Lil Rounds showed up at the Idol auditions looking like the mom of three, which she is.
She left looking like a star.
Lil Rounds entered the Idol finals as the singer most likely to slay Simon Cowell’s early-season prediction that a male would lay claim to the 2009 Idol crown.
By the time she left the show Wednesday night, she was the contestant most likely to have her peformance picked apart by the judges, particularly Simon.
In week five, he referred to her performance of a Tina Turner song as a “ghastly copycat performance.” In week six, he told Lil, “I think you’re getting this completely wrong … there are no excuses anymore … you are not making the impact in this competition you should be making,” 
after she sang Bette Midler’s “The Rose.”
This week, well, he predicted her demise.
Lil Rounds is indeed homeward bound after her elimination Wednesday night.
But, Idol fans, Lil Rounds wants you to know this: She knows who she is as an artist. That’s why she insisted on having her say after Simon’s criticism last week.
“I had to make it clear — not just trying to go toe-to-toe with Simon or the judges — I just wanted America to really know that I really, really am an artist,” the 23-year-old from Memphis said during her farwell interview with the media Thursday afternoon.
“And if in any way I gave the vibe that I didn’t know who I was or what I was trying to do as an artist, well, I was trying to let everybody know that I am definitely an artist, and I love to do the R&B and soulful vibe.”
Not that she holds a grudge against the Idol judges, mind you. Lil classifies even the harshest words from Simon as “constructive criticism.”
“In the end, I’m going to take everything that they gave me and push forward,” she said. “I definitely (will) have some albums to come out and things like that, and everything they gave me is going to help make that a great success.”
First, of course, there will be a long-awaited reunion with her husband and her children — ages 2, 3 and 5 — back in Memphis. There’s even a new addition to the family. Seems Lil’s husband bought her a puppy while she was on Idol.
As for that Idol makeover she underwent since her audition, from average mom to a far more glamorous look … well, the longer hair, Lil said, was a collaboration between her and her hair stylist.
“I told him, ‘I think I want to go a bit longer.’ I didn’t think he was going to take me this long,” Lil said with a laugh. “But he did. And when he got finished, I was like, ‘I like it.'”
Looking back, she calls her Idol experience “a blessing” and says she’s learned a thing or two that will help her in the musical career she hopes will follow.
“What I learned from Idol was that even in the midst of adversity, you have to keep your head up and stay strong and keep moving forward,” Lil said. “I felt like I came back each week, regardless of what comments may or may not have been, I came back and would sing my little heart out each week just because I love to do that. They (Idol) gave me a great platform.”
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