Lacey Brown: "I'm very proud to be where I'm at"

When Lacey Brown was eliminated Wednesday night, she took it completely in stride, showing a lot of class in the process. She showed that same class in her media conference call last week…

Here’s some of what she had to say…

On whether the judges’ conflicting advice kept America from seeing what kind of an artist she is: “It’s difficult with the criticism that you hear because it has been a little bit confusing and, therefore, I would change things week-to-week, which can leave the audience kind of questioning who I am.

I would say, I’m a very different artist. I have a very different voice that’s not suited for a lot of different genres, but I really see myself doing more of like a pop folk mix of an album. I definitely can see myself making an album soon. I would love to do that if I get the chance to. And, you know, I just want to give people the chance to hear something that’s fresh and new and different.

There are not a lot of voices like mine right now on the radio, so I kind of take pride in the fact that I’m a lot different. I’ve always been a little bit more unique and individual, and I just try to embrace that and try to show that in my performances. So hopefully people can get that, and hopefully they like it, and so I’m looking forward to writing some new music that fits my voice and that people really like.”

On whether she had a sense of peace about being eliminated: “Yes. It’s really strange because I woke up yesterday morning and had the strangest feeling that I was going home. I hadn’t been tipped off by anything, hadn’t read anything, but really talked to a few of the other constants and just said, look. I’m going home, and they were like no, Lacey. You’re crazy. Why would you go home? Out of everybody here, why would you go home? And they were really supportive and really sweet, but I – something about it was just something was off, and so it wasn’t that I had made peace with it. I think I had just gotten used to it, you know.

It’s a hard thing to hear. But when you’re there in that moment, after you sing, you’re not in control of anything. And so it’s been a shocker every week who goes home sometimes and who stays sometimes instead of another person. That’s just the nature of the show. So it wasn’t a shocker, but it also came as like a realization; the reality of the fact was just a little overwhelming."

On whether it was harder getting eliminated the second time around: “You know, honestly it was hard both times because I wanted to get further last year, and I wanted to get further this year. They were equally hard. I will say hard is different from overwhelming. I’ve obviously gotten to the top 12. I’m in the number 12 spot in America right now as far as American Idol goes, and that is not a bad place to be in.

So was it hard? Yes. It was emotional, but I’m very happy with my spot. I’m very proud to be where I’m at. And I wish I could have gotten a little bit further, but as far as it being hard or easy, I don’t think that’s a decision I’m trying to make right now. It’s just been a blast up to this point, and I’m just really excited to be where I’m at right now.”

On what her downfall was: “You know, I would probably have to say energy. I think they kept asking for energy in my songs, and I kept trying to give it, and they kept trying to say, you know, it was a sleepy performance. They wanted to see a little bit more energy because I’m a happy and a lovely type of personality, and they just wanted to see that transferred into my music. The issue that I was having is, I really love to sing ballads. I love telling a story with a song. I love the emotion of the song. I’m very artsy, so that side of me comes out when I sing.

And so I think I kept picking songs that I really loved to sing and really felt, and maybe it didn’t transfer as well stage wise. And so maybe that was it, but I wouldn’t have changed any of it because that's who I am. Even though I’m a bubbly happy person, not every song that I sing is going to be up-tempo or, you know what I mean. If I could say anything, I would say possibly that. I’m not really sure, but even if it is, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.”

On how to handle being voted off: “There’s two different approaches that you can take to this being voted off. You can be happy with the situation and make the most of it, which is the route I’m trying to take. I haven’t put my focus on anything negative going on. I don’t sense that or do I think that anything, you know, anything like that was happening. This is a reality show, and this is a show that someone has to go home every week, and the fan base is very, very, very important. And I think it has been a shocker sometimes, but that’s just the nature, you know, of the beast that is American Idol. It’s how the show rolls. So, no, I think someone has got to go home every week, and if it’s you, then it’s you, and it’s out of your hands at that moment.”

On whether Melanie Safka’s version of “Ruby Tuesday” influenced her version: “You know, I definitely listened to her version, and there was a little bit of her arrangement that we tried to mix into my arrangement, but I definitely tried also to put a new spin on the song, so I don’t think my arrangement was exactly like anybody else’s. In fact, I know it wasn’t like anybody else’s. But there were some melody lines that I liked that she did a whole lot, so yes and no at the same time.

And I don’t think, if I had to do it over again, I would have done it more closer to the Rolling Stones side because I really loved the arrangement, and this is why I played violin for a long time growing up. And when I decided to put the quartet down on the stage with me and have that type of a symphony flow through the song, I was totally digging it and super happy with it. So there’s a lot that goes into arranging the song, and so I tried to make it as close to something that I would put on an album as possible. And so, if I had to do it again, I would do it the exact same way, but I definitely had a couple of different influences with the melody line.”

On what she worked on between last season and this season: “There were a couple technical issues with my voice because it’s a little bit different and there are not a lot of people that sound like me. I needed to go home and figure out what kind of songs worked for my voice because, you know, I tried out last year with a Patsy Cline song, and then I tried Joni Mitchell’s ‘Big Yellow Taxi,’ and different things like that, that seemed to work, but I needed to find more songs like those. I went home immediately afterwards and worked on learning as many songs that were great for my voice as possible, and singing them wherever I could, you know, as much as possible.

Also, I wanted to work on technical things like my falsetto and just different singer things, singer lingo that, you know, I think everyone should try to grow. There’s big artists that you see and hear all the time on the radio or on TV that have vocal coaches, so I definitely know that even when you make it, you’ve still got to grow, so I just made sure that I was doing that, working on my voice.”

Photo Credit: Michael Becker/FOX