Alexis Grace, eliminated from American Idol season 8.

It is a sad goodbye for Alexis Grace after she was sent packing from American Idol’s eight season yesterday. After 31 million casts their votes this week, the 21-year old singer from Memphis got the fewest votes among the 11 finalists.

Earlier in the performance night, she reprised “Jolene” by Dolly Parton for the Grand Ole Party theme and the judges took issue with her song choice. Kara DioGuardi commented that Grace had lost some of her “edge.”

She sang the same song yesterday in the hope that the judges will use their one-time power to save a contestant from the elimination but they unanimously declined to use their veto power.
"It was good," said judge Simon Cowell after Grace’s performance. "But it wasn't good enough."

The elimination was important because only the show's top 10 finalists will join the summer tour which will provide vital exposure for all the finalists.

After last week’s return of Kelly Clarkson who performed in the American Idol stage where she started, yesterday’s elimination night marked the return of Carrie Underwood, the season 4 winner, who performed a duet of "I Told You So" with singer Randy Travis.

The battle is now down to 10 finalists which include Adam Lambert, Anoop Desai, Danny Gokey, Kris Allen, Lil Rounds, Matt Giraud, Megan Joy, Scott MacIntyre, Michael Sarver and Allison Iraheta.