Lacey Brown went home on Wednesday night.

The Amarillo, Texas, native took the news in stride and is trying to make the most of it as she expressed Thursday morning during a conference call.

“It is a shocker sometimes,” she said. “But someone has to go home. The fan base is very, very important. We know the beast that is American Idol.

“It wasn’t a downer moment when I was elminated. It wasn’t comfortable. I just said, ‘OK.'”

Following is a portion of her conference call:

Lot of talk this season about conflicting criticism from the judges. With all that going on what do you see your self doing artistically? What do you see yourself doing now?

LB: “It was a little bit difficult with the criticism because it was a little bit confusing. Therefore, I would change things week-to-week and that left them wondering who I was (as an artist). I am very different as an artist. I see myself doing something like a pop/folk mix as an album. I want to give people a chance to hear something new and fresh and different. There’s not a lot of voices like mine right now on the radio. I kinda take pride in the fact that I am different. I try to embrace that. I’m looking forward to writing some new music that fits my voice.”

Are you planning to return to Amarillo, Texas (her hometown)?

LB: “First of all I want to say I was sad when I said a lot of nice things about Amarillo the other night before I sang “Ruby Tuesday” and they kinda cut it out in the cutting room. They made it look like I wasn’t liking Amarillo, but I love Amarillo. I’m always gonna be an Amarillo girl. My stop is New York. I’m gonna do some shows there. But I should be back in Amarillo sometime next week.”

Who do you think will win the competition?

LB: “That’s a very hard question to answer. I’m a little bit too close to home to really answer that. Everyone of the contestents left are unique in their own rights. I can see any one of them rising up to the occasion. It’s up for grabs.”

After making it so far last season and not getting to that Top 24, what made you want to come back and try again?

LB: “I’m one of those people who is very competitive. And I just decided it was way too much fun of an experience to not try again. Last year it was the Top 36 and if I would have made it into that round a year ago I wouldn’t have been able to come back this year. I am glad that I got a second chance cause I needed to work on a couple of things (with her vocals) and then come back. Everything about the show has been a blast so I just decided I’m gonna do it twice.”

You took the news very well last night. It was almost as if you had made peace with the fact that you were going home.

LB: “Yes, I woke up yesterday (Wednesday) morning and just had the strangest feeling that I was going home. I told that to some of the other contestents and they said, ‘No, you are crazy. Why would you go home out of everybody here?’ Something was off. It wasn’t like I had made peace with it, it was more like I had gotten used to it. It’s a hard thing to hear, but when you are there in that moment you know you aren’t in control of anything.”

Because you were cut before, did that make it even harder this time to be cut?

LB: “Honestly, it was hard both times cause I wanted to get further last year and I wanted to get further this year. I will say I am in the No. 12 spot in America right now as far as American Idol goes and that it not a bad place to be. So, was it hard? Yes, it was emotional, but I am happy with my spot. Proud to be where I am at.”

Can you pinpoint what you think your downfall was?

LB: “Probably … energy. They kept asking for energy in my songs and I kept trying to give it and they kept saying it was a sleepy performance. I’m a happy and bubbly personality and they (the judges) wanted to see some of that transferred into my music. But I love to sing ballads. I love to tell a story and get into the emotion of a song. I’m very artsy. Maybe that didn’t transfer well on the stage. But I wouldn’t have changed any of it.”

Did the judges say anything to you afterward?

LB: “Oh, yes, they all came up to me. There is a fine line between taking what the judges say to you personally and taking it to fix yourself and  make yourself better. When they came up afterward they had nothing but nice things to say. It was like this is just another step into your career.You have great vocals. You are very unique. They want to see us succeed. And they don’t want us to feel like all hope is lost … cause it’s not. This is not the end all for me. This is a great opportunity.”