Anoop Desai could have very well been considered for "The Judges' Save" following his Wednesday elimination from American Idol, if the judges hadn't already used it to save fellow eighth-season finalist Matt Giraud one week earlier.

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However the 22-year-old from Chapel Hill, NC says he has no issues with the new eighth-season twist or the fact that it resulted in both himself and Lil Brown being eliminated during last night's special double elimination results show in which a rejuvenated Giraud suddenly received enough home viewer votes to not even rank among the week's bottom three vote-getters.

"Honestly, ["The Judges' Save"] process was something that you have to deal with," Desai told reporters during a Thursday afternoon media conference call. 

"One of the things I learned from this show is you gotta roll with the punches, things are not always gonna work out for you. This was a format change, I don't think ultimately it changed anything because, as I think we all know, the only real order that matters is who's at the top, who's No. 1. Everything after that, you can do whatever you want with your career, so it didn't really bother me."

Desai said that he was also somewhat relieved to not have had to go through the prolonged process of "The Judges' Save" -- which required each week's lowest vote-getter to sing encore performance of their previous night's song and then wait for Idol judges Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell to decide whether they should use their one-time ability to save the finalist from elimination.

Desai added that, with the save no longer a possibility, he had gone as far as to ask Idol host Ryan Seacrest not drag his elimination announcement out if he was going to one of the two finalists going home.

"I actually told Ryan right before the show, I said 'Hey man, don't mess around with me tonight, c'mon.' So I was glad that it was relatively quick. If I had a choice they would mail me the results," Desai said with a laugh.

Given he'd also been in previous week's bottom three, Desai admitted he had thought about the possibility that he could be going home but added that he didn't think he was alone in that regard.

"I think we always think about that sorta stuff on the inside," Desai said. "But it's amazing how many [of the other finalists] were sure they were going home last night."

Desai also said that he and Rounds -- who he credited with keeping him from "wallowing" after last night's elimination -- have both already begun talking about the albums they wanted to begin working on.

"We are both proud of ourselves for how far we've come and we're both eager to start working on albums," Desai said. "She has a very clear idea of what she wants to do, I know that I wanna go the pop/R&B route. I know that I wanna put my own soul into pop songs."

He added that, despite previously being enrolled in graduate school, competing on Idol has made him realize that he wants to pursue a music career full-time instead.

"I'm definitely gonna pursue a music career. If I've learned nothing else from this experience it is that singing is what I am the happiest doing and I think it's what I do the best," he told reporters. "I really like the things that Neyo's doing right now. I thing that's the direction, obviously not a copycat, but I'm really interested in pursuing that direction in music."

"I think one of the best comments I got from the judges was [Kara DioGuardi's] for this last performance where she said that she could hear that song on the radio, and that's really what I was striving for," he added.

However, Desai also said that he had to first return to his hometown of Chapel Hill to both celebrate the Tar Heels' recent NCAA championship and simply relax.

"I want to sit on the couch, I want to wake up at noon, and then I wanna go get a sunrise biscuit," he told reporters of his plans once he gets home.
About The Author: John Bracchitta

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