Ramiele Malubay – Exit Interviews

Ramiele Malubay, ousted from Idol this week, talked to the press yesterday afternoon. Here are some excerpts from those interviews.

Ramiele plans to move in with her bud Danny Noriega. If show business doesn’t work out, she plans on going to nursing school. Poor Ramiele didn’t get a goodbye dinner!

• Was she shocked to go 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.”
• How she chose “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind” for Dolly Parton Week, “I actually didn’t know the song, and I didn’t know any other songs, aside from “I Will Always Love You” à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  [that's] the obvious song that everyone knows. But I picked it. It was either that or a ballad. And I listened to the song, and I wanted to challenge myself to see how I could take a song and kind of make it my own when it wasn’t in the same genre of music that I’m into. … Performance-wise, I felt that I grew that night.”
• Was she everyone’s best friend? “I was everyone’s little sister. Even David Archuleta. Even though I’m older than him, he was always coming up to me and patting me on the head. I’m like, ”What are you doing, kid?” We all just act like fools around each other. The world sees David Cook’s serious side and Michael Johns’ serious side, but you guys really need to see us when we’re not performing.”
• Which contestant is the most different from their performing persona? “Probably Michael Johns. He’s all serious when he sings and gives the sexy look. But when he comes offstage, he’s just the biggest goofball of life. He’s so obnoxious. You want to kick him for his sarcasm, but it works for him.”

More After the Jump…

Sources: MTV, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today

• About Simon, “Oh, Simon likes me. [Laughs.] He’s a really nice guy. Backstage, when I left the show, he came and he’s like, “Oh, cry on my shoulder.” And I’m all, “OK.” [Laughs.] He just told me, “It was the song choice.” And I’m like, “Yes, Simon, I know it was the song choice.” … Sometimes he overdoes it, because it’s TV, but he just wants us to be better.”
• About getting so much praise the first week for “You Don’t Always Have To Say You Love Me”, “Honestly, the first week I didn’t know that it was such a big deal, up until people were telling me, “You did really well!” I’m like, “Did I?” I let that get to my head, and I was like, “Crap, now I have to do better than that.” And when you overthink things like that too much, you just overthink it so far that you don’t know how to handle yourself anymore.”
• Did she feel less confident week to week? “They kept saying my confidence dropped, and I’m like, “What are they talking about?” And when I got to the “What are they talking about?” kind of mode, that’s when that whole overthinking thing came into play. I was like, “What am I doing? What are they talking about? What do they want from me?”"
• Why did she chose Heart’s “Alone”? “Oh, yeah. I watched her [Carrie Underwood's] performance. I just thought that the first week that I had à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  I was trying really hard to bring that back. If it didn’t work, then it didn’t work. That was goal: to bring back the first week.”
• Did she read the message boards? “We’re always allowed on the Internet. It’s our choice whether or not to look at all those things. Either way, good or bad, it sways your opinion on things, and I just didn’t want to look at it. There’d be people who’d text me: “Oh, I read this and this and this,” and that’s when me and Syesha decided we were gonna tell people we don’t want any negative comments, so if you have nothing nice to say, we’re just not gonna talk to you guys.”
• Will she move in with Danny Noriega? “I’m not sure yet when we’re gonna move in together because of the tour and whatnot. We’re really close à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  we talk every day à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  and we’re gonna move in. We’re a fun duet. [Laughs.]…Oh, me and Danny will definitely do a duet.”
• Did she feel pressure to represent Asian-Americans? “A little bit of pressure just to see, you know, the fan base would grow and stuff. It was real flattering, it was real exciting, but then again I was, like, I had to do well not only for myself and my parents, but for people of the same race, the people supporting me. And I got as far as I could, and I hope no one is disappointed.”
• Will she pursue a career in the Philippines? “I definitely want to go back home because, I mean, it’s home to me. I want to see what I can do over there. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have something over there. Following in her footsteps, she left a lot for me to follow, so I’m really grateful for her being the first Filipino-American Idol to go beyond the show and do big things.”
• What kind of album would she like to make? “I grew up listening to a lot of what my parents listen to: like ’60s, ’70s, ’80s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  a lot of ’80s. And I would love to just make an R&B/soul album and kind of make it a little more upbeat and add my own flavor to some older songs.”