Lilly Scott: "It's another season of the same old stuff"

When she was shockingly eliminated Thursday night, Lilly Scott said one of the most honest phrases ever uttered on the “Idol” stage: “I don’t know what America wants to hear.”

And in her media conference call, Lilly continued to be VERY honest about why she went home and how the show is not a place for indie artists.

Here’s some of what she had to say…

On why she went home: “Originally trying out this year 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, 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.

But I guess my fans weren’t there so I guess that’s why I kind of said, “I don’t know what America wants to listen to,” but then, again, 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.

So, I don’t know. I guess they just weren’t voting and that just definitely was my fault, so I don’t know..”

On whether her song choice doomed her: “You know, yes and no. 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.

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.

And then there’s the whole deal with maybe people just assumed I was safe and chose not to vote. So, honestly I really have no idea what happened, though.”

On what she’ll do next: “I definitely feel like I would fit in the big summer festival circuit, doing things like Coachella and Bonnaroo and really doing some mass touring. I know that I can have a whole entire different kind of audience coming out to shows if I did tour. And recording is definitely on my list of things to do.

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 the American Idol voting demographic. 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.”

On whether she expected to go home: “You know, I did and I didn’t, but you know in the past years I have watched American Idol and it seems like very year the person that I fall in love with goes home. And I don’t know if that’s because I see true artistry in that contestant or what it is, but I definitely feel like I got cut early. I know that I could have done a great job next week with Rolling Stones and 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.”

On whether she’d like to know the voting results: “No, they don’t let us know any of that kind of stuff. It’s actually really unfortunate because I’m one to think, you know, screw the establishment and blah, blah, blah, but I would love to know the statistics. I don’t want to think that anything is rigged, but I would also like to know how many votes I really did have.”

On why she didn’t sing her favorite artists like Bjork and Radiohead: “I definitely considered that, but you know, in a way the producers swayed me against doing songs like that because they are almost less well known than people like Sam Cooke and Patsy Cline, just for whatever reason. I mean, they’re 100% well known to me, but I actually did try to do “Nude” by Radiohead, which is their top charting song, more than “Paranoid Android” or older songs, so that didn’t get cleared and I just figured I love classic rock and I was going to try and make that my niche this season, because unfortunately Indie and underground music isn’t really ready for the big breakthrough and I think that was kind of reaffirmed last night by me getting voted off, that America may still not be ready to have that kind of music in the mainstream.”

Photo Credit: Frank Micelotta/FOX