Quentin Alexander: No Regrets Or Hard Feelings Over ‘American Idol’ Exit

Quentin Alexander experienced an intense moment on his American Idol journey last week. After his elimination Wednesday, he shared with Billboard that he has no regrets or hard feelings.

“I’m a strong believer that things happen the way they’re supposed to and if it wasn’t meant to be to win American Idol, maybe I’ll win at something else.”

Last week, the Idol hopeful was visibly upset after his performance and critique. When Ryan Seacrest asked him how he was feeling, he gestured to the bottom two, which included his dear friend, Joey Cook. The 21-year-old proclaimed “this sucks,” and called the situation “wack.” While he was referring to the fact that his friend was facing possible elimination, judge Harry Connick, Jr. assumed he was talking about the process of the show, and called him “highly disrespectful.”

When asked if he felt the incident and a resulting promo reminding viewers of what happened resulted in his departure, he explained he wouldn’t change a thing.

“It definitely could have played a role, but I don’t really know that and I am never going to really know. But either way, I am still proud of the way that things happened. I wouldn’t change that moment with Harry and I for anything because it was a real genuine moment and for me to change it would be for me to change my journey overall.”

While some viewers felt Alexander was judged harshly compared to the other contestants, especially during his final performances, he had no problem with his critiques. He felt being held to such a high standard pushed him to make it as far as he did.

“I do not feel that I was judged too harshly. I feel that he held me to a high standard which is always great to do to a student. It gave me something to work towards. I am actually the least technically trained singer that made it to through to the top 10 and the fact that I even was there was a great accomplishment and I appreciated every chance he got to tell me that this is what you need to work on.”

Quentin looks forward to going home for a break before getting back to work applying all he’s learned to his career. He is already excited about returning for the show’s big finale. He shared he would love to share stage with Lenny Kravitz, Erykah Badu, and Annie Lennox. Alexander told USA Today he felt his strongest performance was “I Put A Spell On You,” which he would love to do as a duet with Lennox.

Scott Borchetta, mentor to the contestants, told Ryan Seacrest before Quentin Alexander’s performance Wednesday, the next star is always found on the edge of mainstream. Some of the edgiest contestants are now gone, but the New Orleans native is proud of what they accomplished, saying, “We’re not used to seeing the type of artists we had this year on American Idol. It’s great to see how far we’ve all gone.”

[Image by American Idol/Fox]