Exit Q&A: Ramiele Malubay

By Jessica Shaw
You may not have thought that little (and we mean little — the girl is only 4 feet 11 inches) Ramiele Malubay belonged in the talent pool of American Idol season 7, but you had to feel bad for the girl last night. Now that she's stopped crying about being voted off during Dolly Parton week, she's able to step back and wonder about important issues...like why David Archuleta insists on patting her on the head.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Ramiele, I felt for you last night when you broke down weeping.
RAMIELE MALUBAY: Yeah, I'm hearing that a lot today. A lot of people are like, ''I just wanted to grab your face!''

Did it come as that much of a shock that you were going home?
No. I felt like it was my time, not to think negative or anything. It was just a feeling I had the whole day. I felt awkward. I don't usually feel like that. It's not pleasant, let me tell you.

Oddly, the judges were more complimentary toward you this week than in previous weeks, and yet you went home. Did you watch your performance?
I try not to watch myself. I get really scared to see myself perform. When I do watch myself, I'm like, ''Off! Off!'' I'm so hard on myself.

Even this week?
Well, I thought at least I was moving and I was smiling.

That's true. Do you think the audience just didn't connect with you as much as they connected with other contestants?
I feel like the audience probably didn't like my song. Not everyone was going to like it. I knew that going into it.

Was it hard choosing a Dolly Parton song to sing?
I knew one Dolly Parton song.

''9 to 5''?
I didn't even know that! I was like, Crap! Everybody knows that song. I'm all bugging out. But the only song I knew was ''I Will Always Love You.'' How I went about picking my song was taking this list of songs I didn't even know. I listened to them to see which one I could tweak. But if it's not your genre, it's not your genre.
NEXT PAGE: Ramiele on Michael Johns' ''goofball'' moments, her ''sibling rivalry'' with Syesha, and whether she's heading back to the sushi restaurant

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20007164_20171835_20188230_2,00.html