I’m glad I went out that way.”

On the confusing advice from the judges: “I think I knew exactly what they wanted from me. I just was choosing to do it the second week. The first rehearsal with me and that song was a little more country; however, it lost a lot of its – just rugged sound and energy, so I did switch it back to the rocker version and I felt like it definitely pumped me up and helped me perform better. But I think that in order for me to really have secured a place to the next round, I should have gone ahead and brought the guitar out and performed a top 40 hit like American Boy, which I was definitely planning on doing next week. But I will definitely, as I progress in my future, I will be sticking with a style that I do best, which is so close to my Hollywood audition, the most memorable one, which was American Boy.”

On whether she saw it coming: “I’m a very hopeful person, but that day for some reason I just had this feeling inside of me. I couldn’t really explain it. I even called my parents and I said, be prepared because I don’t have a good feeling about today. Of course the reassured me – no, no, no – and I was like, okay, trust me, I know.”

On why she was eliminated: “I think it was just a matter of, people didn’t know how much they had to vote. People were just really trying to save those people that they thought were in danger, and because I didn’t really shine or get really bad feedback, I think I just kind of unfortunately just got lost in the mix.”

On what she was going to sing next week: “There’s a song currently on the radio and, I don’t know, I might be performing it coming up sometime, I don’t know. You might see me out there, so I’m going to save it.”

On what she’s going to do next: “I think I’m just going to try to do this on my own. Hopefully I’m Nashville-bound.”

Photo Credit: Frank Micelotta/FOX