Idol Worship: Alexis Makes A Graceful Exit

It's hard to describe how crushed we were to hear the news on Wednesday. We weren't able to watch the elimination episode live, no thanks to an assignment on the other side of town. Not that it makes much of a difference anyway, since the East Coast Twitters always ruin the surprise. And in this case, the results also ruined our night.

OK, we may be exaggerating just a bit. Alexis Grace was our favorite of the females, but we don't begrudge her sister contestants. And, let's be honest, the girl definitely had an off night. In retrospect (and on second performance), there was a hint of sacrilege in her reworking of Dolly Parton's "Jolene." After all, she tweaked what's arguably the hookiest moment in the song — the sort of thing that would have country loyalists up in arms.

So does Alexis regret the choice? The morning after elimination, we asked if she struggled with the decision to cover a classic rather than a more contemporary song. "Definitely," she said. "But I left like everybody knows 'Jolene,' and it's such a pretty song that I could maybe get away with it, as opposed to doing something like Carrie Underwood." Considering two of her fellow contestants also chose Underwood songs, that might not have played, either. Ultimately, said Alexis, she really doesn't know why America abandoned her so quickly, but she had a feeling Wednesday would turn out badly. "I knew the night of the show that I would be in the bottom three," she confessed. "I  had a feeling from what the judges said and just the way the night went." 

Alexis' immediate plans involve returning home to her family in Memphis and continuing to pursue music. Describing her sound as "soul mixed in with blues and country," she cited Pink, Sarah McLachlan and Joss Stone as dream collaborators, clearly looking forward, not back. "I’m going to take away a lot from this experience," she said. "I know who I am and what I want to do. It’s given me a lot of confidence to go out there, be a singer and pursue it. I can’t wait to see what’s next." — Shirley Halperin