Lindsey Cardinale, Mikalah Gordon and Jessica Sierra stood in the middle of the "American Idol" stage on Wednesday (March 16) night having received the fewest votes from the more than 30 million cast the night before. All three ladies looked terrified as they listened to judge Simon Cowell take credit for influencing the American people to make the right choices. Cardinale, the Louisiana native who drew the short "Idol" straw and became the first eliminated Top 12 contestant, might have a right to be bitter about Cowell's often harsh comments.

She isn't.

"I'm here now and that's the way it happened, so that's the way I have to go with it," Cardinale says. "If he did persuade votes, then that's fine too and he knows what he's talking about. He's there for a reason. He sits in that chair because he gives words of wisdom."

For several weeks, the judges kept telling Cardinale that they were looking for the spark she showed them in the earlier audition rounds. The only hints of bitterness in the 20-year-old singer's voice creep to the surface when she speculates as to what the judges hoped to see in her and why she was never able to entirely satisfy them.

"You don't know what they're looking for," she explains. "They never give you advice, they just tell you that they want something more, but they don't tell you what it is."

Her voice cracking from tears, Cardinale made a final "Idol" performance on Wednesday night after host Ryan Seacrest announced the results. As she sang, she made the point of walking out into the crowd and shaking hands with the three judges. With the immediacy of that emotional moment behind her, she can reflect on what she was feeling.

"It was hurtful to know that I didn't pull as many votes as the other contestants, but that's the way the cookie crumbles," she sighs. "That's just how it is. Basically, if America didn't want me in it, then why would you want to be somewhere where you're not really wanted?"

Because of her early departure, Cardinale won't get to tour with the "Idol" Top 10 this summer, but she will get to record a track for the show's upcoming album. A small-town girl who admits that she still gives Los Angeles' palm trees funny looks, Cardinale hopes that she can still make it back to her hometown of Ponchatoula for the 34th Annual Strawberry Festival, which begins on Friday, April 8.

"I miss the strawberries," she laughs. "I ate some here the other day and they were good, but they just weren't what I expected. I really miss Ponchatoula."

Cardinale's departing message is probably one that all "Idol" rejects could take to heart.

"I'm definitely gonna keep singing," she promises. "My 'Idol' door is closed, but so many more will open hopefully from this. This is my dream and anybody who has a dream, they know if you get knocked down one time, you can't give up, because if you do, it never was your dream."