After "American Idol [ tickets ]" contestant Syesha Mercado's ouster Wednesday night (5/14), she is ready to show music fans exactly who she is.

"I'm like a black Christina Aguilera/Alicia Keys," Mercado told journalists during a teleconference Thursday (5/15). "I definitely can see myself putting together a Christina Aguilera album, the one that she just recently did and an Alicia Keys album like 'The Diary of Alicia Keys.' I like pop, and I like R&B, and I like the old school/new school thing.

"So I'm growing as an artist. I'm evolving. And I'm glad that I did do "American Idol" because people were able to see that transition that I went through, and I'm still learning more about myself everyday. And I think that's beauty of doing this competition. You just learn so much. So people will know who I am. You'll know who I am once I put out that album."

By doing Broadway numbers and little-known songs, Mercado was known for pushing her limits and improving her game each week. She said she owes it all to hard work.

"I'm always rehearsing," Mercado said. "I'm always trying to improve. And when I first stepped into the competition, I was really in a little shell because of the vocal resting and it kind of separated me from everybody else, so I don't feel like I was at my full potential because of the entire negative mind frame that I was in because of, like 'Oh, nobody really sees who I am.' And I was so focused on that that it was really harming my performance."

Mercado explained she was in a better frame of mine after the first audition. So she set a goal for herself: to feel satisfied after each show.

"And I felt more satisfied the more the weeks went on," she said.

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