American Idol 7 Top Three finalist Syesha Mercado said goodbye to her Idol dreams on Wednesday night, but the twenty-one year old from Sarasota, Florida still has lots of hope left for the future.

“I am like a black Christina Aguilera/Alicia Keys. I can see myself putting together a Christina-type of album, like the one she recently did, and an Alicia Keys album, like the Diary of Alicia Keys. I like pop, I like R&B and I like the old school/new school thing. I am growing as an artist and evolving. I am glad I did ‘American Idol,’ because people were able to see that transition I went through. That is the beauty of doing this competition — you just learn so much.”

“I never packed my bags,” Syesha says. “They told us, ‘Pack your bags.’ I was, ‘I am not packing my bags because I don’t want to go home yet.’ If you want something, it is going to happen for you. If you want to be Top 3, you’ll be Top 3. I didn’t pack my bags because I wasn’t ready. I just talked to my family a lot. They helped me stay strong.”

Check out the petite powerhouse’s Thursday morning interview on Ryan Seacrest’s morning radio show.

Syesha Mercado “On-Air with Ryan Seacrest” Interview