'IDOL' EXPERIENCE FAR FROM 'FORGETTABLE'.

Byline: GREG HERNANDEZ

Even before host Ryan Seacrest made the announcement, Ramiele Malubay said she knew it would be her rather than fellow contestant Kristy Lee Cook who'd be leaving the "American Idol" stage Wednesday.

"I felt like I was going home," she told me Thursday, her voice so soft it was difficult to hear. "My goal was to get as far as I could."

Ramiele had never before been in the bottom three. But her version of Dolly Parton's "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" just didn't impress enough viewers or the show's most influential judge, Simon Cowell. He had described the performance as "forgettable" and "reminiscent of something you would see and hear on a cruise ship."

Ramiele, a 20-year-old from Florida, isn't holding a grudge.

"Simon likes me, I know he does. He's a really nice guy. He was telling me, 'It was the song choice, it's the song choice ... Sometimes he overdoes it (with criticism) but, it's TV. He just wants us to be, like, better."

I wondered if, realistically, she thought she could win the singing competition.

"My goal was to just get by, week by week," she said.

"I didn't want to think that I was going to get to first place or second place, because if you think of it that way, your experience is totally erased. I didn't want that to happen. ... I made it onto the tour, so I am really excited about that."

After starting strong, Ramiele lost confidence in recent weeks. She said she began to "overthink" the judges' comments.

"My confidence dropped. I was like, 'What are they talking about?' That's when the overthinking came in. I shouldn't have done that."

The singer said she felt a little bit of extra pressure being an Asian-American and trying to carry the torch for her heritage: "I got as far as I could and I hope nobody's disappointed in me."

Ramiele plans to stay in Los Angeles to pursue her music career. She will be a part of the "American Idol" summer tour featuring the show's top 10 finalists and then will likely be roommates with fellow contestant and close friend Danny Noriega.

Despite the elimination, the experience has been life-changing: "It's pretty much taken over my whole life but it's a good thing. It's actually the first big thing that's happened to me in my life. It's a future and I'm really grateful to the judges."

There were many tears on Wednesday's show after she was voted off and the clips shown before she sang her final number showed how close she had become to her fellow finalists.

"We never thought of it as a competition until it was Wednesday and someone had to go home," she said. "It's a family, it's genuine and comes from the heart. We don't sugar-coat things for the camera."

But don't ask Ramiele to predict a winner.

"We all went into this being totally different from each other and then growing so much more," she said. "I really don't know who's going to take it ... They all sing so frickin' different."

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Photo:

(color) Ramiele Malubay had a feeling she was getting voted off "American Idol" Wednesday.

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images